Member News & Views

Didriks celebrates fifth anniversary
On September 1, Didriks, a retailer of outdoor furniture and home furnishings, celebrated its fifth year in business. Didriks opened in 2004 with under 1,000 square feet of retail space in Cambridge and a few hundred items for sale on their Web site. Since then, Didriks has doubled their showroom space and has developed a national reputation in the outdoor furniture and home furnishings retail space through their online presence. For more information about Didriks, call (617) 354-5700, see the showroom at 190 Concord Avenue (M-F 10-7, Sat 10-6, Sun 11-5) or visit www.didriks.com.

Cambridge College elects new chair
The Board of Trustees of Cambridge College has elected Derek Davis as its next Chair. Mr. Davis has been a member of the Cambridge College Board of Trustees since 2003. He is a business attorney at Greenberg Traurig in Boston, with legal experience covering a broad spectrum of corporate transactional matters, including venture capital financings, private placements of securities, mergers and acquisitions, public project finance, and other corporate transactions for a variety of industries.

Parents Forum holds fall info sessions
Parents Forum invites individual parents and prospective community partners to free information sessions from 2 to 4 p.m. at 99 Bishop Allen Drive in Central Square on first Fridays of the month: October 2, November 6 and December 6, 2009. To register, call Eve Sullivan at (617) 253-7182 or send email to eve@parents
forum.org with “PF info session” in the subject line. Also Chamber members are invited to read and comment on the Parents Forum entry in Ashoka’s Changemakers competition “Rethinking Mental Health: Improving Community Wellbeing” at www.changemakers.com.

Gentle Giant becomes ProMover certified
Gentle Giant Moving Company has been officially designated a ProMover by American Moving and Storage Association (AMSA). The ProMover program, which began this year, helps consumers to choose licensed, professional movers and avoid imposters. Gentle Giant has been a member of AMSA in good standing for more than 13 years and applied for and received the ProMover certification in June. To qualify as a ProMover, movers must pass a rigorous review of professional business standards. For more information about Gentle Giant, visit www.gentlegiant.com.

Celebrate first day of fall at RiverSing
On Sunday, September 20, Revels will celebrate the Autumnal Equinox with the 6th annual RiverSing along the Charles. This free event, held on the Cambridge side of the Charles River near the John W. Weeks Footbridge at Memorial Drive, features a number of area choruses and solo artists who will encourage the audience to sing along. Revelers are invited to come early, spread their picnic blankets along the river and bring/wear a bell to help ring in the new season. The communal singing begins at 6 p.m. and lasts until dark. At 5 p.m. RiverSing entertainments of all kinds will take place in Winthrop Park in Harvard Square, including a marching band, puppets, face painting and more, then form a grand procession down to the river at 5:45 p.m. For more information on RiverSing call (617) 972-8300 or visit www.revels.org.

Flu clinics keep your workplace healthy
The Cambridge Public Health Department is offering 15 free flu clinics this fall. The main flu clinic is on Saturday, October 17 from 10 a.m. to noon at the Tobin School, 197 Vassal Lane. This clinic is for seasonal flu, not H1N1 (swine) flu—doctors expect a vaccine for H1N1 (swine) flu to be available later in 2009. Families with children will be seen on the Upper Level, and an “Adult Express” option will be on the Lower Level. Parking is available. Children age 24 months and older will be seen at this clinic. Both flu shot and FluMist, a nasal spray vaccine, will be available. FluMist is an option for healthy people 2-49 years of age who are not pregnant. Call (617) 665-3855 or visit www.cambridgepublichealth.org for more information.

Food for Free makes greens greener
Food For Free is working with Metro Pedal Power to collect fresh produce from three area farmers’ markets using human-powered tricycle trucks. Food For Free already collects food from seven farmers’ markets, using gas or diesel-powered trucks. Arriving just as the markets close, Food For Free’s staff asks farmers and other vendors to donate leftover food for distribution to local food programs. The food collected gets refrigerated overnight and delivered to food pantries, shelters, or meal programs the very next morning. The partnership with Metro Pedal Power is expected to bring in an additional 24,000 pounds of food.

Have an item for Member News & Views?
E-mail press releases to lcohen@cambridgechamber.org, fax (617) 354-9874 or mail to Lisa S. Cohen, 859 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139. See the calendar on the back page for deadlines. Photos/artwork are welcome.