Yummy!

Thank you Diane for organizing the pot luck lunch today! There was lot's of great food and I sure ate enough to last the rest of the day! Thank you everyone for bringing a dish.

~Jason

Welcome JoAnn!

JoAnn Cerosky has joined the team as an Outside Sales Representative. JoAnn worked this past summer with us in the Rocky Hill studio as a studio coordinator and guide. Dale will be showing JoAnn the ropes over the next couple months. Be sure to say HI when she's in the studio!

American Cancer Society - Making a Difference in Massachusetts

Cancer research saves lives.

■ The American Cancer Society is the largest nonprofit
funder of cancer research, with 90 research
grants in effect, totaling more than $38 million, in
Massachusetts.
■ In New England, $54 million in grants support
117 scientists at 30 hospitals and universities. Nationwide,
the Society has funded $3 billion in cancer
research to date.
■ The Society has a proven record of identifying
the most promising research ideas, often from beginning
scientists who may not be able to find funding elsewhere.
We are proud to have funded 38 researchers who went
on to win the Nobel Prize, including nine
from Massachusetts.
■ The Society has supported researcher M. Judah
Folkman, MD, of Children’s Hospital in Boston, since
1963. Dr. Folkman’s groundbreaking research into angiogenesis,
the process by which a tumor stimulates blood
vessel growth to support its own growth, has led to a new
class of drugs designed to prevent this process and to
inhibit tumor growth.
■ The Society is launching its third Cancer Prevention
Study (CPSIII), to further our understanding of
cancer prevention and causation among minority and
other populations. Since 1958, the American Cancer
Society has supported Cancer Prevention Studies I,
II, and III – the largest population research programs
ever conducted by a private voluntary health organization.
These long-term studies of millions of Americans
provide new insights into how cancer and other diseases
are affected by factors such as lifestyle, the environment,
medications, and genetics.
■ Research advances continue to improve cancer
survival rates. Since 1981, the five-year survival rate
from cancer has risen from 41 percent to 64 percent.
Today, there are close to 10 million cancer survivors living
in the United States.

Education promotes cancer prevention and
early detection.

■ Pain is the most common and most feared
symptom of cancer. The Society’s Massachusetts Pain
Initiative works to improve the management of pain for
cancer patients and all state residents. The initiative has
educated hundreds of health care professionals and local
residents about good pain management.
■ Crusades Against Cancer are collaborative programs
uniting the American Cancer Society and community
partners to deliver cancer prevention and detection information
to communities in Boston, Cape Cod, Haverhill,
Lynn, Marlborough, Springfield, and throughout the state.
■ The American Cancer Society’s Great American
Smokeout® has helped millions quit smoking and has
focused attention on the dangers of tobacco for more than
25 years.
■ Reducing the incidence of colon cancer, and
deaths from colon cancer – the third most common
cancer among women and men – by promoting early
detection and screening is the goal of the Society’s colon
cancer awareness campaign.
■ Making Strides Against Breast Cancer® has been
the American Cancer Society’s rallying cry against breast
cancer since it began in Boston in 1993. In October 2005,
30,000 Massachusetts residents walked to raise $3 million
for increased breast cancer awareness, early detection,
and research funding to find cures.

Advocacy influences public policy and
delivers critical funding.

■ Thanks to grassroots advocacy efforts, the Society
helped to defeat legislation aimed to repeal the Smokefree
Worksite law, which was successfully passed in 2004.
■ By working to secure $5 million for the Breast
and Cervical Cancer Treatment Act in the fiscal year
2006 state budget, American Cancer Society volunteers
helped make cancer treatment available to low-income
women who are diagnosed with cancer through the
state’s screening program.
■ Society volunteers and key legislators collaborated
to provide funding for key cancer-related programs,
including $4.25 million for tobacco control, more than $3
million for breast cancer early detection and screening,
and $1.3 million for prostate cancer screening programs
that focus on outreach to African American men.
■ To address disparities in health care, the Society
successfully advocated for and actively serves on a statewide
advisory commission aimed to eliminate racial and
ethnic disparities in health care and health outcomes
for diseases such as breast, cervical, prostate, and colon
cancers.
■ Society advocacy efforts helped restore vital funding
for colorectal cancer awareness, education, and outreach
programs that had not been funded since 2002.

Services empower cancer patients,
survivors, and caregivers.

■ Nearly 18,000 Massachusetts residents dialed
1-800-ACS-2345 for comprehensive cancer information
and services in 2005. The Society’s toll-free number and
our www.cancer.org Web site are available free of charge,
24 hours a day, seven days a week.
■ The American Cancer Society’s Hope Lodge® in
Worcester is a home away from home for families facing
cancer. No-cost lodging, transportation, and support services
are available to cancer patients and their families
from around the world – and around the corner. Hope
Lodge in Worcester has provided 56,000 guest nights and
45,000 rides to treatment since opening in 1984.
■ More than 80 hospitals across the state refer breast
cancer patients to the American Cancer Society’s Reach
to Recovery® program for one-to-one support. Trained volunteers,
themselves breast cancer survivors who represent
different ethnic groups and speak a range of languages,
bring hope and help to newly diagnosed patients.
■ American Cancer Society volunteers staff 10
resource centers in hospitals and medical centers
throughout Massachusetts. Each month, they provide support
and assistance to visitors seeking information about
cancer, as well as local services for patients and families.
■ The Society’s Road to RecoverySM program provided
nearly 15,000 rides to and from treatment for
Massachusetts cancer patients in 2005. Through a partnership
with Angel Flight, Massachusetts patients can
also receive free private air transportation to treatment.
■ Children’s summer camps, family support weekends,
and other New England patient service programs are
available to Massachusetts cancer patients and their
families.

Online Appointments Coming Along

Harvey is working hard on setting up a way for us to take online appointments from our senior customers. The good news is that he's learning alot about CMS and the website, and it's coming along good as well!

Any customers that reserve their time online will receive a live call back from a customer service rep as soon as possible to accept their pre-payment for the sitting and confirm the date and time.

Thank you everyone that has been giving me feedback as we've moved along with this process!

~Jason

Kyla Desmarais will be attending Green Valley Preschool in Hampden,MA in the fall. It was our first choice and we are very happy! Dale & Heather Desmarais

To anyone intrested Katie and Shawn Haubner are selling their 2005 Yamaha R6 Streetbike(motorcycle) It is in great condition w/ very few miles on it. $5800. or best offer. This bike brand new is well over $8000. This is a great price and it wont last for long so call Katie at 413-627-1714 if you are intrested.

This is one of the images Chris took of the photography girls on a field trip. We went to different areas in Holyoke to learn about outdoor lighting, fill lighting with both flash and using the natural reflectors. This was in an alley that was covered in yellow wax, which made for nice lighting on us!!