Hello everyone,
I cannot believe that July is right around the corner. As we near the end of legislative session, we’ve had a packed schedule over on Beacon Hill.
I started off my week at the West Springfield Block Party celebrating the Town’s 250th anniversary on Sunday. This is a huge milestone for the Town, and I’m honored to represent such a storied and rich history at the State House. This was a great event with local vendors and performers right over on the town common. Festivities are going to continue throughout the summer, and I recommend checking out the West Side 250th Committee’s calendar to see what is coming up next. A big thank you to the Committee for all of your work organizing these incredible events for our community!
Monday morning, I was honored to have joined the Massachusetts Organization for Addiction Recovery at their Western Massachusetts Policy Forum. This forum brought together advocates and subject knowledge experts from all across the state to our part of the Commonwealth to collaborate on ways we can best support those suffering with addiction and help them in their recovery journey. As the Senate Chair for the Joint Committee on Mental Health Substance Use, and Recovery, I’m proud to work alongside many of these advocates in the battle against the substance use epidemic.
Later that day, I attended the “Topping Off” Ceremony for the new Peck Middle School in Holyoke. This ceremony commemorated the placement of the final support beam on the frame of the future new building. This is a major milestone in the school’s construction, and I am excited to see this progress after years of work and collaboration on the state and local level. I alongside many of my fellow local leaders from the Paper City cannot wait to see the students of Holyoke fill the new building’s future classrooms in the Fall of 2025.
The Westfield Woman’s Club held their annual Tea Party at Stanley Park on Wednesday afternoon. This is one of my favorite events of the year and it benefits a group that has done so much for the City of Westfield throughout its history. I was honored to have presented a citation to Cynthia Neary, who earned the distinguishment of this year’s Westfield Womans’ Club Honoree for all her hard work given to the club and to our Westfield community as a whole. Congratulations Cynthia and thank you for all that you do!
I would also like to extend a welcome to the CubeSmart storage facility in Holyoke who just had their grand opening on Thursday where my team was proud to present them with a citation while I was out in Boston for the Senate’s Housing Bond Bill debate. It’s always great to have new businesses moving into our communities and I wish them the best of luck.
This week my team hosted office hours on Monday at the Westfield COA, on Tuesday at the Russell COA, and on Wednesday at the Southampton COA. This upcoming week we will be at the Agawam COA on Monday July 1st 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) 572-3920, and you can find me online at senatorjohnvelis.com.
Sincerely,
John Velis