Wrentham, Massachusetts, Nashua, New Hampshire and The Cape of Cod

Even though the luggage had arrived, Katherina and Mia were itching to do some shopping and since the Merrimack Outlets didn’t open for another week, we needed to head down to the Wrentham Outlets in order to meet all of their shopping needs.  “Buy more save more…”  echoed from the trees surrounding the complex that bragged 170 stores (http://www.premiumoutlets.com/outlets/outlet.asp?id=10), and after getting them settled into their schedule for the day, I vowed to return later that night.   

I, in the mean time would drive to Nashua, New Hampshire where there was a going away party for my former principal, Chuck Healey.  Chuck and I worked together for 7 years back in the 90’s when my dreams and our ministry were young, and I tried to stay in touch with my Fairgrounds friends through the years.  Chuck had accepted a job as principal in Worcester, MA and as I made my way back to Nashua all of the experiences that we shared over the 7 years came flooding back.  All of the students we served and teachers we collaborated with… my head thumped to remember them all.  We dealt with so much on a daily basis there.  When I think back on that time, sometimes we experienced the nightmarish realities of some of the darkest parts of people’s lives, but we worked hard through the night to bring our students a better day. 

At the reception, Chuck spoke sincerely about his dream that our school would be a community center.  Putting a laundry facility at the school would have pulled the families more into the school and helped them to invest in their children’s educational experiences.  The Laundry Mat never happened, but apparently a food pantry did.  The faculty and staff presented Chuck with a new sign to the food pantry that read, “The Chuck Healey Food Pantry.”  Once we can help students and their families meet their basic needs, then they can dream another dream.  The Chuck Healey Food Pantry will help our FES students to dream their dreams, one bag of groceries at a time.

When I returned to the Outlets, Mia and Katherina were still going strong.  Although they didn’t achieve their goal of making it to each store, their tired and happy arms carried all of the packages to our awaiting van.  This day was not done though.  Now, we would drive to New Seabury  (http://www.newseabury.com/) in Mashpee, Massachusetts on Cape Cod.  Sweet dreams…