It takes a village to raise a child, as the saying goes. But what does it take to feed a village? Or to feed those in need in all the villages of Cape Cod, for that matter? It takes another kind of village, as it turns out – one filled with volunteers. Dozens and dozens of volunteers give their time, energy, ideas, talent and good old fashioned hard work every week to help the Family Pantry do its important wo...

A recent uptick of coronavirus cases throughout Massachusetts and specifically on Cape Cod has led local public libraries to cut back on services for the foreseeable future. Brooks Free Library in Harwich, Eldredge Public Library in Chatham and Snow Library in Orleans all recently decided to halt in-person browsing and begin offering only curbside services. “It was in the interest of community safety, both for...

HARWICH — The board of health is putting the finishing touches on a fertilizer and nutrient control regulation and will hold a public hearing in January before implementing the measure. The town’s comprehensive wastewater management plan calls for fertilizer and nutrient control regulations a way of reducing the amount of nitrogen entering watersheds and eventually reaching and adversely impacting the marine e...

COA Launches COVID Storytelling Project HARWICH — The last nine months have left all of us – but particularly seniors – feeling socially isolated. Through its new COVID Storytelling Project, the Harwich Council on Aging is encouraging the town’s over-60 residents to share their experience of the pandemic in words or pictures . “We’re really looking for anything: journal entries, poems, short st...

HARWICH — Selectmen are looking for new opportunities to engage the public about the town’s multi-year, multi-million-dollar wastewater plan, even as they ponder re-prioritizing certain parts of the plan. Saying a special meeting last Tuesday was under-publicized and poorly attended, selectmen have scheduled a series of meetings starting on Jan. 12 to get public input on some key decisions. With the next t...

HARWICH – Roughly a decade ago, the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) was about to put Harwich High on warning because of its aging facilities. Fast-forward to 2020 and Monomoy Regional High School has earned continuing accreditation from the NEASC, in part due to its stellar school building, its staff, and its programs. The re-accreditation came as welcome news during a school year marke...

Gov. Baker Rolls Back Reopening   HARWICH — There has been a surge in COVID-19 cases in Harwich and across the Cape, which has forced the town to reevaluate work protocols for town employees.   “As of Nov. 30, the town has been operating under Step Two model,” Interim Town Administrator Joseph Powers told selectmen Monday night, referring to the second step of the t own’s pandemic work ...

HARWICH — With Santa keeping a low profile this year, and with tree lighting ceremonies and caroling sidelined this season, any opportunity for getting in the holiday spirit is one worth taking. And once again, Bob Doane of Harwich has provided it, in the form of his high-tech display of holiday lights, which went live at the Harwich Cultural Center last weekend. “I have a couple new displays,...

HARWICH PORT — Even combined with the constraints caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Saturday’s heavy rain that saturated the ground did nothing to dampen the spirits of those who came out to support the annual “Homeless for the Holidays” drive in Harwich Port. This was the sixth year firefighters and police came together to collect toys and food and raise money for the program established in 2002 by Bourne fire...

HARWICH — The Harwich Conservation Trust is working with the Compact of Cape Cod Conservation Trusts to put in place two conservation restrictions on properties located in the zone two of Contribution Wellhead Protection Areas to the town’s public drinking water supply. The properties are located in sensitive resource areas and are adjacent to protected conservation lands. One parcel, 6.65 acres on the nort...

Deposit Is Preferable To Outright Prohibition HARWICH — As selectmen consider whether the sale of nip bottles should be banned, package store operators are seeing red – as in a major financial impact if such a prohibition is put in place. Some owners say nips generate as much as 30 to 40 percent of their business. Selectmen have heard from people in the community about the street-side litter of nip bottles,...

HARWICH — Housing committee members are confused and frustrated over what their role is in shaping the housing needs of the community, now that the focus and funding has shifted to another group, the affordable housing trust. The committee last week discussed their mission and expressed concerns about being “sidelined.” Housing Committee Chairman Art Bodin said he had a discussion with Selectman Stephen Ford, ...