By KATE J. CONDE

It’s a girl! Congratulations to Deputy Chief Alex Schaeffer and his wife Julie as they welcome their daughter Amelia Eliza to their family. The new addition was born Jan. 4 at 11:51 p.m., weighing in at 7 pounds, 14 ounces. Amelia joins big brother Tobi, who is eager to share his toys — let’s hope she likes fire trucks.

The first dinner of the New Year was sponsored by the members of the head table and prepared by chefs Matt Millman and Mike Klimek. There’s no better way to start out the New Year than to start our dinner with a cup of clam chowder and scallops wrapped in bacon. The bill of fare included chicken picante with fettuccini and tender beef brisket, served with roasted potatoes and green beans almondine. The homemade desserts encouraged many New Year’s resolutions to be broken as hot apple pie a la mode was served.

Roy Gundersen led us in the pledge of allegiance to get our meeting underway. Secretary Geoff Freeman read a few thank-you cards we received from appreciative senior citizens of our community in receipt of their Christmas stocking filled with fruit, nuts and candy. At her first meeting as vice president, Kara Shemeth was called away on an ambulance run and missed the whole thing, including the dinner she served. (There is a small cash reward for any info to find out who ate her plate of food from the fridge.)

The New Year brings new members to the firemen’s association. As of Jan. 1, all the members of the ambulance squad have united to support the association. We warmly welcome the emergency medical technicians to join us each month for dinner and a meeting. Congratulations to Rob Young as he was recently elected to join the board of fire engineers as the representative for the volunteer emergency medical technicians. Many thanks to John Dropick for fulfilling this position with good grace over the last two years.

We were incredibly happy to see so many members from Chappaquiddick joining us for our dinner and meeting. Thanks to Capt. Peter Wells for encouraging everyone to come over on such a cold evening.

Capt. Dick Kelly is out of a job brewing coffee every morning as our old machine was replaced with a new one-cup brewing system. Everyone at the station is so pleased with our new machine that coffee breaks have become more frequent around here. Capt. Charlie Smith made a $100 donation to the coffee till on behalf of his rescue truck. Thanks, Charlie. The boys from Chappy were rewarded for their attendance, as President Andrew Kelly kindly offered to buy a new coffee machine for our Chappaquiddick station. Let’s see what next month brings as the ladder truck heats up the kitchen.

Remember, as an unknown author once said, “Hug a firefighter and feel warm all over.”