Newbury Council On Aging

06/02/2026

Our last AgeSpan Traveling Chef meal was very well-attended! Many thanks to Newbury Fire Chief Dave Evans for reviewing some fire safety tips for seniors. We gave away several prizes, including fire blankets and carbon monoxide detectors. Did you know you should have a CO detector on every level of your home (including the basement) and centrally located outside all sleeping areas? The Newbury Fire Department has received several CO detectors through the Senior Safe Grant. NFD will come to your home to do a safety check and can change the batteries in your smoke/CO detectors, of maybe even offer you a new one. If you are interested in having one of these safety checks, please call the COA and we will connect you with the NFD to schedule a visit. We also celebrate birthdays at every Traveling Chef meal - this time we had some fire-themed cupcakes for dessert! Want to join us in June? We are having Breakfast for Lunch! Call us today to save your seat!

06/02/2026

It's always fun to visit Newbury Police Department for Coffee with a Cop! We met with Chief Fisher, Deputy Chief Wojtkowski, Officer Baker, and Officer LePage. Did you know the lobby of the NPD is a 24 hour drop-off for the Newbury Food Pantry? You can leave non-perishable food items, paper products, personal hygiene items, etc. and our officers will ensure they get delivered to the food pantry. At this year's Town Meeting, Chief Fisher requested a bylaw (that will go into effect once approved by the Attorney General's office later this summer) which requires door-to-door solicitors to be vetted by the NPD, who will then issue identification cards to the solicitors. If you see someone in your neighborhood and are unsure if they should be selling something door-to-door, please call the NPD. They can tell you if the person/vendor has been approved. We also got to meet the new grant-funded clinician working with several police departments in the Merrimack Valley (including Newbury), Maggie Laughlin. We learned about her role in mental health intervention. Maggie will collaborate with the COA through NPD to offer support to our seniors as needed. Thanks for such an informative visit!

06/01/2026

We honored our veterans this Memorial Day with a delicious lunch donated by Rusty Can in Byfield (thanks again to Mike Mangone for his generosity and support of our vets). We also heard from Joe Byron, Founder and Executive Director of Honor Flight New England. Joe encouraged our veterans to apply for flights, which are free-of-charge for veterans, to Washington DC for a day trip to see the war memorials. There are also lots of volunteer opportunities through their organization. Many thanks to Eastern Essex District Dept of Veterans' Services VSO Steve Bohn for connecting us with Honor Flight and for helping us serve some delicious food to our veterans at this event. Congrats to Tony Antico, the veteran who won our door prize of a patriotic nutcracker with a $100 gift card to Rusty Can!

05/19/2026

Do you live, work or visit the barrier beaches? Don't miss the community forum on Friday, June 5th at 10am at PITA Hall!

Attention Barrier Beach residents, please see the attached flyer, your feedback is welcome & necessary. You can review the program slide deck in the link below. Please share!!

https://mvpcmimap.sharepoint.com/:f:/s/EnvironmentalProgram/IgCnjM6k8XpDQbW5hDeNlL7eAZMh9sVi7LbJe0tAoOQN7VY?e=qSAFkN

Town of Newbury, MA
Newbury Council On Aging
Salisbury Police Department
Salisbury Emergency Management
Town of Salisbury
Newburyport Police Department
City of Newburyport
Newburyport Emergency Management Agency (NEMA)

05/11/2026

Friends of the Newbury Council on Aging Board Member, Jim Carrigan, called Bingo today at the COA. The Friends asked COA Director Cindy Currier to pull today's calendar raffle winner - $100 cash. Congrats to Pat Q! Thank you to everyone who supported our Friends with this fundraiser. Be on the lookout for more ways to support our Friends, who provide funding for many of our special events throughout the year.

05/11/2026

Many thanks to Newbury Fire Chief Dave Evans and Firefighter/EMT Lisa Evans for running our Senior CPR/AED class last week. Several seniors learned the basics of CPR and how to use AED devices. This class was a great success...stay tuned for us to collaborate with Newbury Fire for another class in the future!

05/07/2026

We celebrated Mother's Day at the Newbury COA yesterday with a luncheon of finger sandwiches, potato and macaroni salads, chips, and pickles. We finished it off with mini cannoli and eclairs for dessert. And everyone went home with a sweet party favor - a sugar cookie in the shape of a flower. Many thanks to Sergei Novikov for the lovely background piano music. Happy Mother's Day to all!

05/05/2026

Looking for a great volunteer opportunity? Become a Northern Essex Elder Transport Volunteer Driver! Volunteer NEET drivers bring Newbury seniors to medical appointments free of charge. This is a great way to help our seniors remain independent and age in place...but we need more volunteer drivers to meet the demand for rides. Are you interested? Please reach out to Dori Sawyer at the NEET office by calling 978-388-7474. Thank you!

05/05/2026

If it's Tuesday evening, we're Rug Braiding at the Newbury COA!

05/04/2026

We tried something new last week...Dinner Club! We served a fresh garden salad from The Rusty Can, baked ziti and meatballs from Giuseppe's, and Nancy's Strawberry Cake from Nancy's Marshview Cafe - delicious! We also had live music by Tim's Heart Band. What a great night!