Happy December Everyone,
I hope everyone enjoyed their thanksgiving last week. It’s hard to believe that December is already here; this year has absolutely flown by. With the holidays fast approaching, lights have been going up all over town, stores have been redecorating, and holiday spirit is evident! Just this past weekend, I attended the City of Westfield’s tree lighting ceremony with my family right here in the center of town and am looking forward to many more holiday events throughout our communities.
Even as we close out the year, we’re keeping a full schedule here in the legislature. Monday morning, I attended a virtual meeting with representatives from Strongest Families Institute. This organization provides people of all ages with mental health services where and when they should need it. Access to mental health treatment is one of the pressing issues of our time and the good work done by this group is going a long way to equalizing access. Thank you to SFI for taking the time to speak with me and my staff.
Wednesday morning, Representative Sena and I were thrilled to host an interactive briefing at the State House to highlight our legislation to create a grant program to help schools create robotics program. A very talented group of students from Wellesley High School and Shirley-Ayers High School came to Beacon Hill to both demonstrate their skills in robotics as well as teach some legislators and staffers how to use them. Students like these and their drive to become engineers are an excellent reminder on the importance of STEM programs in schools and the need to invest in our future. On top of being excellent guests too, my team had a great time learning how to use these robots. I’m looking forward to having more students engage with robotics as a result of my bill!
This week I also joined Baystate Noble for their “Grand Rounds” series, an awesome opportunity to talk to their employees about some of my legislative priorities relating to medical services and our health care system. Thanks to their team for the invite!
Thursday morning, I had the pleasure of meeting with the good folks from Achieve Greatness Inc, a non-profit focuses on spreading awareness about fentanyl to our youth through education efforts. This group does great work in educating our kids on the dangers of drug use while simultaneously building a network for kids come to come together and grow.
This week, my team hosted office hours at the Westfield COA on Monday, the Russell COA on Tuesday, and the Southampton COA. Next week, we will be hosting office hours at the Agawam COA on Monday from 11:00am to 12:00pm. If you can’t make office hours, I can always be reached by email, john.velis@masenate.gov, by phone, (413) 527-3920, and you can find me online at senatorjohnvelis.com.
Sincerely,
John Velis