Letter: Families and Seniors in Need had Thanksgiving Groceries Thanks to Many

To the editor:

The West Roxbury Business and Professional Association, along with the , Ethos–AgeWell West Roxbury, and our , delivered Thanksgiving groceries to families and seniors in need a few days before Thanksgiving.

This effort, which will be repeated at Christmas, is a long-standing Parkway tradition. We then work with who offers us consideration on the cost and they bags up the groceries and turkeys for us for distribution. A group of volunteers from the business and residential communities then make the deliveries. We also identify one or two families with greater needs and “adopt” them, offering them assistance as well as presents from the business and residential communities for Christmas.  

More on the families we adopted next week. We have chosen three families: a family whose mother is battling reoccurrence of breast cancer and was laid off: her unemployment checks stop next week; a little boy whose mother died a few weeks ago, but has some remarkable help from a young cousin, and a mother with three children whose child support has stopped. We need your help to pay for the groceries we will be delivering on December 23 for Christmas and to offer special help to these three families.      

We are grateful to the following people who will be helping us make deliveries this Thanksgiving: 

Anne Green, Vice President and Branch Manager, The Cooperative Bank, Tom McDonough, Office of Boston City Councillor Steve Murphy, Jim Hennigan, Hennigan Insurance, Chair of the West Roxbury YMCA Board, and Coordinator for the Salvation Army Bell Ringing at Roche Bros., Alan MacKinnon, CCE, President, The Gardens at Gethsemane and YMCA Board, and John Demotte, Manager, The Gardens at Gethsemane, State Representative Ed Coppinger, Lois Baho, Jack Conway and Company, Janice Williams, Healthy Aging Program Manager for Ethos–AgeWell West Roxbury and Jackie Shelburne, Ethos Intern from Boston College Graduate School of Social Work, Macro/Older Adults & Families, Brigid Boyle, Director of Development, Ethos, Anne Geraghty, Ethos Board of Directors, Ronia Stewart, Assistant Vice President and Branch Manager, Eastern Bank, Johnnie Fasanello, retired, Boston Public Works, Greg Karr, CEO, The German Centre for Extended Care, Steve Morris and Doug McClure, RE/MAX SteveDoug Team, Mark MacMillan, Margaret M. MacMillan Real Estate, Jay DiLisio, Vice President, Banking Center Manager and Jeiny Simono, Bank of America, Rickie Harvey, Chair, and Karen Sauer, Steering Committee Member, WRSE (West Roxbury Saves Energy), Heather Ovesen, REMAX Achievers, Boston City Councillor-at-Large, Ayanna Pressley, Joe Carroll, National Grid, Maria DiNanno, Marialisa Boutique, Genevieve Ciampa, The Cutting Edge, Joe Dunbar, Director of Business Development, Roscommon Healthcare, Tyler Simpson, Joseph McLean, Caitlin Neiduski, and John LaBelle from the YMCA, and from the Boston Police Department: Deputy Superintendent Nora Baston, Captain Jim Hasson, Phil Polizzi, BPD Building Superintendent, Community Service Officers Elvis Garcia and Ed Roach, Sgt. Kenny Jameson, Officer Brian Sullivan, Senior Response Officer, and Nicole England, Community Service Office.

The West Roxbury Business and Professional Association reaches out to businesses and residents to help offset the cost of the groceries and to help our special families in need. This year continues to indicate difficult times for more people and we are seeing steady increases in the numbers of families and seniors who need help. Each delivery costs approximately $40 and between the two holidays, and we will deliver at least 150 sets of groceries. 

The WRBPA is grateful for this support so we can continue with our Annual Thanksgiving and Christmas grocery deliveries to Families in Need in our community. 

Donations can be made payable to: FAMILY IN NEED and mail to the West Roxbury Business and Professional Association. Post Office Box 320113, West Roxbury, MA 02132. Donations can also be dropped off at the YMCA, Wicked Sharp, 1898 Centre Street or Reliable Trading Post, 115 Park Street, all in West Roxbury.   

On behalf of the families and seniors we help, thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Mary Mulvey Jacobson

President, WRBPA