APRIL
SPOTLIGHT
The March of Dimes seeks to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature births and infant mortality. It was formed in 1938 by President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, to respond to the problem of infantile paralysis (polio), which was an epidemic of that time. In 1955 the Salk vaccine was declared "safe, effective and potent" to stop polio. Throughout its history the March of Dimes has funded successful research to create solutions for helping babies be healthy and thrive.
Prematurity is an epidemic today, rising by 41% in Massachusetts in the last 10 years. In 1970, the first WalkAmerica began to raise money to fund research, education and advocacy toward the day when every baby is born healthy. The walk continues today with thousands of volunteers leading the way. WalkAmerica for Cape Cod, the Islands, and Plymouth County is scheduled for April 29th at the Canal Park in Buzzards Bay. For information and to sign up go to www.walkamerica.org. Or, call the Hyannis office at 508-790-1093.
Every day, babies fight for their lives. And every day the March of Dimes helps them win. |
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In Search of a Cause
by Allen Larson
 There are very positive signs that a concept of real community benefit to the Cape is starting to take hold. The idea is simply to use the Internet to improve the network across which information about specific needs in our community can be connected to individuals who possess the knowledge, experience, and interest to respond.
Traditionally, news organizations have been the most regular, reliable, and timely providers of information that defines our broad interests and priorities. And though news reports also serve to link a particular individual to a cause or event, the specific interests of the population as a whole are not so chronicled. For this type of information, government agencies traditionally have collected the facts about our lives from birth to death, but these records are protected by rights of privacy and other security interests that limit their accessibility.
More recently, the ability to connect broad interests of a community to the specific skills of a person within that community has improved because of the World Wide Web and our increasing use of the Internet. Now, our capacity to connect an individual's specific skills to a broader need is conceivable to the extent that a person chooses to make himself or herself available. MORE
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Lewis Bay
by BBS
As recently as 35 years ago, Lewis Bay was a sleepy coastal area with a small year-round population. Over the years, all of Cape Cod has seen a dramatic increase in the number of year-round and seasonal residents and a dangerous decline in the viability of native marine life. For example, nearby Hyannis is now a major industrial port with millions of recreational and commercial vehicles and individuals in the water each year impacting the surrounding areas.
The impact of millions of users of the ocean waters of Cape Cod is undeniable. Public fisheries have been mismanaged and over-fished, and many historical shellfish beds have closed because of pollution that includes numerous non-point sources that are difficult to identify and more difficult to control. Many areas have been affected by changed ecosystems due to human encroachment and pollution, such as changes in algal species, reduced oxygen in the summer, more algal growth and higher bacterial levels. While these changes and levels may not be harmful to humans, they can be detrimental or deadly to marine life.
Lewis Bay has not been spared from the negative impacts of increased pollution in Cape Cod. MORE
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How Do your Projects Measure Up?
by Editor
The Sustainability Scorecard is a simple tool that an organization can easily utilize during the planning process. It allows an organization to compare various project possibilities within the context of sustainability by aggregating the extent to which they touch on each of the sustainability indicators. Whether an organization is a college campus or a governmental agency or a nonprofit, this scoring can help in the prioritization of projects and/or in the budgeting of resources, volunteers or otherwise. MORE
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