Welcome to our Website!
We're Massachusetts Chapter 1 of the Blue
Star Mothers of America - Mothers who currently have or had children serving
in the U.S. Military. We are a non-profit 501(c)(3) service organization,
chartered by the U.S. congress, supporting each other, our children, and
everyone who serves in our military while promoting patriotism. We welcome
fathers, family, and friends of our servicepeople as our associate
members.
CHECK OUT OUR CHAPTER'S FACEBOOK PAGE!
Our chapter has started a Facebook page - You
can check
it out Here . Check it out! We'll still keep official records and photo
galleries on this official chapter website, but the Facebook
page lets members (and other interested folks!) post comments
and pictures from events as they happen. If you like our page,
let us and everyone know by clicking this "Like"
button:
Members: If you have ideas for taking
advantage of the Facebook page, post them on the page so we can
try them out. Let's try to get the page full of interesting
comments and pictures!
MAY 2012 MEETING COMING UP
Our next meeting will take place
Wednesday May 16 at our usual time (7 PM) and place
(Leominster Veterans' Center) - find the clickable map on the Meetings
and Events page. Look for the agenda for this meeting on the Members
Only page soon; draft minutes for the April meeting are
already posted. And, we'll have a speaker - see the
next item. See you
there!
OUR SPEAKER AT UPCOMING MAY MEETING
At our May meeting, C. David Gordon, President
of the Fort Devens Museum, will be our speaker. You can find out
about the museum at http://www.fortdevensmuseum.org/
.
FULL MEMBERSHIP OPENED UP TO MORE MOTHERS!
A recent change in the law (since we're a
congressionally-chartered organization, after all), just passed
by congress and signed by President Obama, allows Foster
Mothers, Grandmothers, and Female Legal Guardians of active duty
and retired servicepeople to join us as Full Members. Even if
you don't fit into any of these categories, you're welcome to
join as an Associate Member (and even Dads fit into this slot!).
Come to our meeting and look us over - we think you'll decide to
join.
SUCCESSFUL GIRL SCOUT COOKIE PACKING IN MARCH
 Our chapter packed and shipped
hundreds of packs of Girl Scout
Cookies to active duty servicemen and women - both deployed and
stateside - at the Veterans' Center on Sunday March 11, 2012.
Chapter members, Brownie Scouts from Leominster Troop 11188, and
members of Leominster Fire Dept, Group 2 gathered at the
Veterans' Center to pack and ship. It was a fun afternoon. For
more pictures, look
here.
BSMs HONOR VETERANS' DAY 2011
Chapter 1 members honored veterans at several
observances in our area.
Denise MacAloney, Nancy Siegel, Rose Annese, and Kathy Giordano
attended a memorial screening of Restrepo in Harvard, MA.
After the screening, Army Sergeant Brendan O'Byrne spoke
about his experiences at OP Restrepo and returning to civilian
life after deployment. Sharon Bouchard and Debbie Cameron
attended observances in Leominster. They took pictures - Here's
one; click
this link for the rest.
OUR CHAPTER ANNOUNCES A SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM
Our chapter will award two $300 scholarships
for the 2012-2013 school year to local students from military
families who meet certain additional requirements. This
web page contains links to all of the details. Applications
must be completed by April 30, 2012. Good luck!
MEMBERS PARTICIPATE IN FRUITLANDS MUSEUM GALLERY OPENING
 On September 11, 2011, Members of Chapter 1
participated in the opening of the photographic exhibit Witness
to Global Conflict: 9/11 and Beyond at the Fruitlands Museum
in Harvard, MA. Speakers included Brendan O'Byrne, a member of
the platoon that hosted Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington in
Afghanistan; John Gerlaugh, representating OSD from the National
Defense University; MA State Representative Jennifer Benson; and
our chapter's own Blue to Gold Representative Rose Annese.
We have posted pictures
of the opening ceremony and overviews of the galleries here.
New Pages Added to Blue Star Mothers' Chapter 1 Photo Gallery
We add new pages to our album a few times each
month. You can go to the album pages by
title here, or by
image here.
Members can have a personal album of their own
for picture-sharing; for information, look up your password and
go to the members-only page.
We've added a Recent
Highlights page and a Links page to this website. On
the highlights page, you can scan
our recent activities and click through to picture galleries of
ones you'd like to see more of. On the links page, you can click
through to see the nice things that other sites are saying about
us, or visit sites of organizations that we work with.
About Our Chapter
We are proud to be the first chapter in Massachusetts, and to join the list
of state branches of the Blue
Star Mothers of America across the United States.
If you're the mother, grandmother, or foster
mother of a veteran or serviceperson, you're welcome to join us
as a full member! (Other relatives and friends can join as
Associate Members.) For more information, please call or email one of our officers. Our members
are from many towns throughout the state. The South Shore
and Worcester area are well-served by our sister chapters, the Eastern
Massachusetts Chapter 2 and the Central Massachusetts Chapter 3.
We meet on the third Wednesday evening of each month in the Leominster
Veterans' Center, 100 West Street, Leominster, MA.
Members-Only Calendar and Activity Pages!
Click Here to visit our
Members-Only Calendar and Activity Pages! (Member Username and Password
Required!)
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