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With the Cape Cod Parent Resource Fair rapidly approaching we will be sharing blog posts on our participating sponsors, vendors and nonprofits. You will find out more about these amazing businesses and what they offer to our community. They will be sharing their services, advice, what challenges face our community as well as upcoming events they will be having. Make sure to check out our virtual program and resource guide ahead of the event so you can plan for what you want to see including our famous speaker panels. If you preregister for the speakers you will earn extra raffle tickets. You also earn them by attending any of our entertainment sessions! Just email us and you will receive tickets at the door! We hope to see you at the Resource Fair!
Leanne's Princess Parties
1. Tell us about your business/non profit and how it benefits local families?
It takes the stress away from planning a party knowing you have an hour of guaranteed fun for your children. It also allows the parents to enjoy the party and they don't have to be running around trying to organize activities. It creates more one on one time with you children. It will be a magical visit that will create a wonderful family memory that they will talk about months later. Also, I help promote body positivity. We live in a society where thin is thought to define beauty and that couldn’t be further from the truth. I am a modern, realistic princess. It shows that you don’t have to be skinny to be a Princess. Every girl is a Princess and they all come in different shapes and sizes. 2. Where is it located? I serve locations in MA and RI. 3. What is your favorite thing about our community? I love how families on the Cape are all about community and always have different ways of helping each other. 4. How else do you get involved with the community? My plan is when my business gets more established I want to visit local hospitals and visit children (and the young at heart) that may need a Princess visit to cheer them up. At no cost. 5. What do you think are the biggest challenges facing parents in our community? Being too busy seems to be the biggest challenge for parents. It doesn't allow time with their children so they are always trying to find more ways to have more free time. That is why my business allows the parents to cut out some busy work when it comes to planning a party. 6. What is your favorite memory or story over the years involving you and your business? Hearing how a child cannot stop talking about their birthday party months later just brings me so much joy. It brings back imagination and wonder. I feel it’s lost now a days with all this technology that children have access to. This is hands on fun! 7. What advice would you give parents and caregivers in our community? Make as much time as you can to spend with your kids. Play with them. Pretend with them. The young years is the time when you develop a relationship with your child. The more time you spend with them the better the relationship you will have in their adult years. 8. Do you have any specials, events, or anything else taking place this upcoming year that our parents should know about? I currently do not have any special events planned yet as my business is still young. 
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With the Cape Cod Parent Resource Fair rapidly approaching we will be sharing blog posts on our participating sponsors, vendors and nonprofits. You will find out more about these amazing businesses and what they offer to our community. They will be sharing their services, advice, what challenges face our community as well as upcoming events they will be having. Make sure to check out our virtual program and resource guide ahead of the event so you can plan for what you want to see including our famous speaker panels. If you preregister for the speakers you will earn extra raffle tickets. You also earn them by attending any of our entertainment sessions! Just email us and you will receive tickets at the door! We hope to see you at the Resource Fair!
Team Maureen
Tell us about your business/non profit and how it benefits local families?
Team Maureen is a nonprofit based in Falmouth dedicated to ending cervical cancer by educating about the connection between HPV and cancer, and the importance of prevention and early detection. Where is it located? Falmouth What is your favorite thing about our community? everything :) How else do you get involved with the community? Team Maureen attends community events across the Cape to educate the public about HPV and its connection to cancer. We also have presentations for everyone from High Schoolers to Medical Professionals. Our presentation is free and we'll come anywhere we are invited to increase knowledge of these preventable cancers. What is your favorite memory or story over the years involving you and your business? One of my favorite things just happened this month. It took nearly a year to make our animated video short on HPV prevention. To finally see it in the movie theater on the big screen was incredible! What advice would you give parents and caregivers in our community? Don't hesitate to reach out for help and info when you need it. Do you have any specials, events, or anything else taking place this upcoming year that our parents should know about? Too many to list! Strike Out Cancer- our annual fundraiser at the Lanes in Mashpee, is March 26; Take the Shot Night basketball event in Falmouth-Jan 31/Mashpee on Feb 14; Cape Cod Marathon Relay teams next Fall (contact me if you want to run!) 
With the Cape Cod Parent Resource Fair rapidly approaching we will be sharing blog posts on our participating sponsors, vendors and nonprofits. You will find out more about these amazing businesses and what they offer to our community. They will be sharing their services, advice, what challenges face our community as well as upcoming events they will be having. Make sure to check out our virtual program and resource guide ahead of the event so you can plan for what you want to see including our famous speaker panels. If you preregister for the speakers you will earn extra raffle tickets. You also earn them by attending any of our entertainment sessions! Just email us and you will receive tickets at the door! We hope to see you at the Resource Fair!
Upon Arrival Doula
1. Tell us about your business/non profit and how it benefits local families?
I am a trained postpartum maternal care specialist (doula) through CAPPA and Bengkung-style bellybind artist through Positive Body Mind and Baby, LLC, as well as a mother of four children, ages 5 and under. Through Upon Arrival, I "mother the new mother" and her family by providing support services that gently guide them through the life-changing experience of early postpartum parenthood and beyond. In addition to my own personal mothering/breastfeeding experiences and formal education in both post-birth doula work and bellybinding, I also have extensive training in infant/toddler sleep shaping and coaching, lactation education, and maternal mental health support. This background, in addition to my previous work in both the early intervention and education fields, and several years spent working as a nanny, have prepared me greatly for the role as your postpartum support person. I personally understand the difficult, overwhelming, yet absolutely magical experiences that the postpartum period brings, whether it be your first, second, or fifth addition! This is a special time to really slow down and cherish every minute, free of stress or exhaustion - I'm happy to help. My services include but are not limited to: postpartum planning, emotional support, meal prep/grocery shopping, laundry and light housework, newborn care demos, diapering (cloth or disposable) and baby wearing demos, tummy time, bathing newborns, time for extra rest, birth story processing, sibling adjustment, lactation/pumping/formula feeding support, physical postpartum recovery, traditional postpartum support (Bengkung bellybinding, herbal techniques, steam services, etc.), errands, accompaniment to appointments, time management/family logistics, and much more. I will do my best each day to make sure that Upon Arrival’s postpartum care makes you and your family feel supported, comforted, well rested, well fed, and confident in your parenting abilities - fully prepared and ready for your “new normal.” 2. Where is it located? I am located in Kingston, but I travel to meet my clients to provide in-home support throughout Plymouth county, the Cape, and surrounding areas. 3. What is your favorite thing about our community? I love how family-friendly the whole area is. I moved here with my husband from another area of Massachusetts and fell in love with how many things there are to do year round with my 4 children, and how nice people are to families with kids! I've always wanted to live near the ocean, and to have found my little oasis by the sea in which to raise my children in a friendly environment means the world to me. 4. How else do you get involved with the community? I love to network with other "mom-preneurs" like me, and to promote local businesses. I use holistic products in my practice - I try them myself and, if I like them enough, I prefer to procure them from local sources so that my clients know where they came from and can give their business to someone nearby if they would like to. I also refer my clients to many other post-birth specialists in the area, so I am always on the lookout to make new connections to benefit both my clients and other local businesses. 5. What do you think are the biggest challenges facing parents in our community? I think the Cape can appear "cut off" from the rest of Massachusetts at times, and often forgotten. People think of the Cape as a vacation spot rather than somewhere to live. However, with the right resources, the Cape can be a beautiful place to raise a family full-time, if you know where to look! 6. What is your favorite memory or story over the years involving you and your business? My very first client was someone who contacted me before the birth of their baby. We planned everything from postpartum meals to how to walk her dogs while she was resting with the baby to how to work the washer and dryer so I could help with laundry. She also expressed interest in learning several newborn care techniques as this was to be her and her husband's first child, so we made a list of those so I could put together a curriculum of sorts. When the time finally came for the birth, I arrived for my first shift, and what my client needed was someone to sit and listen to her birth story. So I made tea and she talked, and suddenly it had been the total 3 hour shift. The next session, she wanted someone to hold baby while she showered, and then chit chat with her about how hard it was to get out of the house, so we made a travel plan - again, suddenly time had flown. The next session, we put our plan into action: she took me and baby to her doctor's appointment (her first time out with baby without her husband) and then out to lunch. I didn't feel like I was helping much - after all, I was prepared for many physical jobs, like dog walking, cooking, and cleaning, and here I was enjoying tea and chatting about motherhood over lunch! - but she showed me what she needed and I provided that emotional support. After a few weeks, I learned through the grapevine that she had recommended me to many of her friends because I had "kept her postpartum time from becoming lonely," and made her feel "confident in her birth and mothering abilities by answering questions and calming anxieties." It was one of the nicest compliments I have received as a doula to date! Now I no longer take emotional support for granted - it's a large part of what I do, and I do it proudly! 7. What advice would you give parents and caregivers in our community? Join Facebook mom groups! I find so many events and activities through local mom groups - there are plenty for the Cape and south shore. Also, if you need help, please ask for it. Parenting is hard, but there are many resources out there for people who go looking for them. You're not alone! 8. Do you have any specials, events, or anything else taking place this upcoming year that our parents should know about? I run flash sales on my packages all the time - anything from percentages off to free add-ons - so check my Facebook page often (www.facebook.com/pg/uponarrivaldoula). Also, my services make an excellent baby shower gift - consider gifting an expectant friend a shift or two! 
With the Cape Cod Parent Resource Fair rapidly approaching we will be sharing blog posts on our participating sponsors, vendors and nonprofits. You will find out more about these amazing businesses and what they offer to our community. They will be sharing their services, advice, what challenges face our community as well as upcoming events they will be having. Make sure to check out our virtual program and resource guide ahead of the event so you can plan for what you want to see including our famous speaker panels. If you preregister for the speakers you will earn extra raffle tickets. You also earn them by attending any of our entertainment sessions! Just email us and you will receive tickets at the door! We hope to see you at the Resource Fair!
Sandwich Partnership for Families
Tell us about your business/non profit and how it benefits local families?
We are a grant funded program through the Mass. Dept. of Early Ed. & Care, the Coordinated Family & Community Engagement grant (CFCE). That means all our programs are free and have no eligibility requirement- income, special needs, residency- none are barriers to participation- everyone is welcome at any of the CFCE’s on the Cape. And every town is served by one! We offer parent & child programs such as play groups, music & movement, yoga, story hours, etc. Where is it located? All our programs are located in Sandwich. The majority of them are held in the Forestdale School, 151 Route 130 (at the intersection of 130 & Quaker Meetinghouse Rd.) Some programs are located at the Sandwich Recreation Dept., and some at the Sandwich Library. What is your favorite thing about our community? That it is a great place to raise a family! It has a strong & vibrant Mother’s Club, highly involved PTA and supportive Sandwich Women’s Club. Additionally, the Sandwich Kiwanis support thousands and thousands of additional children’s programming dollars each year. The Children’s Room librarians are welcoming, creative & dedicated to ensuring each child loves reading. The Cape Canal Rangers are terrific to teach about marine life. Additionally, it has a number of strong community traditions & celebrations, such as First Night, Sandwich Fest, Carol Sing, etc. What do you think are the biggest challenges facing parents in our community? Isolation from each other and from their support systems. It is difficult to make new friends if you have a young child and your other friends do not, or if you are new to the community, leaving friends & family behind. That and the economic struggles we all face (sky high housing & transportation costs), but which are magnified by the costs of having a young child, and either the choice to pay for childcare, or lose one income. What advice would you give parents and caregivers in our community? Relax. Let go of the small stuff, and enjoy the little one. Find ways to take the pressure off yourself, and appreciate all the small advances in your child’s development. There is no Cleanest House contest, and even if there was, would you want to be the winner??? Do you have any specials, events, or anything else taking place this upcoming year that our parents should know about? Yes! February 8 is the Little Red Riding Hood Puppet Show, March 7th is our Early Childhood Fair, and April is our Discovery Center Birthday Party Celebration as well as the Rec. Departments Outdoor Adventure Day. 
With the Cape Cod Parent Resource Fair rapidly approaching we will be sharing blog posts on our participating sponsors, vendors and nonprofits. You will find out more about these amazing businesses and what they offer to our community. They will be sharing their services, advice, what challenges face our community as well as upcoming events they will be having. Make sure to check out our virtual program and resource guide ahead of the event so you can plan for what you want to see including our famous speaker panels. If you preregister for the speakers you will earn extra raffle tickets. You also earn them by attending any of our entertainment sessions! Just email us and you will receive tickets at the door! We hope to see you at the Resource Fair!
Cape Cod Healthcare
Tell us about your business/non profit and how it benefits local families?
Cape Cod Healthcare is the leading provider of healthcare services for residents and visitors of Cape Cod. It is our mission to coordinate and deliver the highest quality, accessible health services, which enhance the health of all Cape Cod residents and visitors. We offer local families access to the full resources of Cape Cod Healthcare, including Pediatric and Primary Care, Women’s Health, family-centered care for parents and babies at The Family Birthplace at Cape Cod and Falmouth Hospitals, a spectrum of childbirth education classes from pregnancy through infant care, post-natal home visits for newborns and mothers through the VNA of Cape Cod, four convenient Urgent Care centers, and two acute hospitals. Where is it located? Our services are offered Cape-wide How else do you get involved with the community? Cape Cod Healthcare is involved with our community on many levels, including a dedicated Community Benefits program, charitable sponsorship's, community health outreach and screenings, health and wellness education, and more. Do you have any specials, events, or anything else taking place this upcoming year that our parents should know about? Our 2020 Wellness Trails health education series is about to kick off and is free to our community. Throughout the year, we address a variety of important health topics featuring physician experts and clinical specialists from Cape Cod Healthcare, as well as local resources in nutrition, fitness, mindfulness and more. To learn more, see https://www.capecodhealth.org/wellness-wise/wellness-trails. 
With the Cape Cod Parent Resource Fair rapidly approaching we will be sharing blog posts on our participating sponsors, vendors and nonprofits. You will find out more about these amazing businesses and what they offer to our community. They will be sharing their services, advice, what challenges face our community as well as upcoming events they will be having. Make sure to check out our virtual program and resource guide ahead of the event so you can plan for what you want to see including our famous speaker panels. If you preregister for the speakers you will earn extra raffle tickets. You also earn them by attending any of our entertainment sessions! Just email us and you will receive tickets at the door! We hope to see you at the Resource Fair!
YMCA Cape Cod
Tell us about your business/non-profit and how it benefits local families?
The YMCA is a non-profit organization listening and working with communities and families of Cape Cod and the Islands to partner local families and individuals to deliver positive change. Everyone should have the opportunity to learn, grow and thrive. We know that lasting personal and social change comes about when we all work together. That’s why at the Y, strengthening community is out cause. Every day, we work side-by-side with our neighbors to make sure that everyone, regardless of age, income, or background, can learn, grow and thrive. Where is it located? The YMCA of Cape Cod branch is located at: 2245 Iyannough Rd, West Barnstable, MA 02668. With additional Early Education Centers and Camps found throughout Cape Cod beginning in Brewster all the way to Falmouth. The centers can be found at Camp Lyndon, North Falmouth, Falmouth Hospital, Stonybrook Elementary School, Harwich: Cape Cod Regional Technical High School, and Harwich Elementary School. What is your favorite thing about our community? The willingness and engagement of volunteers and fellow agencies who pull together to support the families and members we serve. How else do you get involved with the community? In addition to helping one learn, grow and thrive, the Y’s motto is “The Y is for youth development, healthy living, and social responsibility”. The YMCA gets involved with the community by holding health and wellness classes, as well as offering personal wellness trainings and water activities. In December we hold a “Breakfast with Santa” at our own Camp Lyndon. We also do “Pedal for Parkinson’s” to raise awareness and funds to go toward research and resources, we have a diabetes resource center open and available to the public, the Livestrong Program for Cancer survivors, we also hold a Healthy Kids Day annually, incorporating several different local shops and vendors to share healthy lifestyles and choices. What do you think are the biggest challenges facing parents in our community? Resources and quality Early Education centers. What is your favorite memory or story over the years involving you and your business? Participating in the process of HEALTHY KIDS DAY and the actual day. To see over 600 families of the Cape enjoying all of the local businesses and excitement of the day. It was a great success and a day of fun and smiles by all. What advice would you give parents and caregivers in our community? Advice for parents and caregivers in our community would be to be open to new experiences and be optimistic and open minded to different backgrounds and families. Do you have any specials, events, or anything else taking place this upcoming year that our parents should know about? Healthy Kids Day, Breakfast with Santa, Parade Days, Pedaling for Parkinson’s event, Golf Tournament, among many more throughout the year. 
With the Cape Cod Parent Resource Fair rapidly approaching we will be sharing blog posts on our participating sponsors, vendors and nonprofits. You will find out more about these amazing businesses and what they offer to our community. They will be sharing their services, advice, what challenges face our community as well as upcoming events they will be having. Make sure to check out our virtual program and resource guide ahead of the event so you can plan for what you want to see including our famous speaker panels. If you preregister for the speakers you will earn extra raffle tickets. You also earn them by attending any of our entertainment sessions! Just email us and you will receive tickets at the door! We hope to see you at the Resource Fair!
PFAS-REACH
1. Tell us about your business/non profit and how it benefits local families?
PFAS-REACH (Research, Education and Action for Community Health) is conducting a children’s health study to learn more about potential effects of a class of water contaminants called PFAS. Parents of young children in and around Hyannis may be eligible to take part in our study. This study will improve our understanding of the health risks associated with exposure to PFAS chemicals in children and may inform the development of drinking water guidelines that protect children’s health, on Cape Cod and beyond. Our study will also develop resources to support communities that have had PFAS contamination in their drinking water. Elevated levels of PFAS were found in Hyannis water prior to July 2016. And we are also reaching out to residents throughout Cape Cod to share information about ways we can all reduce our exposures to PFAS chemicals, which are also common in consumer products. PFAS-REACH is a 5-year research project funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). The project is led by Silent Spring Institute in collaboration with Northeastern University, Michigan State University, Massachusetts Breast Cancer Coalition, Testing for Pease, and Toxics Action Center. 2. Where is it located? Our PFAS-REACH children’s health study includes children in and around Hyannis, as well as in Portsmouth, NH. Our project partners are located on Cape Cod as well as in the Boston area, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Michigan. 3. What is your favorite thing about our community? Cape Cod is very family oriented, and there are many resources available to help families get the support they need. The Cape community is full of dedicated individuals who are committed to improving the lives of all families across the Cape. 4. How else do you get involved with the community? We are now enrolling families of preschool aged children to take part in our Children’s Health Study. We will continue to attend community events and connect with parent resource networks throughout the year. 5. What do you think are the biggest challenges facing parents in our community? We’ve heard from many community members that housing is the biggest issue facing families on the Cape. 6. What is your favorite memory or story over the years involving you and your business? We have loved meeting members of the early learning community and the healthcare community who have been so supportive of our Children’s Health Study over the past year. We are so grateful to everyone who has provided guidance and offered to help spread the word about our study – it’s truly a team effort. 7. What advice would you give parents and caregivers in our community? We encourage parents and guardians with preschool age children in the Hyannis area to learn about our Children’s Health Study to see if their children are eligible to take part in the study. And we encourage everyone to learn about PFAS chemicals and tips to reduce their family’s exposure to these chemicals through simple changes in daily habits and switching out certain products containing these chemicals. Our website, www.pfas-exchange.org, has a resources page with more information for families. 8. Do you have any specials, events, or anything else taking place this upcoming year that our parents should know about? We will be attending community events this year to share information about our Children’s Health Study. Visit our website, www.pfas-exchange.org to find out about our upcoming events and to learn more about our study! 
 North Falmouth Elementary Announces Artist-in-Residence Program Joining Literacy & Arts Together.
North Falmouth Elementary School will be joined by Boston artist, Caleb Neelon to create an entry-way mural at the school in February 2020. The idea grew out of the book “McElligot's Pool” by Dr. Seuss in which a boy, Marco, imagines all kinds of sea creatures living in a small pool of water. All students will read the book as part of the school's "One Book, One Community" project. Each teacher in the school also receives a copy of the book for their classroom library. Kathryn Sodaitis, art teacher, helped initiate the One Book project and created the concept of an art collaboration between the artist and students which follows the theme of the book. Caleb will be an artist-in-residence at North Falmouth during the week of February 3. He will be painting a mural in the front entrance with an ocean theme, inspired by the message in McElligot's Pool. Students will be creating drawings with Caleb that he will incorporate into the final mural. Students will also create 3D projects in art class that are inspired by the artist's mural and WHOI scientist presentations. Event's tied to this book include:
With the Cape Cod Parent Resource Fair rapidly approaching we will be sharing blog posts on our participating sponsors, vendors and nonprofits. You will find out more about these amazing businesses and what they offer to our community. They will be sharing their services, advice, what challenges face our community as well as upcoming events they will be having. Make sure to check out our virtual program and resource guide ahead of the event so you can plan for what you want to see including our famous speaker panels. If you preregister for the speakers you will earn extra raffle tickets. You also earn them by attending any of our entertainment sessions! Just email us and you will receive tickets at the door! We hope to see you at the Resource Fair!
Silent Spring Institute
1. Tell us about your business/non profit and how it benefits local families?
Silent Spring Institute is a mission-driven scientific research organization dedicated to uncovering the environmental causes of breast cancer. Our independent research is empowering a revolution in environmental health to prevent cancers by reducing people’s exposure to harmful chemicals where they live, work and play. We believe everyone has a right to clean air, clean water, and safer products and that no one should get sick from toxic chemicals. We are creating new knowledge about cancer-causing chemicals—how we are exposed and how they affect our health. Our work is strengthening policies to protect consumers from toxics while making prevention a national research priority. Together with our sister organization Massachusetts Breast Cancer Coalition, we work to update Cape Cod residents on our water quality and public health research findings. 2. Where is it located? Silent Spring Institute’s main office is located in Newton, MA, but our Cape Coordinator is based in Barnstable, and members of our research team are often on the Cape for field sampling and to attend community events. 3. What is your favorite thing about our community? We are so inspired by the dedication of Cape residents to protecting water quality and preserving the beautiful natural resources that make Cape Cod so special. 4. How else do you get involved with the community? We are a resource for all Cape residents and often give presentations to community organizations and attend community events to share our research findings about water quality and ways of reducing your exposure to toxic chemicals. 5. What do you think are the biggest challenges facing parents in our community? We have heard from families and family support providers that housing costs and availability are a great challenge facing parents in our community. 6. What is your favorite memory or story over the years involving you and your business? We’re grateful to all the Cape residents who have taken part in our research studies over the years by sharing information about their health and welcoming our research team into their homes to collect samples of house dust, drinking water, and even their septic systems. Our research wouldn’t be possible without the support of so many people here on Cape Cod. 7. What advice would you give parents and caregivers in our community? Get educated! Consumer products that we use every day can contain toxic chemicals, such as BPA (and other bisphenols) in can liners and plastic bottles, parabens and harmful fragrance chemicals in cosmetics and personal care products, and PFAS chemicals in food packaging materials, Teflon pans, and stain-resistant and waterproof clothing. Our free mobile app, Detox Me, provides practical tips for how to keep you and your family safe from harmful chemicals in everyday consumer products. Download our app on the Apple app store or Google Play for free to learn more! 8. Do you have any specials, events, or anything else taking place this upcoming year that our parents should know about? We host an annual community event every fall to share updates about Silent Spring Institute’s research at the Barnstable Town Hall with Cape residents. And stay tuned for other updates about STEEP, PFAS-REACH, and our other water and health research on Cape Cod. 
With the Cape Cod Parent Resource Fair rapidly approaching we will be sharing blog posts on our participating sponsors, vendors and nonprofits. You will find out more about these amazing businesses and what they offer to our community. They will be sharing their services, advice, what challenges face our community as well as upcoming events they will be having. Make sure to check out our virtual program and resource guide ahead of the event so you can plan for what you want to see including our famous speaker panels. If you preregister for the speakers you will earn extra raffle tickets. You also earn them by attending any of our entertainment sessions! Just email us and you will receive tickets at the door! We hope to see you at the Resource Fair!
STEEP STEEP at 2019 Parent Fair
Tell us about your business/non profit and how it benefits local families?
STEEP is a partnership of the University of Rhode Island, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and Silent Spring Institute to study a class of chemicals called PFAS. PFAS are part of our everyday lives – they are added to nonstick, stain-resistant, and waterproof consumer products such as carpets and upholstery, waterproof clothing, cookware, food packaging, and even some dental floss. PFAS chemicals have been found in public water supplies across the U.S., including in Hyannis and Mashpee. In addition to studying PFAS in private wells on Cape Cod, STEEP is sharing resources with the community about PFAS and ways to reduce exposure. Where is it located? STEEP is led by the University of Rhode Island (Kingston, RI) in collaboration with the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (Boston, MA) and Silent Spring Institute (Newton, MA). Our community partners include Sierra Club Cape Cod Group and Massachusetts Breast Cancer Coalition. What is your favorite thing about our community? We are deeply appreciative of the partnerships we have developed with the many Cape residents who have volunteered for our private well study. Our participants have been incredibly generous with their time, welcoming us into their homes to collect samples and sharing invaluable local knowledge to help our study team better understand sources of PFAS in Cape groundwater. We’re so inspired by Cape residents working to protect water quality and preserve the Cape’s beautiful natural environment. How else do you get involved with the community? STEEP’s private well study is testing 250 private wells on Cape Cod and sharing results with members of the community and local officials. Additionally, STEEP researchers organize and attend community events to share research-based tips on reducing exposure to PFAS and new findings in our ongoing studies of PFAS on Cape Cod. What do you think are the biggest challenges facing parents in our community? Many Cape Cod residents rely on septic systems to treat their wastewater, but septic systems are the largest source of nitrate pollution into groundwater on the Cape. Prior studies of wells on Cape Cod have shown that wells with higher levels of nitrate are also more likely to contain contaminants of emerging concern, such as pharmaceuticals and consumer product chemicals. While public drinking water systems are required to test and treat water, private wells are not and can be more locally impacted by nearby septic systems. It is important for private well owners to get their well tested at least once per year and to track levels of common contaminants over time. What is your favorite memory or story over the years involving you and your business? At our most recent STEEP Science Day event, we invited local high school students to hear from STEEP researchers about careers in science and water quality in their communities. The students were deeply engaged and asked thoughtful questions of our research team. We loved having the opportunity to share our work with the next generation of future scientists! What advice would you give parents and caregivers in our community? PFAS chemicals are found in a wide variety of consumer products (think nonstick, stain resistant, waterproof, and greaseproof items) and sometimes in drinking water. We can all take steps to reduce our PFAS exposure, lower our chemical footprint, and protect Cape Cod drinking water. Visit the STEEP website (web.uri.edu/steep) to find research-based tips to help reduce your family’s exposure to PFAS. Do you have any specials, events, or anything else taking place this upcoming year that our parents should know about? STEEP holds an annual Science Day event on Cape Cod where community members can hear from STEEP researchers about PFAS in the environment and health effects. 
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