April 2022
From our Executive Director, Barbara Loh:
I had the honor of speaking at the Springfield Rotary Club's meeting earlier this month. It was the first time in over two years that I was able to experience speaking face-to-face with fellow community members devoted to public service. It was rejuvenating!! ZOOM meetings are productive but can never substitute for the energy we all receive from personal interactions with those who share like passions for community service and to help others.
April is also the month when we show our appreciation to our many volunteers who make it possible for us to be on the air 24/7 for our listeners.
WE COULD NOT DO IT WITHOUT YOU!!
April is already a perennial month of promises and expectations: will its showers bring May flowers? It is also when the annual state budget process begins.
As you know, our state funding is never certain from year to year, yet it is critical to our daily operations. We need our local legislators to support us every year.
Rep. Michael Finn has started us off by filing an amendment (#508) to the House Ways and Means budget to secure funding for Valley Eye Radio and other members of MAIN (Massachusetts Audio Information Network). House budget debate begins this week.
Next month, Sen. Adam Gomez has agreed to file an amendment on the Senate side. We are thankful to them both and all the other local legislators who are supporting our amendments. We await the results with great anticipation. Let's hope May brings an abundance of flowers and state funding once again!!
- The World Affairs Council of Western MA brings to Valley Eye Radio a timely response to an important question these days in an Instant Issues discussion featuring Council favorite Dr. Laura Reed, a lecturer at the Commonwealth Honors College at the UMass-Amherst on Avoiding World War III: Nuclear Threats in Europe.
- Check out the Valley Eye Radio website www.valleyeyeradio.org for the latest information on how eligible listeners can tune in to us and get their local news.
- Thanks to our friends at Baystate Health, Valley Eye Radio will be presenting a number of their virtual events this month including a virtual talk by Dr. Colin Cooper, Orthopedic Surgeon at New England Orthopedic Surgeons, entitled “Oh, My Aching Knee!” with lots of important treatment information on the subject and tips on how to keep our knees pain and injury free.
- Thanks to our continued collaboration with the Public Health Institute of Western MA, Valley Eye Radio has been broadcasting recordings of their timely Covid updates. Another informative webinar comes up later this month which we hope to be able to bring to Valley Eye Radio as well.
- Valley Eye Radio will be present at the upcoming Volunteer Fair at the Pleasant View Senior Center, 328 North Main St. in East Longmeadow on Thursday, April 28th from 11 am – 2 pm. If you’re in the area, drop by to find out about joining our volunteer reader family or just to learn more about what we do so that you can help us connect with potential listeners who would benefit from our service.
- Valley Eye Radio wrapped up the series of travel stories from the “Accidental Travel Writer” with this month’s virtual trip to Indonesia, the world’s largest archipelagic state that has the fourth largest population in the world.
Our thanks to David Mould, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Media Arts and Studies at Ohio University, for hosting this series and to Storrs Library for bringing this series to our listeners.
Happy Birthday to all of those in our volunteer reader family who were born in the month of April: Dana heard from friends and family on the 2nd, Eddie had his cake and presents on the 6th, Elaine began another lap around the sun on the 11th, Martha and Jim M. both got spoiled by their loved ones on the 14th, former reader Mary B. celebrated her day on the 18th, Jacqueline felt the love on the 22nd, Terry begins looking forward to another year on the 26th, Paul R. and Robin will receive best wishes from all on the 29th and Annie C. looks ahead to a great day on the 30th.
Happy Birthday wishes to all!
