Hello everyone,
I hope you all had a restful week after all the exciting events that took place last weekend! Later today I am excited to be back on the basketball court at the Norris Elementary School in Southampton to help support pediatric cancer research in memory of Maddie Schmidt.
This week I spent a great deal of time crisscrossing the district to attend a variety of community events and even made it out to the State House to rally support for a bill I sponsored this session, An Act Relative To Endometriosis Awareness. If you asked me a few years ago, what Endometriosis was I truthfully would not have been able to tell you. However, after having it hit close to home, I’ve gotten to learn more about this commonly misunderstood, and often misdiagnosed, illness that impacts over 6.5 million women in the U.S.. On Wednesday Senator Robyn Kennedy, Representative Sabadosa, Representative Hendricks, and I held a special briefing with some of the top women health experts to raise awareness about Endometriosis amongst my colleagues and ask for their support of our legislation to bring together a task force to recommend what more we can do to further research.
Also, on Wednesday Team Velis joined Urban Co-Works, Holyoke’s newest coworking space provider, to celebrate their grand opening! Team Velis was proud to share a citation from the Senate to recognize this momentous occasion and to extend my best wishes for success.
Today is National Vietnam War Veterans Day, a day where we honor and remember our Vietnam Veterans, those still Missing in Action, and their families. I am grateful to the Chicopee Veteran Service Office for inviting me to their fifth annual Vietnam Veterans Remembrance event on Thursday afternoon to remembering all who we have lost, those surviving families and all who have served during the Vietnam War. I can still vividly remember returning home from Afghanistan where some of the very first people to welcome us all home were Vietnam Veterans despite all that they endured here at home when they returned home from deployments. To all those who served in Vietnam thank you for your service and Welcome Home my friends!
This week Team Velis hosted office hours in Westfield, Russell, and Southampton. Next week there will be no formal office hours, however, please do not hesitate to stop into my district office located at 94 North Elm St. in Westfield if my team can provide any assistance. If you are unable to make it over in-person, 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. 
Best, 
John Velis