Stress Buster Lunch A Success!

Here's a message from FR parent Eileen Marasco, who did such a great job on the "Stress Buster" Lunch for Fort River's faculty and staff:

A hearty thank you to all those who contributed wonderful comfort foods, great salads & tremendous sweets to the Stress-Buster Teacher & Staff Appreciation Lunch last week. Your efforts were most appreciated! The teachers & staff were thrilled to be so well thought of & taken care of....you may have noticed some of them walking around 6 inches off the ground since then & looking very relaxed. The Ft. River community came out in force for the event & that wonderful "can do" spirit insured the event's success. There were leftovers enough to feed folks a second day! There was a buzz in the building for sure & it wasn't just because of MCAS testing! Thank you to Elly Hosea, Kathy Niedzielski, Cathy Cullen and Ji-Yeon Kim for their tireless efforts preparing the Staff Lounge & setting up the food. Thank you to the magical fingers of Michael Millner of Bodies in Balance Massage Therapy here in Amherst, who loosened many a tense neck & perhaps hit a trigger point or two for those teachers & staff needing a few kinks worked out. To Beth Cook & her able assistant in the kitchen Leslie of Flayvors of Cook Farm in Hadley, the mashed potatoes & gravy, baked macaroni & cheese, tomato cheddar soup & tapioca pudding were all fantastic! It was truly a group effort. To all the fine cooks & bakers in our own Ft. River Community who contributed Cathy Cullen, Joy Sullivan, Elly Hosea, Eileen Marasco, Nancy Reffsin, Kathy Niedzielski, Ann McLaughlin, Desiree Bohl, Ji-Yeon Kim, Ken Bernstein, Suzanne Schilling, Alison Donta-Venman, Ellie Skinner, Carol Richardson, Caroline Goutte & others who contributed food items to the spread, many, many thanks! Sue Borden, Lynn Hayes, Hana Rivkin, Pam Brigham & Libby Stanforth pitched in with drinks & ice...thanks so much...and where would we have been without Liza Cunningham's contribution of paper products to serve it all up! Big thanks to one & all who participated & most of all thank you to our outstanding teachers & staff who make Ft. River such a special place for all of our children. Kudos to you more than anything else for all that you do for the kids...every child, every day. A B-I-G thank you to our crackerjack office secretaries Karen Bonneau, Jessica Hanson & Paula Mangiaratti for all their wonderful administrative support of the day. You ladies rock. Ft. River's lucky to have you Hope we had enough chocolate on the menu for Jessica!