Natick Report

More than you really want to know about Natick, Mass.

Natick residents ready for Pan-Mass Challenge 2022

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On Aug.6 and 7 cyclists from Natick and well beyond will embark on rides ranging from 25 to 210 miles for the Pan-Mass Challenge. The annual PMC raises money for research at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and is the highest grossing athletic fund raising event in the country. 

The Pan-Mass Challenge has 16 official routes, including seven that start in Wellesley at Babson College. The routes are supported by volunteers who run water stations, hand out food to riders, and check participants in at the start. This weekend the PMC will boast 6,800 riders and 3,000 volunteers, and has currently raised just over $35 million, with a goal of raising $66 million total.

This is a big step up from the original ride, which had only 36 riders and 10 volunteers. Even with those small numbers, the event was able to raise $10,200 for Dana-Farber. This initial event was organized by Wellesley’s Billy Starr, who was inspired to start the PMC after he lost his mother to cancer. He continues to organize and head the PMC.

Like Starr, many cyclists either ride because they have had cancer, or because of a loved one who has battled the disease. 

Among Natick’s cyclists is Martha Gold, a PMC rider since 2001. In 2004, she  formed the Stem Cell Cyclists team in honor of her sister, who died from cancer after receiving a stem cell transplant. She also rides to support her husband, who is treated at Dana-Farber for Lymphoma, in this case  a side effect from radiation from Prostate Cancer.

martha gold pmc

 

Ways to donate, including in the name of specific riders, can be found here

These Natick residents are listed as participants:

  • Eric Berman
  • David Boyarsky
  • Lisa Burns
  • Patrick Cavanagh
  • Steven Cohen
  • Mike Cohn
  • Linc Cornell
  • Lois Cornell
  • Doug Crossley
  • Natali Gingrasfield
  • Glen Glater
  • Martha Gold
  • Bill Grogan
  • David Hiller
  • Melissa Jacoby
  • Robin Kostin
  • Pamela Landis
  • James Liebowitz
  • Andrew Lydon
  • Connor Lydon
  • John Manning
  • Jonathan Migdol
  • Dan OConnor
  • Jeff Olsen
  • Patrick Olski
  • Stacey Parikh
  • Grafton Pease
  • John Portnoy
  • Michael Price
  • Denise Rosenblum
  • Owen Searle
  • Virginia Seery
  • John Smutko
  • Janet Snider
  • Karen Snyder
  • Larry Ziegler

Please send tips, photos, ideas to natickreport@gmail.com

Natick sports update: Redhawk Foundation donates $24K to youth groups; Pitcher Harney drafted by Rays; Summer soccer clinics to heat up; Heavy bag in the wild; Congrats to All-Scholastics

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Our roundup of the latest Natick, Mass., sports-related news:

Redhawk Foundation donates $24K

redhawk foundation

Groups benefiting include:

  • Natick Soccer Club

  • Natick Little League Youth Baseball and Softball

  • Natick Comets Youth Hockey

  • Natick Lacrosse

  • SPARK Kindness

  • Natick Novas

  • PATH

The sold-out 2022 Redhawk Cup is slated for Monday, Aug. 1 at Framingham Country Club at 1pm.

The Redhawk Foundation provides financial support to youth-focused organizations in Natick. Funds can be used toward registration fees, equipment upgrades, and improvement of fields and facilities. 

The Foundation was formed last year as a a fund of the Foundation for MetroWest by Jessica and Mike Allain and Natalie and Pete Warren, all of Natick.

Pete Warren says the Foundation has already made a significant impact, allowing kids to play sports and get involved in other activities even if their families have financial challenges. “This is good for their physical, social, and emotional health. They learn how to lose, how to be good winners and good sports,” Warren says.

Going forward, the Foundation will look to get the word out to more people, who may not realize resources are available for their children to participate in town activities.

Pitcher Harney drafted by Rays

Former Natick High School pitcher Sean Harney has been selected at #254 in the 8th round of the Major League Baseball draft by the Tampa Rays, a team known for cranking out pitchers.

Post-NHS, Harney went on to pitch for UMass, and most recently, the University of Kentucky, where this past season he impressed both by starting and closing games. This past season, Harney led the Wildcats in wins (5) and earned run average (2.62).

Heavy bag in the wild

I was pleasantly surprised to see, during a run through the fitness trail behind Leonard Morse Hospital on Union Street, the addition of a heavy bag to the pull-up/chin-up bars. I had way better luck hitting the bag than pulling or chinning myself up…

heavy big on leonard morse fitness trail

Summer soccer clinics to heat up

natick soccer club

Congrats to All-Scholastics

Two Natick High School athletes have been recognized as Boston Globe All-Scholastics for their spring sports season performances (subscription may be required to access Boston Globe article).

Natick All-Scholastics:

  • Kendall Jackson (boys volleyball)
  • Colby LeBlanc (boys lacrosse)

Many other Natick athletes were recognized for honorary mention or as all-stars.

Please send tips, photos, ideas to natickreport@gmail.com

Natick Business Buzz: Landry’s Bicycles celebrating 100 years

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Landry’s Bicycles has a couple hundred reasons to celebrate in 2022. First off, the company has served cyclists since 1922, so we’re talking about a 100-year anniversary. That’s big. Next, Landry’s full transition to an Employee Stock Ownership Plan, in the works since 2010, was completed this year, making the company 100% employee owned.

Tour de Natick

In addition, the eight-store business (you’re probably most familiar with the Natick location, route 9 eastbound) opened its newest store in Charlestown in January. So make that a couple-hundred-plus-one reasons to celebrate. Oh, and there’s also the late-2021 opening of the Cochituate Rail Trail, a project that Landry’s sponsors though maintenance of the four-mile shared-use path that connects Natick’s downtown with the Natick Mall area, crossing routes 9 and 30 to connect to Saxonville Village in Framingham. Landry’s helps finance rail trail needs such as mowing, signage, surface repairs, and general upkeep. So tack on yet another reason to celebrate.

It wasn’t so long ago that the pandemic seem determined to put a damper on the fun. Landry’s general manager Mark Gray in a phone interview said, “When COVID hit in 2020, the pandemic caused us to shut our front doors to keep people safe. But customers needed their bikes for their sanity. It was hard to conduct business.”

Citing a culture that encourages new ways of thinking, Gray told the story of how a new hire during on-boarding suggested implementing a workflow technology tool that would allow employees across the entire company the ability to better manage the challenges of operating while the doors were closed to both customers and staff. “We took this idea from a brand-new hire. The original owners built into the culture a sense of belonging and your ideas count. We still do that today.”

Out of the 150-250 total employees (the number fluctuates depending on the season), there are roughly 70-90 employee owners in the organization. To be an employee owner, you must work 1,000 hours per year and be 21 years of age or older. Gray boasts that Landry’s has at least 10 employees with 20+ year’s experience at the bike shop, and many who have been there 30+ years. Gray started when he was 17.

Landry’s is looking for help, so if this all sounds good to you…

Back to giving as usual

As more organizations resume their events after two years of COVID cancellations, Landry’s has been getting back to their bike advocacy work of supporting 40-50 charitable events per year. They are a lead sponsor for this year’s August 6 and 7 Pan-Mass Challenge, an annual fundraising ride which in 2021 provided $64 million for cancer research and treatment at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. The success of the charitable event is in part attributed to its welcome to cyclists of varied abilities. Participants can choose from 16 different route combinations from a one-day 25-mile route to a 211-mile, two-day trek. Last year over 40 Natick residents were among the 6,000-plus cyclists taking part in the Pan-Mass Challenge. And last month on Father’s Day, Landry’s helped sponsor the 6-mile Tour de Natick, an annual Natick Rotary Club-organized event which raises nearly $10,000 to fund college scholarships for Natick High students.

As far as company expansion goes, Gray says it’s always a possibility. “You never know what employee owners are going to decide is a good idea for the company, I would never rule it out.”

Landry’s Bicycles sells kids’ bikes, mountain bikes, hybrids, road bikes, and electric assist bikes, all kinds of fun and safety-minded accessories, and lots of that super-bright spandex gear you see riders wearing as they zip along East and West Central Streets. They also have a full-service repair shop. Bike prices range from $300 on up. You could drop $12K-$13K on a bike if you were a super-serious rider, but there are plenty of options that are under a tenth of that kind of cash outlay.

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Natick Sons & Daughters of Italy announces scholarship recipients

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The Natick Sons & Daughters of Italy last week announced the recipients of the community group’s two annual scholarships—the Natick Sons & Daughters of Italy, Scholarship Award and the Cristofori Scholarship Award. The awards, for which any area student is eligible, were established in 1926 to recognize academic and community accomplishments.

Natick Sons and Daughters of Italy, scholarship recipients

A total of 10 students—nine from Natick High School, and one from Assabet Valley Regional Technical High School in Boylston—were each awarded $1,000, with a total of $10,000 in scholarship funds granted. Congratulations to the following students:

Natick Sons & Daughters of Italy Scholarship Award

Alana Bownes-Ciccarelli—UMass Amherst
Talia Gitlin—Union College, Scholars Program, political science
Sofia DeLuca—UMass Amherst, business management

Francis J. Cristofori Scholarship Award

Leah Goldman—Stonehill College, psychology
Cody Jones—Bryant University, data science
McKenzie McDonald—Verto Education and University of New Haven, Costa Rica and Seville, Spain. Sophomore year Arizona State University, Criminal Justice, Peace Corps
Jeffrey Meisner—Central Maine Community College, conservation law enforcement
Annalouisa Souza—UMass Boston, pre-med
Christopher Savoie (graduate of Assabet Valley Regional Technical High School, Boylston) —University of New England, marine biology

Sarah Amabilie (award divided equally between the Natick Sons & Daughters of Italy Scholarship Award and the Francis J. Cristofori Scholarship Award)—Salem State University, nursing

A shout out the Scholarship Committee members (Chair Alexa Lombardo, Megan Belliveau, Anthony Isgo, and Judy Parant) for their many hours of work in completing the difficult task of selecting scholarship recipients from the applicants, all deserving students.

Interested in applying for the next round of awards? Keep an eye on the Natick Sons & Daughters of Italy website. The updated application will be available soon. The deadline for the next application submission is March 31, 2023.

More scholarships information

Greater Framingham Running Club scholarships

Mathworks scholarships

Natick Rotary Club scholarships

Natick Girl Scouts scholarship

Natick Historical Society scholarship

Additional resources

Don’t see your scholarship mentioned here? Contact us at natickreport@gmail.com for inclusion.

Tour de Natick was a fun Father’s Day ride, not an intense race

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As over 250 cyclists readied themselves for the Natick Rotary Club-organized Tour de Natick at the starting point between the post office and the Common Street Spiritual Center, a police officer shouted out a friendly directive: “Remember, this is a ride, not a race.”

The goal: have fun and keep the action on the 6-mile Tour de Natick course as unlike the Tour de France as possible—no crazy speeds, no glaring at the upstart about to pass you, no hyper-competitive peloton groupings. The annual Father’s Day tradition (except for two bye years due to that pesky pandemic) went off without a hitch, and raised nearly $10,000 to fund college scholarships for Natick students through race entrance fees and the event’s  20+ generous sponsors.

Tour de Natick

 

Tour de Natick

Rotary Club president Mark Canegallo said, “We’re super thankful to our sponsors. Middlesex Savings Bank has been with us every single year for 19 years. TJX stepped up as a new corporate sponsor for us, and Bernardi Auto is a major sponsor as well. Coach & Carriage Auto Body has always been a sponsor.” In addition, Wegman’s donated the food for the post-race bar-b-que.

 

Natick Rotary Club, Tour de Natick

In addition to the scholarship program, the Club gives a dictionary to each of Natick’s approximately 300 third graders. Over the past 15 years over 8,000 dictionaries, each one personalized with the receiving student’s name, have been donated.