The COS team has truly enjoyed the four Farmer’s Markets that they have participated in. The weather was beautiful. They shared congeniality while promoting the Women’s Board, the Carry On Shop, Gift Shops, Renewal and all our the awesome contributions to the Hospital that the Women’s Board has made since 1929.
The Carry On Shop will have a table at the Johns Hopkins Farmers’ Market on Thursday, September 28, and Thursday, October 12, from 10:00 am until 2:00 pm on the walkway between the cancer research buildings. The table will feature goods from the Carry On Shop as well as Johns Hopkins logo wear and gift items, which also are available at the Women’s Board Hospital Gift Shops.
The JHMI Office of Sustainability sponsors the Farmers’ Market, to bring local, nutritious food to the Johns Hopkins community. It is managed by Reduction in Motion, an environmental consulting firm, with over 10 years of experience in establishing such markets and a goal to accomplish zero waste. The Market provides a time to mingle with employees, students, patients, families, and community members, while browsing varied offerings, enjoying treats at pop- up eateries, and taking home healthy foods.
It is fitting that the Carry On Shop, located on East Monument Street, be present at the Market. The Women’s Board Shop and Renewal Upscale Resale, at Hunt Valley Towne Centre, practice sustainability and reduction in waste through resale, giving new life to donations. Come visit the Market and the COS team!
In videotaping interviews with recipients of Women’s Board annual grants for the web site, the Board is fortunate to be able to draw upon the talent and skill of member Sharen Becker. Her interviews explain the impact of the awards from the Board in advancing patient care at Johns Hopkins.
Sharen’s first documentary short film has been accepted at festivals across the country including Orlando FL and Davis CA, and has won Best Document Short in the American Golden Picture International Film Festival. Using a cell phone, she videoed the story of Charm City Ballet, as the troupe attempted to make a comeback following the Covid-19 shutdown. The ballet company strived to keep the dancers inspired and well trained as they worked to produce a full-length ballet after being closed for two years. During the awards season public screenings of the video are not allowed outside of the film festivals. As soon as possible, the Women’s Board will have the chance to see the work celebrating Charm City Ballet. Congratulations Sharen!
Time to shop – Visit the online offerings for Johns Hopkins logo items, via the Women’s Board web site, to see what’s new. Adding to the wide range of performance Under Armour wear, branded merchandise is now available from a pen set to a carabiner badge holder with a Dome cover to a variety of water bottles. Let’s not forget the Padfolio and a black enamel fireside camp mug!
In the week or so since the Carry on Shop hosted a stand at the Farmers’ Market, sales at the store have been brisk. A result of exposure at the Market? Many who visited the Women’s Board tent mentioned that they have shopped at Renewal Upscale Resale. A positive for the Board’s fund and friend raising on behalf of Johns Hopkins through its retail operations— the Carry On Shop and Renewal.
New member Allison Williamson and Deborah Fanshaw have signed on to be at the Farmers’ Market on Thursday, August 24, joining the COS team!
Several who are involved with the Carry On Shop sponsored a stand selling Johns Hopkins logo wear as well as cups, lanyards, and refillable bottles at the Johns Hopkins Hospital Farmers’ Market. Guests to the stand eagerly took recently printed flyers for the new WB online logo wear shop. All had such a good time, they’ve recruited other WB members to join them on August 24, and September 28, when the COS group returns to the Market.
The Market is held every Thursday from 10 am until 2 pm on the walkway between the Outpatient Center and the Cancer Research Buildings. The beverages, food, plants, produce, and products available are awesome and delicious! Most important, the Market educates and encourages health, recycling and sustainability, the very same goals the Women’s Board has had since 1927!
Thanks to Bert Ficke, Pam Hindsley, Joan Quinn, and of course, John Sizemore, Carry On Shop manager. See photo below.
Logo wear and logo gifts are available online. Support the Women’s Board with a purchase!
Kathy Abbott has been a proud member of the Women’s Board since 2011. It all started in 2009, when Pam Hindsley, then Best Dressed Sale chair, wisely asked her to help with Vintage Clothing donations. As Kathy’s most recent education had been in Costume History and Design, she was thrilled to accept because of her passion for vintage clothing and because of the worthwhile cause of contributing to benefit patient care at The Johns Hopkins Hospital.
After volunteering for the board for several years and finishing a second degree in Theatre, Design and Production at Towson University, she became a member ready to dedicate her newly found free time to the Women’s Board. Kathy has continued to oversee Vintage, at first at the Best Dressed Sale, then at the shop at Kenilworth Mall, now at Renewal and at the Carry On Shop. In addition to co chairing the Carry On Shop, she has helped with Great Taste events, the Golf Classic, and any number of other committees needing volunteers.
Kathy’s favorite committee has been Hospital Relations (now Grants and Awards), thus being part of the review of grants submitted by various departments and of the decision as to how to allocate the funds the board has worked so hard to raise. For Kathy, a personal benefit of being a board member has been the number of wonderful women she has had the opportunity to meet, and the friendships that have evolved when she thought all her friendships already had been made!
A few years ago Marge (not her real name) was having lunch with her daughter and grandson when she noticed that her voice sounded different. She told her daughter that she felt as though her voice was “catching” in her throat. At an annual doctor’s appointment a few weeks later she mentioned it to her physician who recommended that she see a specialist. Eventually Marge was diagnosed with Spasmodic dysphonia (SD) a neurologic voice disorder that causes spasms in the muscles of the larynx, or voice box.
SD affects adults of all ages with patients often complaining of their voices catching in their throat, interrupting the fluency of speech. These spasms can be quite debilitating, but they can be temporarily treated by injecting Botox into the voice box muscles, weakening them enough so the spasms do not continue. To ensure these injections reach the correct location at the correct dosage so as to give relief for the longest possible time, an Electromyography (EMG) machine is connected to the injection needle. This allows otolaryngologists who treat SD with Botox to see muscle activity on a monitor and confirm the needle is in the right place to inject. Patients like Marge may need this treatment on average every three months depending on their preferences and the medication’s effect.
In 2017, The Women’s Board bequeathed a grant to the Otolaryngology Clinic at Johns Hopkins to purchase the EMG machine they currently use. This equipment supports this more precise and safer option to treat the 100 plus patients annually who require these repetitive injections, giving them the ability to communicate effectively in a stronger and more fluid voice. This machine also has uses in patients with Parkinson’s disease and essential tremor in cases where these illnesses affect the voice.
In November and December, the magazine featured complimentary half page ads for the Carry On Shop.
Then in January, an article introduced the Women’s Board and the Carry On Shop to Guilford readers. February Stroll Guilford expanded on the work of the Women’s Board, introducing board members, past and present, who live in Guilford. Readers were reminded that the Carry On Shop depends upon and gratefully accepts donations!
The March issue highlighted grants and scholarships awarded by the Women’s Board in 2022 to Johns Hopkins. Readers learned that the board has awarded, since 1927, over $25 million to Johns Hopkins, including more recently, a major grant for the Charlotte R. Bloomberg Children’s Center.
The April Stroll issue will feature an article by Nathan Diennes, of the School of Medicine Development Office, beautifully describing the Carry On Shop, its varied merchandise and many customers, and introducing Sandy, John and other members of the faithful COS team.