Just before Thanksgiving in 2004, The Cape Cod Chronicle forged a partnership with the Family Pantry of Cape Cod. For years, we’d been reporting on the good work of the Family Pantry, the people who were making it happen, and the steadily increasing need. We called the campaign “ Helping Neighbors .” “As a small business, we knew we couldn’t just make a $100,000 donation on our own,” Publisher Henry Hyora said...

HARWICH — The Massachusetts Department of Public Health has issued public health advisories recommending fish caught in two Harwich ponds not be eaten due to high levels of mercury. The advisory was issued on July 3 and pinpoints a number of ponds across the commonwealth where fish have been contaminated by mercury. According to the advisory, children under 12, pregnant women, nursing mothers, and women of chi...

HARWICH PORT – Eight-year-old Florence Carlson is walking in the footsteps of legends this week. Literally. From July 10 to July 20, Carlson will take the stage as a young Czech girl in the musical “Once” at the Cape Playhouse in Dennis. Nicknamed the “birthplace of the stars,” the Cape Playhouse has attracted famous actors to its stage since it opened its doors in 1927. Julie Andrews, Bernadette Peters, Olymp...

HARWICH — Harwich Center will be aglow with light on Friday night as residents come together for a vigil protesting conditions faced by refugees, one of many Lights for Liberty rallies planned across Cape Cod and around the nation. “This year images of children suffering in U.S. detention camps (mostly privately run and thus not subject to review) have outraged us all and we are turning our outrage into action...

SOUTH HARWICH — If he had one wish, 11-year-old Sawyer Nicholson of East Harwich wouldn’t go back in time and erase the accident that left him with severe burns on his feet. His real wish is that you listen to his story and avoid the pain he had to endure. Sawyer was 10 last September when he and his family gathered at the end of Red River Beach to celebrate his grandfather’s 85 th birthday. It was a grand ...

HARWICH — It has been 175 years since the Man with the Branded Hand became a central character in the abolitionist movement on Cape Cod. Harwich resident Captain Jonathan Walker suffered the pain of a branding iron bearing the letters “SS” after been imprisoned under Territory of Florida law as a “slave stealer.” The abolitionist movement had momentum locally in those days, as was well documented with the foun...

HARWICH — The appeals board upheld Building Commissioner Raymond Chesley’s position that the rear fence of Perks Coffee Shop and Beer Garden does not meet the criteria for a structure and thus does not violate sideline setbacks to the abutting Port Restaurant and Bar. The two restaurants, which are separated by that fence, are in the midst of a property line dispute that one member of the board called “petty b...

HARWICH — It took a year, but the proposed mixed-use convenience store with two apartments above was approved this past week for the former Getty gas station site in the middle of Harwich Center. “I’m really happy and excited about this,” Saumil Patel said after the project was approved. “Getting a perfect design the committees and neighbors like has taken some time.” Patel hopes to complete the purchase of...

It seems that every year, more and more people rely on the Family Pantry of Cape Cod to help put food on the table. So far this year, client visits are up 17 percent, and the nonprofit is on track to have a client roster of around 10,000 in 2019, up significantly from last year. Can the Harwich-based organization keep pace with the increased need? Family Pantry Executive Director Christine Menard says it can, ...

HARWICH — The planning board came close Tuesday night to pulling the trigger on sending the Harwich Retail LLC project to the Cape Cod Commission as a limited discretionary referral for a development of regional impact review. Board members agreed, however, that more definition of the reasons for the filing was necessary before taking a vote. Approximately 150 residents filled the large hearing room in town ha...

Family Pantry Of Cape Cod Turns 30 When a few parishioners of Holy Trinity Church came together to stock a closet with nonperishable food for the needy, little did they know that, 30 years later, their effort would grow to become the Family Pantry of Cape Cod. They probably also couldn’t have foreseen how important the pantry would prove to be, not just for families facing emergency hardships, but also for peo...

HARWICH — Some offices in town hall will be reconfigured in the next week, Town Administrator Christopher Clark has informed the board of selectmen. The change will better utilize the largest room in the selectmen/administration offices, he said. “It’s about how we get greater use of space in the building,” Clark told The Chronicle this week. Under the reconfiguration plan, Clark said Assistant Town Adminis...