This article appeared in the Dedham Transcript on Jan. 24, 2013.
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Thursday, January 24, 2013 www.WickedLocalDedham.com Vol. 4, No. 17 ■ $1 MORE INSIDE PAGE B3 HEALTHY LIVING PAGE B6 VOTE NOW! FEBRUARY 7, A2 SAVE THE DATE LECTURE, A3 POTTERY OF THE SATURDAY EVENING GIRLS Athlete of the Week, B2 Beacon Hill Roll Call, A10 Calendar, B8 INDEX Calendar ........... B8 News ................. A2-5 Opinion ............. A8-9 Sports ............... B1-2 Roll Call ............. A10 Your News ......... A4 TRACK & FIELD GIRLS EARN FIRST WIN PAGE B1 OPINION KNOW WHERE THIS IS? PAGE A8 An edition of SERVING THE COMMUNITY SINCE 1873 The Dedham Transcript is published weekly by GateHouse Media New England, 254 Second Ave, Needham MA 02494. Annual cost for in-town home delivery is $42. UPC (A) General By Sally Lynn Edmonds [email protected]After years of planning, the red brick Avery school- house in East Dedham of- ficially became the Mother Brook Arts and Communi- ty Center. On Jan 17, the Board of Selectmen signed a 10-year lease with the arts center. The crew will move in on March 1. “The board of directors is chomping at the bit,” Selectman Michael But- ler said, before signing the lease. “I think people will see a lots of positive changes.” Dedham may be on the cutting edge of a trend to- ward arts and communi- ty centers nationwide, offi- cials said. Towns are beginning to realize the value of com- bining a cultural space with a community space, especially one that in- cludes young and old alike, Town Administrator Wil- liam Keegan said. “It begins a new era, one that is not very common in the commonwealth but is starting to grow as an in- terest, and we’re pleased to be at the front end of that interest,” Keegan said. He added that Dedham should be a prime mar- ket for the studio industry as there is not much local competition. Selectmen were care- ful to emphasize that the agreement should also earn the town money. “We are keeping our AVERY SCHOOL Center gets green light Mother Brook Arts and Community Center signs lease for Avery School By Andrea Salisbury [email protected]Jill Carreiro has racked up more than 5 years of changing diapers. In those years, one thing remained the same: the ugly baby wipes container. “It was literally 24/7. You could walk through the house and see one of these teal boxes,” Carreiro said in her Dedham home. She is the mom to a 6-year-old stepson, almost 4-year-old daughter and 2-year-old CLEVERRELISH Calling all clever moms After inventing WipesWraps, Dedham woman launches business to find hidden parent genius Dedham resident and mom Jill Carreiro recent- ly launched her own company, CleverRelish. Her first product, WipesWraps, are available at cleverrelish.com. WICKED LOCAL STAFF PHOTOS BY ANDREA SALISBURY CLEVERRELISH By Sally Lynn Edmonds [email protected]Seven-year-old Al- ex Sountoulidis was building a future space station. When asked what made it futuristic he pointed to a vehicle perched on a tower of clear plastic Legos. “Have you ever seen a hovercraft before?” he asked. Alex attends the Path- Finders Lego club on Fridays with his brother Niko. Niko is Autistic. Next to him, Rob- bie Ricard, 7, was put- ting the finishing touch- es on his airplane DEDHAM PARKS AND RECREATION More about CleverRelish WEBSITE cleverrelish.com FACEBOOK www.facebook.com/CleverRelish TWITTER twitter.com/cleverrelish PINTEREST pinterest.com/cleverrelish/ Allison Whelpley leads an arts and crafts class through the Dedham Parks and Recreation PathFinders program on Friday, Jan. 18. Finding their path PathFinders program helps kids with special needs Brian MacKinnon, 12, shows off his Lego airport at Allison Whelpley’s arts and crafts class. The class is part of the Dedham Parks and Recreation PathFinders program. For more photos visit WickedLocalDedham.com. WICKED LOCAL PHOTOS BY ZARA TZANEV SEE ARTS, A7 SEE PATHFINDERS, A6 SEE CLEVERRELISH, A6
The Dedham Transcript is published weekly by GateHouse Media New England, 254 Second Ave, Needham MA 02494. Annual cost for in-town home delivery is $42.
After years of planning, the red brick Avery school-house in East Dedham of-fi cially became the Mother Brook Arts and Communi-ty Center.
On Jan 17, the Board ofSelectmen signed a 10-yearlease with the arts center. The crew will move in on March 1.
“The board of directors is chomping at the bit,”Selectman Michael But-ler said, before signingthe lease. “I think peoplewill see a lots of positivechanges.”
Dedham may be on the cutting edge of a trend to-ward arts and communi-ty centers nationwide, offi -cials said.
Towns are beginning to realize the value of com-bining a cultural spacewith a community space, especially one that in-cludes young and old alike,Town Administrator Wil-liam Keegan said.
“It begins a new era, one that is not very common inthe commonwealth but isstarting to grow as an in-terest, and we’re pleased tobe at the front end of thatinterest,” Keegan said.
He added that Dedham should be a prime mar-ket for the studio industry as there is not much localcompetition.
Selectmen were care-ful to emphasize that theagreement should alsoearn the town money.
“We are keeping our
AVERY SCHOOL
Center gets green lightMother Brook Arts and Community Center signs lease for Avery School
Jill Carreiro has racked up more than 5 years of changing diapers. In those years, one thing remained the same: the ugly baby wipes container.
“It was literally 24/7. You could walk through the
house and see one of these teal boxes,” Carreiro said in her Dedham home. She is the mom to a 6-year-old
stepson, almost 4-year-old daughter and 2-year-old
CLEVERRELISH
Calling all clever momsAfter inventing WipesWraps, Dedham woman launches business to fi nd hidden parent genius
Dedham resident and mom Jill Carreiro recent-ly launched her own company, CleverRelish. Her first product, WipesWraps, are available at cleverrelish.com. WICKED LOCAL STAFF PHOTOS BY ANDREA SALISBURY
Seven-year-old Al-ex Sountoulidis was building a future space station.
When asked what made it futuristic he pointed to a vehicle perched on a tower of clear plastic Legos.
“Have you ever seen a hovercraft before?” he asked.
Alex attends the Path-Finders Lego club on Fridays with his brother Niko. Niko is Autistic.
Next to him, Rob-bie Ricard, 7, was put-ting the fi nishing touch-es on his airplane
DEDHAM PARKS AND RECREATION
More about CleverRelishWEBSITE cleverrelish.comFACEBOOK www.facebook.com/CleverRelishTWITTER twitter.com/cleverrelishPINTEREST pinterest.com/cleverrelish/
Allison Whelpley leads an arts and crafts class through the Dedham Parks andRecreation PathFinders program on Friday, Jan. 18.
Finding their pathPathFinders program helps kids with special needs
Brian MacKinnon, 12, shows off his Lego airport at Allison Whelpley’s arts and crafts class. The class is part of the Dedham Parks and Recreation PathFinders program. For more photos visit WickedLocalDedham.com.WICKED LOCAL PHOTOS BY ZARA TZANEV
SEE ARTS, A7SEE PATHFINDERS, A6
SEE CLEVERRELISH, A6
A6 Thursday, January 24, 2013DEDHAM TRANSCRIPT
daughter.“(The wipes) become a ubiquitous
thing,” she said. “You start to use themfor everything. You clean the fridge withthem. They are right there.”Then came the “light bulb moment.”“I went to drop my baby off at the nan-
ny. It was a joke that they had boughtthe same ottoman as us, but I walk inand there (on the ottoman) was the samewipes container,” she laughed. “It was sit-ting in the same place on the same otto-man and I was just like, ‘why don’t wecover this. It should be prettier.’”Carreiro, an engineer, sales person, and
crafter, got to work. One Super Bowl Sun-day she bought fabric, and pulled out a ti-ny sewing machine.“I started sewing prototypes and then
contacted a patent attorney,” she said. Shebought “Inventions for Dummies,” andthe ball was rolling. Then, in May 2012,she lost her job. With a positive outlook,Carreiro put her energy into buildingher product — WipesWraps — and fromthere launched CleverRelish.In November 2012, WipesWraps re-
ceived patent-pending status. She hiredUnwrapped Inc, a manufacturing com-pany in Lowell, to sew the covers and theonline sale of WipesWraps began. Thereare currently 24 patterns for the Wipes-Wraps and is priced at $15 each.The cover is made to perfectly fit the
leading brand baby wipe tubs. Carreirosaid it fits Pampers like a glove.Her goal is to eventually market Wipes-
Wraps to companies that manufacturebaby décor.“In the United States alone there are
200 companies that manufacture ba-by décor,” she said. “They make the bed-spread that matches the sheet thatmatches the pillow that matches the littleappliqué thing on the wall. Why do theyignore the wipes tub?”She hopes to licenseWipesWraps to those
companies andhelpmomshide the ‘teal tub.’Yet this is just one small step in Car-
reiro’s dream of growing CleverRelish.“CleverRelish as a company is about the
discovery, design, and development,” shesaid while sitting at her kitchen table, theWipesWraps prototypes before her.Through CleverRelish she hopes to em-
power the parents that have a “wouldn’t itbe great if this thing existed” moment andturn that idea into a product.“I think there is hidden genius out in
the world. Hidden mom and dad genius,”she said.CleverRelish can be found online at
http://cleverrelish.com. Carreiro is look-ing for ideas and encourages parents toemail her at [email protected].
CLEVERRELISHFrom Page A1
WipesWraps are fabric covers for babywipes containers. They are available atcleverrelish.com.
strip. “I’m the fastest build-er in my family,” he said.Launched in October
2011, the PathFinders Pro-gram provides an impor-tant opportunity for chil-dren with special needs tobe healthy and creative, di-rector Marnie Colantuoniexplained.That opportunity can
take the form of classessuch as Legos and arts andcrafts, or sports like swim-ming, basketball, baseball,and soccer.“We want kids to be
healthy; for some, thatmeans exercise. For others,it means socialization,” sheexplained.On Friday, Jan. 18, sev-
en students joined facili-tator Allison Whelpley inLegos and arts and crafts.The seven and eight yearolds built cars and spaceshuttles at the center at269 Common St. Theyknelt or sat cross-leggedon the wood paneled floorof the dance room, look-ing down at their projectswith intense focus, theirwork reflected in the mir-rors-on-wheels that linedthe opposite wall.Though they weren’t all
collaborating, they formed
a tight cluster at the farend of the room, save AvaRicard, who was laying alarge, circular track in themiddle.Near the entrance,
Whelpley kept an eye onthe children as she placedtheir sculptures on the ta-ble, laying a brush and apaper cup with fresh wa-ter at each place. Whenthe set-up was complete,she called participants tomake a semi-circle aroundher and read aloud to themfrom children’s book “Ish”by Dedham resident PeterReynolds.Afterwards, the kids
dragged their chairs backto the table and paint-ed volcanoes, “Lord of theRings” sets, and other claysculptures they had madethe previous week.Parents were the driv-
ing force behind PathFind-ers, and they expressedgratitude for the program,which has served approx-imately 40 students sinceits inception.“We will continue to par-
ticipate in PathFinders aslong as it exists,” parentSara Sountoulidis said.It is the only program of
its kind in southern Nor-folk County, and drawsstudents from neighbor-ing Hyde Park and WestRoxbury, according to
Colantuoni.Students with diverse
needs can be accommo-dated, and “every facility isfully handicap accessible”Colantuoni underlined,though most of the kidspresent on Friday were onthe Autism spectrum.An extra hand is need-
ed at times to meet all thechildren’s needs.“The previous class
had eight kids. A moth-er whose kid had cerebralpalsy would sit through thewhole class, and she wasa huge help. At the end Igave her a certificate foroutstanding assistant, shewas amazing.” Whelpleysaid.Whelpley, who has
worked for Cerebral Pal-sy of Massachusetts andthe South Shore ARC, ad-mitted that it can be goodto have someone else onhand when the unexpect-ed happens. She said shewas alone once with all thekids when one took off andstarted tearing through theDolan Recreational Cen-ter. She had to line up theremaining class and takethem with her to locate therunaway child.“That is why we’re al-
ways looking for volun-teers. High school stu-dents, people interestedin educational or special
education,” she added.One volunteer was pres-
ent on Friday night —19-year-old Andrew Man-cuso, who is diagnosedwith a disorder in the au-tism spectrum. Mancuso,who is also a teaching as-sistant at the New Eng-land Sports Academy, saidhe enjoys volunteering andlooks forward to spendingtime Saturday and Sundayat NESA.He assisted Whelpley in
setting up paint palettesand bringing participantsto the water cooler, and hesat on the floor to play withthe kids.Socialization is an
important aspect ofPathFinders.It provides a unique op-
portunity for kids at alllevels to interact — on thespecial need kids’ hometurf.“It’s a privilege for the
regular-ed kids to be ableto come to this program,instead of the other wayaround, which it mightnormally be,” Whelpley
said.She noted that “When
kids first come here theirparents say, ‘He doesn’ttalk to anybody, he doesn’tinteract a lot with differ-ent children at school,’and then [the kids] comehere, and they all love ‘StarWars’ and they all like‘Lord of the Rings,’ and allthese boys just become im-mediate friends.”The Dedham Recreation
Department’s PathFindersProgram runs on Fridaysand Saturdays at the DolanCenter and JuJu’s Place. Itis open now for registra-tion. Seven-week classesare $35 for residents and$45 for non-residents.For more information
contact Marnie L. Colan-tuoni at [email protected] or visitwww.dedham-ma.gov/in-dex.cfm?pid=20669.
PATHFINDERSFrom Page A1
Instructor Allison Whelpley and Ava Ricard, 6, during cleanup time on Friday, Jan.18. The class is part of the Dedham Parks and Recreation PathFinders program. Formore photos visit WickedLocalDedham.com. WICKED LOCAL PHOTOS BY ZARA TZANEV
Allison Whelpley (standing, center) calls time out during arts and crafts class.
Ava Ricard, 6, builds a house at Whelpley’s arts and crafts class on Friday, Jan. 18.
Niko Sountoulitis’s art project awaits during craftsclass on Friday, Jan. 18. The class is part of the DedhamParks and Recreation PathFinders program. For morephotos visit WickedLocalDedham.com.
