About the Buzz Around Your Town

Theresa McNulty; East Bridgewater, MA Selectwoman and special education advocate, Sharon Graves; retiree and volunteer for the Friends of the Library and Meals on Wheels, and Jacquelyn Rose; writer and volunteer for the East Bridgewater Recreation Commission and Cub Scouts somehow found themselves in the same room discussing town issues.

In early 2008, Theresa, Sharon & Jacqui decided to launch a program involving a focus group where citizens could voice opinions, concerns, and suggestions about our community. The idea involved getting people together to brainstorm solutions for challenges facing their community as the entire country headed into a devastating recession. Out of their desire to deliver information gained from these forums back to the community, they created The Buzz cable show and email newsletter, Buzz Around East Bridgewater.

The cable show featured guests from non-profits in town, school & political officials. It was designed to be informative so that the viewers could be introduced to the issues and people that were active in East Bridgewater, always encouraging volunteerism as a way to meet some of the challenges we were faced with.

The Buzz Around quickly became a vehicle for groups in town to reach out to the population with. Folks started to depend on the calender feature. It grew to include historical tidbits and the Prize Box. It was only months before local businesses were asking for a way to advertise in the email.

With the help of many volunteers, contributing,editing, building the subscription list the Buzz Around became a solid template for building community communication and pride. As we look toward the future to share this template and build hives in many communities, we look back and thank the folks who have dedicated time and energy because they knew, sharing positive information is a timeless needed service.

We all need the good news.