Father Joseph Towle of Harwich gazes through the front window of the West Chatham Dunkin’ Donuts and across Route 28 to a cluster of four Habitat for Humanity homes where he worked until last fall, when the houses were completed. “I think it’s great because we’re hammering nails and cutting board but there’s a greater vision,” he says. “Building a more just society would be the secular way of looking at it. So...

CHATHAM — At about 7:20 a.m. on a gray Thursday morning it’s 42 degrees and sprinkling when members of the Chatham Walkers convene in the breezy parking lot overlooking Oyster Pond. Bill Horrocks, a walker since 1994, is the first to arrive for the thrice-weekly three-mile walk. Over the next five minutes others drift in, including June Herold, one of this month’s walk leaders. “It’s fairly mild,” she say...

If you work at home you may miss, from time to time, the companionship and collegiality of co-workers. The Pants Factory at 101 Route 6A in Orleans, which just passed its eight-month mark since opening on June 1, offers a shared work space. And with it comes a community without the usual office politics. “People who work remotely are decentralized. People miss a bit of community,” says Andrew Stern who, wit...

Imagine this: EMTs arrive at a resident’s home only to be locked outside even as they can see the resident lying on the floor helpless inside the house. That’s not a situation that anyone wants to contemplate. But putting into place two simple elements—a key box to allow the fire department to enter and the File of Life form to bring the EMS crew up to speed on the senior’s health – can save lives. Let’s sa...

It seems the news lately is filled with stories about healthy young people who suddenly fell ill from influenza and died in a matter of days. The flu risk is real and problematic, but experts say the danger needs to be kept in perspective. This year’s influenza strain is of the H3N2 variant, which gained fame in 1968 as the source of the Hong Kong flu pandemic. The problem is that the vaccine produced for this...

Unlike many towns on Cape Cod, Chatham has always been home to one or more small grocery stores and has never lost its customers to the big chains. “Small local grocery stores are very important,” says Scott MacDonald, one of the owners of Chatham Village Market. “It’s necessary for the town. It’s not just a convenience. It works with those who need a home delivery.” Local home deliveries are just $5...

When the Rev. Thomas Leinbach was growing up in Greenwich, Conn. in the 1950s, his father told him one day that he had “the perfect personality to be a pastor.” Decades later, on Christmas Eve 2017, Leinbach retired after serving for over 11 years as pastor of the First Congregational Church of Harwich in Harwich Center. “If you told me in my early 20s where I’d be today, I wouldn’t believe it,” Leinbach sa...

Harwich Author's Book Teaches Meditation Techniques To Children by Debra Lawless Now that the busy holiday season is behind us, does anyone need to be reminded that we live in a complex and chaotic world? Children live in this frantic world as much as adults do. Michelle Renee Pelletier has released a new book to help children take a step back into a calmer place. “Golden Child: Meditation for Childr...

Nick Nickerson, owner of Chatham Coastal Creations, has a problem that most business owners would probably envy: His new line of handcrafted ornamental sea scallop shells has taken off to the point that he can barely keep up with orders. “If I was 40 years old again I’d be in this head-over-heels,” he says. This morning Nickerson, 70, is standing out in his new 14-by-24-foot barn where tools hang along a wa...

Let’s put it right out there: First Night Chatham needs additional volunteers this year and next. Needed immediately is a coordinator for the Kids Art Studio, which runs from 2 to 5 p.m. on the afternoon of Dec. 31, First Night. This is a message from First Night’s director of communications John Reed and his wife Alice, who works alongside him. During a recent interview in their South Chatham home the p...

A new, affordable preventive dental care program sponsored by the Chatham Health Department will be held on four Thursdays through March in the community center. “Since we have so many elders and a lot of working people who may not have health care or dental insurance here in Chatham, we saw a need,” says Judith Giorgio, the town’s health agent. “We’re really excited to be able to offer this program.” The f...

Do a little research on the lifespans of typical family-run businesses, and you will find that they last, on the average, for 24 years, and only in 30 percent of the businesses will the second generation succeed the founding generation. This makes it all the more remarkable that the Robert B. Our Co., Inc., (RBO) at 25 Great Western Rd. in Harwich is celebrating its 60 th year in business this year and boasts...