By Max Eidelman

Lisa Brukilacchio, a member of the Cambridge Health Alliance and Director of the Somerville Community Health Agenda, recently spoke at length about local efforts being made to provide food to those in need during the pandemic.

Here is the COVID-19 update for Wednesday, December 23. Please also check somervillema.gov/covid19 for information and resources that are updated frequently.

Latest news:

Here are some things to keep in mind as Christmas approaches:

There will be no trash/recycling pick-up on Friday, December 25. If your trash/recycling is normally picked up on Fridays, it will be picked on Saturday, December 26 instead.

The Somerville City Council, in collaboration with Mayor Curtatone, has established and funded a COVID-19 Small Business Emergency Relief Fund with the aim of rendering aid in this challenging time.

By Jim Clark

In response to a number of Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone’s requests, the Somerville City Council last week voted on and approved a number of agenda items aimed at repurposing funds to create and fund a COVID-19 Small Business Emergency Relief Fund and subsequently disburse those funds accordingly in order to support small businesses, artists and arts non-profits, and residents who have been financially distressed due to the restrictions imposed as a response to the coronavirus pandemic.

By Emmanuel Vincent

Advesa MA, Inc. group held a community outreach meeting last week, introducing to Somerville residents the plan that is in the works to bring a cannabis retailer to the city.

Advesa is an Economic Empowerment Priority Applicant that is looking to provide the community with modern cannabis, as well as education surrounding the medical benefits of using it. This is an effort to help break to stigma centered on the drug that has been around for decades.

The publishers, staff and everyone associated with The Somerville Times wish everyone a very Happy Holiday, Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah, as well as a prosperous and healthy New Year in 2021. We are happy to see 2020 go and welcome a healthier 2021!

Aoife Troxel took her frustration with a lack of live entertainment due to coronavirus restrictions to heart as she created her fabulous gingerbread model of the Somerville Theatre. — Photos by Aoife Troxel

The annual Boston Society for Architecture’s (BSA) Gingerbread Exhibition and Competition welcomed entries from local architecture firms as well as families and individuals. The theme of this year’s virtual exhibition and competition was Escape from 2020: Fantasyland.

Eagle Feathers #220 – The Yule Train

By Bob (Monty) Doherty

One day in the winter of 1842, a train rolled through this city. Among its passengers was a young English author who, shortly after his four-month visit to America, would change Christmas forever. The coach or omnibus, as they were often called, was the first American train he ever boarded. It was the Boston and Lowell, the first major railroad built in New England.

Somerville teacher Jessica Couture gets ready to self-swab for her COVID-19 test. —Photos by Alonso Nichols, Tufts University Photography

As part of ongoing efforts to support Tufts University’s local communities, Tufts and the City of Somerville have begun a COVID-19 testing program for Somerville PK-12 public school teachers and staff members. When PK-12 resumes, students will be tested as well.