When you lose your grandmother to Alzheimer’s disease, your mother to it, and now your aunt is stricken with the devastating illness as well, you get to thinking, is Alzheimer’s destined to be my inevitable demise, too?

This is the reality facing 53-year-old Marion resident Terrance Lee who, at the time of turning 50, took a good look at himself and the risk factors he was harboring and decided he had to do something about it.

“I turned 50, the typical ‘woe is me,’ it’s all downhill from here…. I thought, Wow. I’m kind of freaked out,” Lee said. “I might be getting this myself.”

So he did some reading on the topic, looking for a ray of hope, a way to lower his chances of developing the debilitating disease that appears to run in families.

“I learned that’s not necessarily the case,” he said. He found through research that he could live a happy, healthy lifestyle, exercise more, and improve his eating habits, all ways found to help stave off Alzheimer’s, he said.

It wasn’t long before Lee’s motivation brought him to his feet, running marathons and road races along with his brother, Cliff Lee, who lives in Salt Lake City, Utah. Yet, with so many others out there who face the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, Lee felt compelled to share the hope of outrunning the disease by reaching out to others in his age bracket, the Baby Boomer generation, to get more people involved in taking control of their health and their future.

“The idea was, how can I motivate myself as well as other people who have the same concerns?” said Lee. “I started this thing called ‘BoomerangFit.’ We’re ‘boomers’ but we want to ‘boomerang’ back to where we were twenty, thirty…when you felt like you were okay from a health standpoint.”

Two years ago, Lee and his brother ran the Boston Fenway Park Spartan Race Sprint and recruited a group of boomers to join in. It was fun, Lee said, figuring perhaps he could do more healthy events like that more often – “crazy” events, Lee said, crazy enough to raise awareness of the disease and so people might be inclined to sponsor Lee to raise funds for the Alzheimer’s care, treatment, and research for a cure.

Lee figured, “Let’s do that by setting goals to do crazy stuff and let’s use the crazy stuff to raise money.”

This year, after a number of Spartan obstacle races, Lee wanted to step things up for 2016 with something that would make people say, “Holy crap! I would never do that!”

“Otherwise,” Lee said, “it doesn’t grab people’s attention.”

Lee factored in his fear of heights and thought, hmm … let’s climb a mountain.

So this year’s crazy challenge is to climb Mount Baker in Seattle, said Lee.

Mount Baker is an ‘active glaciated andesitic stratovolcano,’ part of the Cascade Volcanic Arc, and the third highest peak in the state of Washington at 10,781 feet.

In preparation, Lee trained on “how not to die,” as he put it, and he will be joined by two other mates when they begin the climb on Thursday, July 16.

“Like everyone, I need a goal of something to motivate me,” said Lee. He still gets up at 5:00 am to train and workout every morning. “When you’re getting up at 5:00 am, it’s good to have that goal of, holy crap, I have to climb a mountain in two weeks!”

BoomerangFit is now ten boomers strong. If you’re interested in learning more about the group that does “survivable, crazy, but not stupid” challenges all to keep themselves strong against the threat of Alzheimer’s while raising money for a cure, visit www.boomerangfit.com. To support Lee’s Mount Baker challenge, you can donate online at www.curealz.org/heroes/team-boomerangfit.

“I got two kids in college, so I need to stay alive for a few years,” said Lee.

By Jean Perry

The first thing that generally comes to mind when you think of the Lions Club is eyeglasses. In 1925, Helen Keller addressed a Lions Club convention being held in Ohio with the stirring call to be “knights of the blind in the crusade against darkness.” That stuck and for decades the Lions Club both nationally and internationally has been supporting eye research and providing eyeglasses.

Yet the original foundation of the organization, which today boasts millions of members around the global, was ‘We serve.’ In 1917, founder Melvin Jones, a Chicago-based business leader, asked the membership to “reach beyond business issues and address the betterment of their communities and the world.”

            Today, the work of serving others quietly takes places in cities and towns, in villages and neighborhoods, through small-scale and large-scale activities. And right here, nestled in our community of Mattapoisett, is a group of Lions whose quest to provide for a need, answer a call, or lend a hand continues.

“People think the Lions Club is a bunch of old guys donating glasses, but it’s far more than that,” says Lisa Bindas. Four years ago when she and her partner, Jaci Barnett, joined the Lions Club at the urging of another member, Ken Pacheco, they weren’t sure it was the right fit for them. Before long, any questions they may have had about the work of the Lions were answered.

Bindas and Barnett, along with other members of the Mattapoisett Lions Club, drove to New Jersey in the wake of Hurricane Sandy to take supplies to the Lions Clubs there who were struggling to assist storm victims.

“We took everything – pet food, human food, clothing,” Bindas said. “That’s just it,” Bindas continued. “Whenever anyone is in need, we help.”

Bindas’ comments were echoed by outgoing Mattapoisett Lions Club president Rob Haley.

“Sure, we do Harbor Days,” said Haley, “but we do so many other things.”

Since Haley’s tenure began, he has reached deep into the community to partner with schools, town halls, visiting nurses, and churches.

“I found out that in New Bedford, seven hundred kids spend weekends with little or no food. They are depending on the schools for their meals.” There was apparent pain in Haley’s voice belying an otherwise calm demeanor. “The biggest thing is so many kids that really struggle, they need clothes and food,” he said.

The Mattapoisett Lions Club is helping to bridge that need.

The list of needs that the organization has assisted with is long and covers a swath of human suffering from hunger to mobility issues to building wheelchair ramps to cleaning out an elderly person’s hoard to giving away eyeglasses.

“We are in partnership with LensCrafters. If someone goes there and has a demonstrated financial problem, we’ll pay the bill,” said Haley.

So while the work they are most known for continues, the variety of services provided has expanded just as founder Jones had hoped it would.

But, let’s not forget other activities that provide fun relief from the problems of the now and take one to a happy place where the smell of frying foods and the joyous sounds of laughter on a hot summer’s day can only mean one thing: Harbor Days in Mattapoisett.

“People plan their summer vacations, time to visit family, during the week of Harbor Days,” said Bindas.

This year, there will once again be the kick-off event – the triathlon – followed by a week of food, entertainment and, yes, a field of craft booths where objects of every sort will be on sale.

New this year will be a painting class under the tent. Now a sold-out event, participants will be guided by a teacher who will show them how to paint Ned’s Point Lighthouse.

Both Bindas and Haley spoke to the importance of corporate sponsorships to help the Lions Club meet the needs of the communities it serves.

Bindas went one step further, saying, “When local people support local businesses, we can help local people.” It’s a circle, she described. “Internet sales hurt businesses like mine,” she said. “People will come in, we’ll help them, but then they actually buy online.” Bindas and Barnett own Gotta Have It, located on Route 6 in Fairhaven. “We depend on the local economy so we can give back to local people.”

Haley said that Harbor Days is a massive undertaking, putting tremendous stress and responsibility squarely on the shoulders of members and anyone they can conscript to lend a hand.

“We generally take the summer off after Harbor Days,” Haley said with a chuckle.

Haley said the 2016 goals of the Lions Club were four-fold: 1) sharing the vision; 2) protecting the environment; 3) feeding the hungry; and 4) engaging youth. With its programs partnering with LensCrafters, to electronic recycling days, to feeding and clothing children, all four goals have been met.

The work continues, however. Haley said of the current membership, “We have a lot of retired people; they want to retire from the Lions also.” Increasing new membership will be paramount to the incoming new President Kim Grodzki. Haley also said, “When you donate, you want to know where your money is going – we keep money in the community.”

Harbor Days begins on Sunday, July 10 at 8:00 am with the triathlon, and winds down on July 17 with a pancake breakfast under the tent.

Visit www.mattapoisettlionsclub.org to learn more about the organization, upcoming events, and don’t forget – Movie Nights will also be returning. Stay tuned!

By Marilou Newell

My usual afternoon ceremonial is along the shore of Crescent Beach, about half way to Ned’s Point Lighthouse where, what to my wondering eyes should appear, recently were two Oystercatchers never before encountered after years of bird watching.

They were feeding on the mud flats of the inlet of the marsh near Pico Beach, a more startling and striking appearance than most shore birds with long, bright red bills, red-rimmed eyes, black heads, dark brown backs, and white belly and base of tail, with white wing stripe on inner flight feathers.

True to their name, they are able to catch and devour oysters. They do this by stabbing and hammering the shell with repeated blows until opening a hole to cut through the adductor muscle and then inserting the bill in the opening and forcing the shell apart. These techniques are learned as the young emulate their parents, depicted in my illustration viewable online.

Their unlined nests with usually four buff-colored eggs are hidden in a shallow depression on a little mound of sand above the high tide mark.

After hatching, the chicks are precocial (relatively mature at birth), fully feathered, but dependent on the parents for about two months until bills are long and strong enough to open shells.

Even though they may appear tame at times, the Audubon Society cautions against approaching too close, as with a camera, because ground-nesting species are flighty if they feel their young and nests have been discovered. For example, their inland cousin, the killdeer plover, will feign the broken wing trick to divert attention elsewhere, and a woodcock hen will actually pick up each egg or newborn chick and gently, one by one, fly low over the ground to a more secret location.

Most people see shorebirds in mid to late summer when they are on vacation or near the coast as they migrate south from Artic breeding grounds. In the fall, they see young in juvenile color, as well as adults in transition between summer and winter plumage. Shorebird numbers have increased in recent years through conservation efforts for clean shellfish waters, and long before that, a ban on shooting.

The ritual of this afternoon walk for bird watching ends with sunset, but another subject of wildlife observation to share with you is just a day away.

By George B. Emmons