We met at the Sports Park and Holly Shay was our speaker. 
 
She talked about her son Jordan Shay who was in the army when he was killed in Iraq.  Jordan grew up in Amesbury and went through the Amesbury School system.  He was a 2005 graduate of AHS.  Jordan was a gifted writer and had a blog called “through amber lens”.  She read excerpts of his blog that was both funny and thoughtful.  She also read sections of his “what if” letter.  He wanted to be ensure that if anything happened to him that his girlfriend Kelsey was taken care of.  He wanted to be sure that her student loans were paid for with his life insurance money.  He also wanted to do something around scholarships for kids that wanted to go on to be fire fighters or some other “helping profession”.  
 
It was Kelsey’s idea to have a bowling tournament to raise money for scholarships and grants. It was an unprecedented success and from there by partnering with the Amesbury Educational Foundation over $100,000 in grants and scholarships have been given out in Jordan’s name.  Now Holly and Kelsey have decided the time is right to form their own foundation in his honor.  This allows them to expand their mission beyond education and to do something for his military brothers as well a continued focus on education.  As a community we can never thank our veterans and their families too much. 
 
In other announcements, Cheryl is working on a plan for planting trees. She put together a flyer and is working with Paul and Jim Babbin for the right locations.
 
Cathy and Terri are gearing up for the May 7th wine tasting at Vasa.  There will be more about this pretty much weekly from now on.
 
The Link House St Patrick’s Day lunch is Friday March 16th
 
The Pettengill House Fundraiser is March 23rd at Blue Ocean