Murdock High School Blue Devils Make Turkey Bowl History!

Congratulations to Murdock High School Blue Devils for winning the Turkey Bowl on Thursday, November 24 and becoming the Turkey Bowl Champs for the first time in 15 years! The game was played at Narangansett High School and the final score was 29-28. Great job!

Decommissioning of Whites Mill Pond Dam to Begin in Early December

by Inanna Arthen
At their meeting on Monday, November 28, Town Manager Justin Sultzbach updated the Board of Selectmen about the decommissioning of the dam at Whites Mill Pond by the Whites Mills, as was discussed at their previous meeting (see "Town Manager Updates BOS on Movement Forward With Whites Mills" in the November 24-December 1, 2022 edition of the Winchendon Courier.)

"The decommissioning at the dam and Whites Mill Pond went before the Conservation Commission several years ago. At that time, there was an effort to halt work on the property, but it was overruled by the Massachusetts Superior Court," Mr. Sultzbach said. He and Department of Public Works Director Brian Croteau had met with representatives of the property owner and the contractors "who are taking the lead in this initiative" on November 17.

Mr. Sultzbach stated that "from this point, the town's largely working as advocates for residents in the surrounding area, this is court ordered and does need to move forward. So we are also working to ensure that the contractor for this project is regularly communicating with us as much as possible. This will allow us to properly notify the community as the project moves forward. At this time, the contractor is expecting to begin work in early December with restoration to occur throughout the winter and spring."

Showing a diagram of the dam, Mr. Sultzbach said, "The plan essentially calls for, if you ever walked back there, this section...where you can kind of walk over the dam, what they're planning on doing is removing this section, so that the channel will just go directly through instead of kind of jogging over and out that way. So as part of that they're going to be building steps into the hillside. And it really should be fairly low impact."

The contractor doing the work is SumCo Eco-Contracting, a firm with historical ties to the White family, Mr. Sultzbach said.

In response to questions, Mr. Croteau confirmed that the water flows out of Lake Monomonac, which will not be affected at all as it has two dams controlling its water level. Whites Mill Pond, as created by the Whites Mill dam, begins after the second lake dam.

HEAL Team Updates BOS on Progress Toward Full-Service Grocery Store

by Inanna Arthen
At their meeting on Monday, November 28, the Board of Selectmen heard a presentation from members of HEAL Winchendon on their progress toward establishing a full-service retail grocery store in Winchendon. HEAL has been working with consultants and exploring possible business models, and asked the Board to sign a letter of support for the project.

HEAL Resident Leader Inanna Arthen began by introducing the request and giving a quick recap. "We're asking the Board of Selectmen to sign a letter of support for the grocery store project. We're asking you to prioritize it to support our identification and procurement of funding, and to provide us with guidance as to how to most effectively engage town departments and boards. We know that town engagement is critical to our success, and we're very excited to be engaging the town further in this project," they said.

After the IGA closed unexpectedly in January of 2017, two other regional grocery store chains looked at the potential for opening a store in that location and determined that it would not be viable for their business model. HEAL has been looking at "how we could leverage our collective assets to meet what people in Winchendon were saying they really wanted," Mx. Arthen said. With an existing relationship with New Venture Advisors (NVA), a business consultancy firm specializing in food system planning and sustainable food business development, HEAL engaged NVA to do a study "to answer a two part question: would a grocery store be viable in Winchendon? And then what features would make it successful? And they looked at the trade area, the interest level in town, distribution opportunities, and formats and ownership models to consider. So you see that at this point, for the last twelve months, we've really been digging deep into some serious metrics and details about what kind of business model really might work."

HEAL member Minna Scholten continued with an explanation of the surveys and studies that had been done. The first study collected 293 responses from Winchendon residents. 43 percent of these residents stated that they had been told they needed to change their diets for health reasons. 25 percent of residents reported that their primary food sources are food pantries, convenience stores and the Family Dollar store, within walking distance. 11 percent of Winchendon residents do not have personal vehicles.

In the second survey, held this year to gauge interest in shopping at a local store, 91 percent of the 309 respondents said they would shop at a local full-service grocery store in town. Using industry-standard averages, Ms. Scholten explained, NVA ran the numbers and found that factoring in rent, market share for the area and potential sales, Winchendon could support a store of approximately 8,000 square feet in size. "This translates to 1,000 people using the store as their primary shopping location, spending about $75 per person per week," Ms. Scholten said. "And really what that means is that in order to make this store a reality and make it viable, we need to pursue all opportunities to minimize rental and mortgage costs, and perhaps the town can provide some assistance and support with this by providing economic incentives, or if a property came up, even providing that as well."

HEAL member Miranda Jennings then described what Winchendon residents wanted from a full-service grocery store, including good quality products, pantry staples and household supplies, convenience foods, locally produced products and competitive pricing. Top priorities for the store location are parking, easily accessible to residents and close to the town center. Ms. Jennings pointed out all the elements in the regional supply chain that a local store could draw on, including regional distribution companies, the Local Food Works distribution and processing center for regional producers opening in Gardner early next year, local farms and producers, the Winchendon Maker Space and the youth-run Sunshine Cafe.

After considering numerous business models for a store presented by NVA, from privately owned to co-op, HEAL concluded that a public-private partnership was the best fit for Winchendon, Ms. Scholten said. Ms. Jennings continued, "it's a really special opportunity and it could be to get an amazing store, that's so much more than a store." It could include offices, community space, a teaching kitchen, gardens outside, be an EPA-certified healthy building, and more.

"We're investigating opportunities to deeply engage the community in a participatory design project process and an architectural plan. And this would entail working with an architectural firm specializing in participatory design and healthy green design that fits with Winchendon," Ms. Jennings said. "We just got word about two hours ago that Perkins&Will, which is one of the top ten largest architectural firms in the world, has offered to do an architectural plan for this project for Winchendon, for free, as part of their pro bono work. And I'd like to publicly thank Dr. Erika Eitland, who's a Winchendon resident and on our [Master Plan Implementation Committee] for making that connection for us."

The next step is to identify a location for the store, whether this involves renovating an existing building or new construction on a vacant lot. The HEAL team has gone out and toured several sites. "We're continuing to engage with the Winchendon Redevelopment Authority, with various property owners in town, and with the town itself to find a location. We're open to all kinds of suggestions, we're open to surprises, we welcome any suggestions that the Board may have to give us and any creative ideas," Mx. Arthen said.

The next steps, Mx. Arthen went on, include a "Buy Local" campaign, developing an active town partnership, working with the Town's Master Plan, finding a location that will benefit the town as a whole as well as the project, conducting a participatory design process "so we have something that really matches what people in this town want to see here," developing a pragmatic business plan and hiring an operator with solid experience in running a diversified retail enterprise.

Board Vice Chair Rick Ward asked if HEAL had researched the reasons that past food stores, such as the IGA and the meat market, went out of business, and whether a new store could have competitive prices with big supermarkets in Rindge and Gardner. Ayn Yeagle of Growing Places rose to explain that the reasons for past stores closing were multiple and complicated, and have happened in other towns besides Winchendon. While a local store might not compete in prices with Walmart, a local store can compete with supermarkets without requiring time and gas to drive there. In survey response priorities, "time and time again, quality was actually the number one, it was not affordability in price," Ms. Yeagle said. "And so what we're looking at is the quality, and then the second is price. So it needs to be comparable." In addition, Ms. Yeagle pointed out, WIC benefits for Massachusetts residents can't be used in New Hampshire stores.

There was further discussion about how the town could support the project and be fair to existing businesses in town. Ms. Yeagle explained that Beth Hunt, owner of Not Just Produced, has been part of the HEAL Coalition since it started, and HEAL has worked with her to obtain grant money for equipment, as well as the ability to accept SNAP, HIP and WIC in her store. "This is not in competition with Beth actually, it's in synergy with that," Ms. Yeagle said. "And also, one of the major components of this is Buy Local Culture. So in order to really do this and make it a Community Food Project, every community business who would like to be involved will be at the table and have a seat."

Board members expressed concerns about supporting the request for HEAL asking the town for funding (understanding that they are not approving any funding, just supporting a future request). Town Manager Justin Sultzbach said they did need to be careful, but "the town already does contribute to non-town entities. The CAC, for example, is not a town entity. The Clark is not a town entity. And so I would think in the same instance of it's using similar funding sources, both of those annually go through our annual budget. So once again, it's that the Board could support that. But it would be with the understanding that we probably have to go before the larger public body at a Town Meeting."

Selectman Amy Salter said she was impressed by what HEAL has done. "The other thing I would say, because I grew up here, just thinking, and I know a lot of things have changed. But I grew up in a time where, like, we had one car, and if my dad was working, we didn't have a car. So, we used to walk down to the grocery store and buy groceries. And I know, there are people in that same situation now, and they don't have access. So I know what it's like."

The Board voted 3-0 in favor of signing the letter of support (Selectmen Danielle LaPointe and Barbara Anderson were not present).

Winchendon's Carly Antonellis Appointed to GFA's Board of Directors

Gardner, MA - GFA Federal Credit Union is pleased to announce the appointment of Carly M. Antonellis to its Board of Directors. The Board of Directors is comprised of a volunteer team of community leaders who are committed to providing a shared understanding of the mission, vision, and how to best serve the evolving needs of the Credit Union's members.

"We are honored that Carly has agreed to serve as a member of our Board of Directors. She possesses the business insight and commitment to community necessary for the responsibilities of this Board," said Douglas R. Delay, Chairman of the Board of Directors, "we are confident that her leadership will be a great addition to GFA's ongoing success and strategy."

Antonellis, a Winchendon resident, currently serves as the Assistant Town Manager for the Town of Ayer, bringing over a decade of financial management, strategic planning, and organizational development to the credit union's Board of Directors. She holds a Master of Science in Public Affairs from the University of Massachusetts, Boston.

Members of GFA Federal Credit Union's Board of Directors include Douglas R. Delay, Chief Governance Officer; Mark P. Hawke, Vice Chairman; JoAnne Parks, Clerk; Gerald L. Bankowski; Charles P. Bowles; Elaine T. Fluet; Michael T. Horrigan; Heather Isaacs; John Richard; Tina M. Sbrega.

About GFA Federal Credit Union
Established in 1938, GFA Federal Credit Union stands as one of the last original financial institutions in the Gardner area, with more than $660 million in assets and ten convenient full-service branch locations throughout Massachusetts and Southern New Hampshire. GFA offers personal and business banking, home mortgages, student loans, investment management, and insurance services. For more information please visit gfafcu.com.

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