Hello Everyone,
I hope that you all had a great week. By Wednesday I fully recovered from both running the Holyoke St. Patrick’s Day Road Race and marching in the parade. I really enjoyed seeing so many of your faces last weekend. But, if I am being completely honest, I am thankful for a change from wearing green every day! What a great tradition in the city of Holyoke, and an excellent way to kick off the spring season.
The young people in our communities have experienced unprecedented hardships the last few years. School districts moved to remote learning, sports seasons were cancelled, and students were unable to enjoy simple everyday interactions with one another. It is difficult to imagine thriving as a student during a complete upheaval of education in the traditional sense. However, on Tuesday evening at Agawam High School, I attended a celebration of academic achievement. It was an honor to be in the presence of such a large number of students receiving an Agawam “Academic A”. To me this award does more than highlight their success in the classroom, it proves that these students are going places. Balancing academic, social, and family obligations is no easy task, but they’ve done it in extremely unordinary circumstances. In fact, I’d be willing to bet they are much more capable of operating a zoom meeting than the majority of the Massachusetts legislature. Hats off to these young achievers, we are all eager to watch your future successes.
On Thursday morning I was back in Holyoke for the kickoff of MassHire’s “Recovery Ready Workplace” program. As we all know, the American workforce is the lifeblood of the American economy. What many do not know, is that there are more than 15 million Americans in the workforce with current or past substance use disorders. MassHire’s program is designed to provide employers with the education and resources to effectively help employees and their families overcome challenges presented by substance use disorders. The work that they are doing is critical to solving issues around substance use disorders and erasing the stigma of addiction in the workplace.
There are times while working for the citizens of our district when you step back and say, “wow, we really have some of the greatest people in the world living here”. This Friday was one of those moments. I’d like to say I was stunned by the support we saw at our Ukrainian donation drive in Westfield, but honestly it was not surprising. We were able to gather items ranging from first aid kits to protein bars which will make it to the people who need them most in Eastern Europe. Thank you for the great turnout!
As always, if there is anything I can do to assist you, please never hesitate to reach out to my office. I can be reached at my email: john.velis@masenate.gov or by phone: (413) 572-3920 and you can find me online at senatorjohnvelis.com.
Sincerely,
John C. Velis