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Let’s Work Together to Beautify Our Community!

Please plan to join Citizens for Milford on Saturday, April 28 as we make a CLEAN SWEEP across our community by picking up trash.

Milford Beautification Day provides an opportunity for area residents, organizations, and businesses to work together to beautify our community. Milford Beautification Day will be held Saturday, April 28th (rain or shine) from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. All interested citizens are invited to meet with organizers anytime between those hours in the parking lot across from Sacred Heart Church (5 East Main Street) to get supplies, instructions, and assignments.

Families, community groups, churches, local businesses, and teenagers who need to perform service hours are all invited to participate. Younger children are encouraged to attend as long as they are accompanied by a supervising adult.

Trash bags, gloves, and water will be provided to all volunteers. Many of the supplies are being donated by Republic Services. The Friends of the Milford Upper Charles Trail is co-sponsoring Beautification Day with Citizens for Milford.

Anyone interested in volunteering or participating in any way on April 28—as an individual, a family, or a group—is encouraged to contact Amie Sanborn by email at CitizensforMilford@gmail.com. Although it is not necessary to sign up in advance, Sanborn notes that having an idea of the number of interested participants can help ensure enough supplies are available.

The event sponsors are grateful for the assistance and donations provided by the Milford Board of Health, the Milford Highway Department, Republic Services, and the Worcester County Sheriff’s Department Community
Service Program.

Citizens for Milford extends sincere gratitude to all the candidates who participated in our Candidates Forum. We also thank everyone who took the time to attend, particularly those residents who asked questions. We invite you to take the time to watch the video and learn more about where each of the candidates stands on issues facing our institutions and community.And most importantly, please remember to VOTE on Tuesday, April 3!

THANK YOU Milford TV for recording and publishing!

Meet the Candidates in Milford’s Contest Races at the Candidates Forum on March 14!

Contested races in Milford’s April 3 Town Election include:

• Board of Selectmen (one seat): John Erickson and Will Kingkade (incumbent).
• School Committee (three seats): Meghan Hornberger, Sara Howe, Laura Ingemi, Tarik Miranda, Michael Visconti, Glenn Wiech, and Christopher Wilson.
• Board of Library Trustees (two seats): Marco Bon Tempo, Jennifer Demanche-Yohn (incumbent), and Margaret Myatt.

YOUR VOTE MATTERS!
The polls will be open Tuesday, March 6, from 8:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m.

The polling locations are:

• Precincts 1 & 6: Milford Senior Center, 60 North Bow Street
• Precincts 2 & 3: Italian American Veterans Hall, 4 Hayward Field
• Precincts 4, 5, 7, & 8: Portuguese Club, 119 Prospect Heights

If you are not sure about your polling location, click here to enter your street address and determine your polling place.

The ballot is EASY to complete–simply fill in the correct oval at the bottom  of the ballot to specify your vote and you are done!

We have heard from a few absentee voters that they were confused about the line of O’s in the middle of the ballot. In the town bylaws, the letter O indicates an “excluded or prohibited use.” These O’s are NOT ovals to be filled in. Rather, they indicate that recreational marijuana establishments are prohibited in all zones (RA, RB, RC, RD, OR, BP, CA, CB, CC, IA, IB, IC). The one exception is that Milford’s two existing medical marijuana businesses are exempted. That exemption is detailed in the footnote for the IB zone. You can read all the details on page 35 of Milford’s Zoning Bylaws.

IMPORTANT! Please remember this question has no impact on medical marijuana businesses. A medical marijuana dispensary CAN open in Milford no matter how we vote Tuesday. Medical marijuana is governed by a separate law passed in 2012.

Need a Ride?
A volunteer from Milford CARES will pick you up and get you back home safely. Just call Amie at 508.244.9506. Public transportation is another option. The Senior Center and Italian Vets Club are regular stops for the MWRTA bus. The bus also drops off near the Portuguese Club. Learn more here.

All Milford Residents Invited to Attend and Ask Questions of the Candidates.

Citizens for Milford invites all Milford residents to attend its fifth annual Candidates Forum, which will feature candidates in Milford’s upcoming town election. The Candidates Forum will be held Wednesday, March 14 in the Parish Hall of Saint Mary of the Assumption Church in Milford. Candidates will be available to meet voters starting at 6:30 p.m. The forum will start at 7:00 p.m. This event is free and open to the public.

Each of the candidates in the contested races will present a two-minute statement and then answer questions from the audience. Recognizing the service of all our town candidates, Citizens for Milford has also invited all unopposed candidates to attend and to meet voters during the “meet and greet” time, from 6:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Citizens for Milford Chairman Steve Trettel and member Donna Niro will moderate the event.

“We urge all Milford voters to join us at this year’s forum. This public event provides an ideal opportunity to learn about each candidate’s views on issues confronting our community,” stated Steve Trettel.

Milford voters who are unable to attend the forum are encouraged to email questions in advance to CitizensforMilford@gmail.com. The group will make every effort to ensure those questions are posed to the candidates the night of the forum.

Milford TV will video record the forum and broadcast it in the days leading up to the election on April 3. Citizens for Milford will also provide a link to the video on its website as soon as it is available.

The Town Crier newspaper is once again Citizens for Milford’s media partner for the Candidates Forum. “As Milford’s local newspaper, delivered to all homes and businesses in town, The Town Crier strongly believes in encouraging citizen participation in Milford’s town government,” said Publisher Alfred Holman.

The Parish Hall of Saint Mary of the Assumption Church is located at 17 Winter Street in Milford. Parking is available in the adjacent lot and on neighborhood streets. Main entry into the Parish Hall is located on the side of the building that faces Sumner Street. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m.

Take a five minute break, grab a cup of tea, and watch Jo-Ann DeMaria Morgan and Peter Scandone discuss with Milford TV’s Tim Caouette the search for families of Milford’s fallen heroes. Since we launched the search campaign on January 9th, we have found EIGHT of the families! We are still seeking ELEVEN more. Please review the list and let us know if you can provide information for any of these deserving families. Simply email us at CitizensforMilford@gmail.com. Thank you! And thank you Milford TV!

To attain its goal of presenting a Massachusetts Medal of Liberty to all the families of Milfordians who made the ultimate sacrifice while defending our country, the Milford Medal of Liberty Committee is asking all area residents for their help in identifying surviving kin of seventeen servicemen for whom no family information is currently available.

The Massachusetts Medal of Liberty is an honor awarded in the name of the Governor of Massachusetts as Commander-in-Chief of the Commonwealth to the family of any Massachusetts serviceman or woman killed in action or who died as a result of wounds received in action.

The Milford Medal of Liberty Committee needs family contact information for the following servicemen. Family members could include spouses, siblings, children, grandchildren, aunts, uncles, or cousins.

• Robert A. Craddock, S. Army, (1913 – 1945)
• Anthony Grudinsky, U.S. Army, (1922 – 1945)
• Paul T. Hayes, U.S. Army, (1909 – 1945)
• John G. Hising, Jr., U.S. Army, (1917 – 1943)
• Donal T. Kirby, U.S. Army, (1918 – 1944)
• Orville W. Lapham, U.S. Army, (1916 – 1944)
• Lester C. Lavoie, U.S. Marine Corps, (1928 – 1950)
• Oscar A. Lundgren, (1897 – 1944)
• Ralph Maxfield, U.S. Navy, (1923 – 1950)
• Hiram J. Philpot, U.S. Army, (1907 – 1944)
• Thomas F. Rogers, U.S. Army, (1923 – 1944)
• Harold W. Rogerson, U.S. Army, (1916 – 1944)
• James V. Rooney, U.S. Navy, (1931 – 1953)
• David H. Rubenstein, U.S. Army, (1925 – 1944)
• Theodore J. Tusoni, U.S. Army, (1924 – 1944)
• Joseph J. Von Flatern, Jr., U.S. Army, (1925 – 1944)
• Harold I. White, U.S. Army, (1916 – 1945)

Read more details about these servicemen here.

Residents who have information or possible leads on where to find the family members of any of these servicemen are asked to contact one of the Medal of Liberty Committee members:

• Vincent Cifizzari
  Send email to Vinniecif@yahoo.com or call 774.287.0004
• Jo-Ann De Maria Morgan
  Send email to joann.d.morgan@verizon.net or call 508.435.9602
• Peter Scandone
  Send email to pscandone4@outlook.com or call 774.573.5335

Information can also be sent by email to CitizensforMilford@gmail.com.

Committee member Vincent Cifizzari says, “We will be sincerely grateful to all members of our community who can help identify the families of these seventeen fallen heroes. It will be our honor to do the work necessary to ensure each family is recognized and presented with a Medal of Liberty as a small gesture of appreciation for their loved one’s service and sacrifice.”

Nearly seventy Milford servicemen qualify for the Medal of Liberty, including the seventeen for whom the committee seeks family information. The first medals were presented this past Veterans Day to the surviving family members of eight Milfordians who were killed in action during World War II, Vietnam, and Iraq.

The Medal of Liberty Committee and Citizens for Milford plan to present the medal to as many of the remaining families as possible at its next ceremony, which will be held Sunday, May 20 at 2:00 p.m. in Milford Town Hall.

Learn more on the VETERANS page.

To download and print our flyer to share with others, click here.

Milford Parks Director and Commissioners to Answer Questions at Citizens for Milford’s Public Meeting on January 30 at Town Library. All Milford Residents Invited to Attend.

Citizens for Milford invites all residents to attend our first public meeting of the new year on Tuesday, January 30 at 7:00 p.m. in the Milford Town Library.

Milford Parks Director Michael Bresciani and Parks Commission members Joseph F. Arcudi, Paul J. Braza, and Paul Pellegrini will be our special guests.

“A key component of Citizens for Milford’s mission is to host casual public meetings that provide direct access to our public officials. We encourage residents to join us on January 30th to meet Mr. Bresciani and the Parks Commissioners and ask them questions regarding all of Milford’s parks and athletic fields,” says Chairman Steve Trettel.

Additional agenda items include a discussion of projects and events that Citizens for Milford has planned for 2018, such as the Candidates Forum, Beautification Day, the Medal of Liberty Ceremony, the Draper Memorial Park Field of Flags, and the Christmas Tree Lighting.

The Milford Town Library is located at 80 Spruce Street. The meeting will be held in the library’s Granite and Quarry rooms on the lower level. Limited parking is available at the library. Additional parking is available on Spruce Street and at nearby Stacy Middle School.

Citizens for Milford hosted the Third Annual Milford Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony in historic Draper Memorial Park on December 2, 2017. Now an annual community tradition for many of Milford’s families and residents, this year we were thrilled to once again host Santa Claus and the Claflin Hill Symphony Orchestra Brass Quintet. Long-time Milford resident Cheryl Miller led the sing-along of Christmas carols before we counted down to light the tree.

Citizens for Milford extends its sincerest appreciation to everyone who helped make the Milford Christmas Tree and the Lighting Ceremony possible. We thank the Milford Parks Department, as well as Milford resident and owner of Busy Bee Landscaping Mr. David Sanches who donated and planted a beautiful new tree that we hope will serve as a symbol of peace and goodwill to Milford citizens for generations to come. Thank you David!

The Milford Christmas Tree will be lit each night throughout the holiday season. If you missed the ceremony last night, be sure to stop by Draper Park one evening to take in its glow. It’s a beautiful spot for family photos. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone!

See more photographs on our Facebook page.

Milford Christmas Tree Lighting Planned for Saturday, December 2nd, in Draper Memorial Park at 6:00 p.m.

Citizens for Milford is planning the Third Annual Milford Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony in Draper Memorial Park on the evening of Saturday, December 2. All Milford residents are invited to arrive at 6:00 p.m. for cookies and hot chocolate. The tree will be lit at 6:30 p.m. This community event is free and open to everyone.

Highlights of this year’s event will include holiday music played by the Claflin Hill Symphony Brass Quintet, as well as a special visit from Santa Claus. Santa will arrive at 6:00 p.m. and will visit with kids and families until the event ends at 7:00 p.m. Families are encouraged to take their own photos with Santa.

Event chairwoman Nancy Wojick states, “Citizens for Milford invites all Milford residents to join us for the third year of this new holiday tradition. The ceremony provides a wonderful opportunity for Milford families and neighbors to gather, even for a short while, as a community to celebrate the peace and joy of the season.”

If it rains or snows heavily on December 2, Citizens for Milford plans to light the tree at 6:30 p.m. but will scale back other activities as needed.

Draper Memorial Park occupies a triangle of land in the downtown Milford area, located at the intersection of Congress Street and Main Street. Parking is available in lots behind Main Street businesses.