Donations Archive 2 - Bedford Men's Club

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Bedford Men's Club Vice President Bob Friedburg (back right) stands with members of the Bedford Tech Tonix robotics team.

The Bedford Men’s Club is proud to support the Bedford Tech Tonix robotics team. In 2016, the club donated funds to purchase their playing field. In 2017, the Bedford Men's Club repeated their support with a donation that was used to buy components to construct this year's robot challenge.

The program was founded by inventor and entrepreneur Dean Kamen, who is also a Bedford resident, in order to help students learn about the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math through hands-on learning and interdisciplinary experience in the field of robotics. It also provides an opportunity for group members to learn skills beyond STEM including marketing, fundraising, and team building.

The Bedford Men's Club sponsors the keynote speaker at the Ross A. Lurgio Stand By Me workshop.

Pictured are Lugio Principal Ed Joyce (left), BMC President Dante D'Amato (right) and Stand By Me student committee members.

The Bedford Men’s Club has provided a donation to sponsor the keynote speaker at the Ross A. Lurgio Middle School’s Stand By Me workshop to be held Friday, May 19, 2017, at Southern New Hampshire University. All seventh grade students are invited and encouraged to attend. The mission of the event, which was established in 1990, is to provide teenagers and their parents with the opportunity and skills for improvement of understanding and communication, thereby building or enhancing trust and self-esteem. The speaker, Mike Weber, lives in New Hampshire and has spent the past 25 years working all over the the world helping individuals and organizations to change how they think, work better together, and have more fun doing it.

Dante D’Amato, BMC President, said, “The club has been proud to support the keynote speaker for many years. My own children attended Stand By Me, and they, along with my wife and me, learned a lot about how to navigate the teenage years.”

For more information, visit www.sau25.net/standbyme.

Deca Logo

The Bedford Men’s Club provided a donation to Bedford High School’s DECA club to assist with expenses for their April trip to the International Career Development Conference in Anaheim, Caif. Twenty-nine BHS students will join more than 16,000 DECA members from six countries at the conference. “We’re grateful to the Men’s Club for their continued support for our organization. Their sponsorship helps us to promote DECA’s belief in competition and in offering awards and recognition to student members and advisors for outstanding accomplishments,” said Christina Wilczewski, BHS business teacher and DECA advisor.

Fifty BHS students attended the DECA State Career Development Conference in this year, when BHS received 56 total medals, including four team medals, and 23 top-three finishers. Students compete in business presentations, tests, and case scenarios designed to showcase their management and entrepreneurial skills. Areas of competition include accounting, retailing, management, marketing, hospitality, sports and entertainment, and more than 20 marketing and management areas. Bedford High School DECA was established in 2011, and is the largest chapter in New Hampshire at the high school level. For more information visit www.nhdeca.org and to see the conversation from this year’s conference follow #DECAICDC on Twitter.

DECA is non-profit career-tech organization for high school students who are enrolled in marketing, business, and business-related courses. It is a curriculum-based, leadership-focused organization that offers students a chance to develop their business, entrepreneurial, and management skills as well as develop social and team-building capabilities. DECA prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality and management. DECA enhances the preparation for college and careers by providing co-curricular programs that integrate into classroom instruction, apply learning, connect to business and promote competition

The Bedford Men's Club presents a donation to the Bedford High School DECA Club to assist with their expenses to travel to the International Career Development Conference in Anaheim, Calif.

Pictured are Christina Wilczewski, DECA Advisor (left), Dante D'Amato, BMC President (right) and DECA students.

Pictured are Penny Demos, Bob Friedburg, Robert Kennett, and Harun. Penny is the Occupational Therapist working with Harun, Bob is VP of the Bedford Men’s Club, and Robert is coordinating the technology to give Harun his new hand.

The Bedford Men’s Club proudly made a donation to the Future Prosthetic Project. The Academy for Science and Design in Nashua and e-NABLE are working to develop 3D printed prosthetic hands and arms for those in need of an upper limb assistive device. Harun, a student at Peter Woodbury School who was born without a right hand, will be the first recipient.

Here's a video of him getting a mold made in preparation for the device:
https://youtu.be/nz1kS9mUbwc

Here's another video, showing the creation of the prosthetic and The Academy for Science and Design's presentation to Harun:
https://www.facebook.com/asdnh/videos/1339104132804671/

Bedford Men's Club President, Dante D'Amato, poses with members of the Stand by Me Student Committee. Front row: Isabela, Erica, Ava U., Maya, Ava D., Lauren, Carly, Kayla. Back row: Kenzy B., Bella, Stella, Dante D’Amato, Dylan, Hayden.

The Bedford Men's Club sponsored the opening speaker at the Ross A. Lurgio Middle School 2018 Stand by Me program. BMC President, Dante D'Amato, said, "The BMC has been proud to support the keynote speaker for many years. My own children attended Stand By Me and learned a lot about how to navigate the teenage years. It's gratifying to see so many young people on the student committee volunteering their time to help out with this great event.”

Stand by Me volunteer Karla Polce said, "We want to thank the Men's Club for their many years of sponsorship. We are grateful for their support for our workshops."

This year's Stand by Me event was held on May 18 at Southern New Hampshire University. The mission of Stand by Me is to provide teenagers and their parents with the opportunity and skills for improvement of understanding and communication, thereby building or enhancing trust and self-esteem. In doing so, they help parents and teenagers deal more effectively with the issues and concerns faced by today’s families. We believe that we accomplish this mission by offering a wide variety of interactive workshops administered by leading New England psychologists, educators and other professionals. For more information, visit www.sau25.net/standbyme.

The Bedford Men's Club made a donation to help Bedford schools' Destination Imagination teams travel to the 2017 Global Finals in Knoxville, Tenn.

Destination Imagination is a non-profit organization that provides educational programs for students to learn and experience creativity, teamwork and problem solving. Every year, 2,000 students from New Hampshire participate on some level. There are over 1.3 million Destination Imagination alumni around the world.

BMC President Dante D'Amato poses with students from Peter Woodbury elementary school and Ross A. Lurgio Middle School.

The Bedford Men's Club has made a donation to support the Bedford Destination Imagination trip to the Global Finals that begin on May 23 at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Bedford schools will send to the competition 54 students in eight teams. Global Finals include 8,000 students from 48 states, ten Canadian provinces and 28 foreign countries. BMC President Dante D'Amato said, "The club has been proud to support Bedford DI teams for may years. We admire their hard work and many accomplishments, including sending so many teams to the Global Finals this year."

Bedford DI teams include students from grades three through ten. In the New Hampshire state competition, which was held at Bedford High School on April 7, nine Bedford teams earned the opportunity to proceed to the Global Finals, including two Bedford Teams who won first place in their events. The state finals brought the 104 best-scoring teams to face off during challenges in science, technology, engineering, visual arts, improvisation and service learning. "Bedford DI wants to thank the Bedford Men's Club for their on-going support for the past many years," said Beth Soederberg, DI team co-manager.

Destination Imagination is a leading-edge organization dedicated to teaching participants the essential skills of creativity, teamwork, and problem solving. To meet the critical educational need to teach students how to be world-class innovators and critical thinkers, Destination Imagination provides a number of extraordinary “hands-on and minds-on” experiences. Participants learn how to communicate their experiences to others. For more information, visit nh-di.org.

BMC President Dante D'Amato, Emily O'Brien, Lavinia Nash, Matt Helmke, Mitchel Soederberg

The Bedford Men’s Club supported the music festival at the 2018 Bedford Olde Towne Day. From left to right: Dante D’Amato, BMC President; Harry Kozlowsi, WBNH-LP Program Director and music festival organizer; Bill Jennings, Station Manager of WBNH-LP and Bedford Community Television; and Chris Gentry, BCTV Broadcast Production Organizer.

The Bedford Men’s Club supported the music festival at Bedford Olde Town Day on September 22, 2018. Since 1994, groups of local organizations and businesses in town have hosted a festive afternoon with fun for all ages.

“We are grateful to the BMC for supporting the music festival and the Jimmy Lehoux Band’s performance,” said Harry Kozlowski, of WBNH-LP 105.1, Bedford's community radio station. The non-commercial station provides timely and accurate emergency information and programming that is entertaining and educational for the benefit of people living and working in Bedford.

“We had sponsored a bounce house for many years,” said Dante D’Amato, BMC President. “When Harry came to us for help with the music festival, we thought we would try something different and the festival was a big success.”

The Bedford Men’s Club sponsored the EMT at the tenth annual Easter Egg Hunt Festival hosted by the Our Promise to Nicholas charitable foundation. The event was held on March 31 at the New Hampshire Sportsplex in Bedford. “Thank you so much for your donation,” OPTN board member and co-founder Heather Noyes Dainiak told BMC president Dante D’Amato, who went on to say, “The Men’s Club is proud to support this local event by sponsoring the on-site EMT.”

Established in 2009 as a nonprofit charitable foundation, Our Promise to Nicholas (OPTN) was founded by Chris and Heather Dainiak of Bedford after their son Nicholas was diagnosed with a rare, fatal neurological brain disease called Batten Disease. Nicholas’ parents promised him that they would work tirelessly to find a cure for this little known disease. OPTN has hosted dozens of fundraisers and events to champion the mission to cure Batten Disease. An estimated two to four children out of 100,000 in the United States are affected with this debilitating disease. This disease triggers seizures, blindness and immobility causing children to die between the ages of eight and twelve. For more information, see ourpromisetonicholas.com.

BMC president Dante D’Amato (center), and OPTN board members and co-founders Chris (left) and Heather Heather Dainiak (right), with a photo of their son, Nicholas, who lost his battle with Batten Disease in 2014.

The Bedford Men’s Club proudly sponsored the Police, Fire, and EMT details at the 11th annual Easter Egg Hunt Festival hosted by the Our Promise to Nicholas charitable foundation. The event was held on April 13, 2019 at the New Hampshire Sportsplex in Bedford.

BMC member Patrick Ellis and his son Graham with OPTN board members and co-founders Heather and Chris Dainiak.

Bedford Men's Club President, Bob Friedburg (back center), poses with members of the 2018-19 Stand by Me program.

The Bedford Men's Club sponsored speakers and workshops at the Ross A. Lurgio Middle School 2019 Stand by Me event. Our support of the Stand By Me program goes back many years and has become an annual club tradition.

Stand by Me volunteer Beth Fitzgerald said, "Thank you again for the donation to our Stand By Me event! It is important for our students to experience the logistics of creating such an event and even more importantly how we couldn't offer this day of workshops without the support of the Bedford community."

The mission of Stand by Me is to provide teenagers and their parents with the opportunity and skills for improvement of understanding and communication, thereby building or enhancing trust and self-esteem. In doing so, they help parents and teenagers deal more effectively with the issues and concerns faced by today’s families. We believe that we accomplish this mission by offering a wide variety of interactive workshops administered by leading New England psychologists, educators and other professionals. For more information, visit www.sau25.net/standbyme.

Ethan_Kemp_Eagle_Project_at_BYPC_Hillside_path_and_railing_1__1729085881.jpg

The finished footpath and handrail installed at BYPC. The path from the BYPC classrooms to the rear parking lot and playground is very steep and was eroding. The new footpath and railing provides safety for students, staff, and families.

Eagle Scout Projects sponsered by the Bedford Men's Club

Recently, the Bedford Men's Club had the honor to support two local Eagle Scout projects. As part of their requirements to earn the rank of Eagle Scout, Scouts need to plan, execute, and lead a service project that benefits their community.

The Bedford Men's Club is a proud sponser of local organizations making a positive impact in the Bedford NH community. Both Scouts did fantastic jobs and many people will enjoy their contributions.

The finished Adirondack chairs located at the farm stand at the Education Farm at Joppa Hill. The four chairs are now available for visitors to relax in as they enjoy coffee or other treats purchased at the farm stand.

Friends of Aine

Christine Phillips, Friends of Aine Co-Founder, and Dante D'Amato, BMC Director of Public Relations, pose at the finish line after the Kids' Try-Athlon Swim-Bike-Run-Fun event in Bedford.

Christine said, "I want to thank the BMC for their continued financial support to our organization and for their volunteer efforts. The kids had lots of exercise and a great time." The event was held August 15 2021 at the Bedford High School, Town Pool, and Riley Field to benefit the Friends of Aine organization.

Friends of Aine Information

The Bedford Men's Club sponsored the Friends of Aine 2017 Kid's Try-athlon. From left to right: Event volunteers Lauren Turner, Sue Turner (who call themselves "The Outlaws") and BMC President Dante D'Amato.

The Bedford Men's Club made a donation to the Friends of Aine 2017 and 2018 Kid's Try-athlon events, held in Bedford at the town pool and Bedford High School. The event is a swim, bike and run race for all kids ages 4 to 15, no matter their athletic ability. It is an opportunity for kids to experience a race without the pressures of worrying if they can make the distances or not – designed so that everyone is triumphant! Friends of Aine co-founder Christine Phillips said, "Words aren’t enough to thank the Men's Club for your help last year. and thank you so very much for your support again this year. The Bedford Mens Club is vital to our success and we are grateful!"

The Friends of Aine is a non-profit organization who's mission is to raise funds to support bereavement programs for children, provide a place to house these services and be a grief resource center for community organizations and families. For more information, visit www.friendsofaine.com.

BEDFORD MEN'S CLUB Belonging Means Caring

BEDFORD MEN'S CLUB
Belonging Means Caring