Thank you Team Harrison

To the Editor:

Wow. It was a busy week for Harrison Parks and Recreation beginning with the annual Halloween Festival, the opening of the Rec. Café during Election Day and the monthly Senior Social and Luncheon.

Only a dedicated, hard-working and enthusiastic extra-large team of volunteers could make two special events and a fundraiser happen with great success.

A huge heartfelt thank you to DJ Mitchell Lisowski Music & More for entertaining kids and parents with music, smoke and lights and to the following people who helped bake, set up/decorate, supervise all the games and bounce house, judged costumes, the refreshment table and clean up during the Halloween Festival at the Fire Station:

Tracy Card, Doug Holt, Agnes Bage, Courtney Card, Skylar Kennison, Austin Gagne, Dimitri DiBiase, Brandon Nile, Dylan Casey, Spencer Hurd, Theresa Wilson, Harrison Northeast Bank Ladies: Laurie Kidd and Donna Pagel, Arlin and Peggy Bigelow, Kelly Howard, Chris Anderson, Dawn Lisowski, Whitney and Charlene Schieferstein, Mona Ross, Jess DiBiase, Kristie Lowe, Jim Lowe and Bud Finch.

Thank you to Bill and Darcy Winslow of High View Farm for delivering and picking up 20 bales of hay and to Judy and Jim Coburn for donating cornstalks as well as to Dan Cousins of Pietree Orchard for donating pumkins.

Special thanks to our Harrison Youth Boosters for their continued financial support and to our firemen Dana Laplante, Al Lisowski, Jeff Murphy, Alan Denison, Ray Laplante, Lynn Foss, Dick Scheiferstein, Mo Kautz, Paul Guidi and Mike DiBiase for moving the fire trucks in and out of the bays as well as help with cleanup and placing fire trucks in town with some of the above volunteer firemen slowing traffic and watching over kids and parents to ensure everyone’s safety.

Congratulations to the Guess Jar Winner Rylynne. Our costume winners were Mike Sclafani (Scariest), Jeff Worster (Most Imaginative) Lila Landers (Funniest) and Catrina Wilson (Wildest).

The Harrison Rec. Café opened six days later ready to sell homemade food to our voters. With the help from all our local cooks, bakers, and volunteer workers who provided excellent customer service as well as some office staff who washed 15 crock pots and other dishes, we generated $1,236.50 for the parks and recreation department which will benefit residents of all ages.

This is a phenomenal amount of money in one day and I owe it all to the following people:

A huge thank you to April Frank, Judy Colburn, Mary Tremblay, Penny Bean, Kelly Howard, Martha Merrill, Tracy Card, Florence Ward, Peggy Bigelow, Arlin Bigelow, Lolita Chisholm, Sheila Baxter, Muffett Crowell, Dawn Lisowski, Linda Kellough Gazza, Barry Richardson, Lynn Guerin, Deb Bell, Roberta Scribner, Brian Spaulding, Bill Winslow, Robin VanKirk, Ann Macro, Renee Joyce, Susan Searles Gazza, Tricia Cook, Pat Sutherland, Opal Gardner, Tammy Anderson, Beverly Martin, Cathy McMahon, Jessica DiBiase, Toni Fuller, Martha Pinkham, Deb McBride, Julie Murphy, Joanne Sullivan, Patti Curran and Dianne Jackson.

Big thanks to Bill (Willis) Robbins of RW Merrill Electric for installing a temporary electrical system so we wouldn’t blow a fuse plugging in all the crock pots and other appliances.

Also to our Town Manager Bud Finch, John Wentworth and Richard Jennings for helping me get the café ready.

And only two days later was the Parks and Rec Senior Social and Luncheon. With the help from dedicated volunteers who made the pumpkin pies and/or helped serve, assist with games, call Bingo and helped with clean up were Kelly Howard, Lisa Winslow, Sue Carr, Linda Kellough Gazza, April Frank, Dianne Jackson, our Town Manager Bud Finch, Barbara Catalli and Don and Jackie Davis, we served a delicious Thanksgiving Shepherd’s Pie and played a variety of games with 36 senior adults at the community room.

Congratulations to the game winners and guess jar winner. Thank you Harrison Lion’s Club for sponsoring this month’s social as they have done in the past.

Harrison Lion Charlene Goranitis was our guest speaker and informed everyone about the Canine Companions for Independence Program. There are four types of dogs placed through the program:

Service dogs for the disabled, Hearing dogs for the deaf or hearing impaired, Skilled companions for children and adults with severe disabilities and facility dogs for professionals that go into rehabilitation facilities, special ed. classrooms etc.

For more information about this wonderful program contact 647-9438.

Thank you everyone.

Paula J. Holt

Recreation Director