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Women of Action: Nettie Silverman and Maryellen Shuckerow
Women of
Among Mercy High School’s defining characteristics, community has a prominent place.
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The breadth of Mercy’s community service involvement is reflected in the initiatives and ongoing activities of students and faculty, staff and alumnae. While community involvement is unquestionably a thread that has run through Mercy across the years, it has never been more evident than during the past year, as the pandemic made needs more acute. The leadership and life’s work of two remarkable women—Nettie Silverman ’73 and Maryellen Shuckerow—are infused with meaningful Mercy connections.
Annette Dascanio “Nettie” Silverman has visited 49 of the 50 states, but a lifetime of service really took root close to home, at Mercy High School. To this day, she thinks about and admires Sr. Pat McKeon, RSM, her former Math teacher. “I crushed Math! And I credit Sr. Pat for my love of Math and community service,” she explained, noting that Sr. Pat, after departing Mercy, went on to become the director of St. Vincent de Paul Soup Kitchen in Downtown Middletown.
Silverman attended Eastern Connecticut State University and then Central Connecticut State University, earning a BA in Art and a BS in Elementary Education, followed by a Master’s in Math Education and her 6th year in curriculum/instruction and administration. She began a stellar teaching career at St. John's School in Middletown and then taught for 35 years in the Middletown Public School system—spending three decades at Moody School teaching 4th grade, until her retirement in 2013. She continued to volunteer at the school.
In 2017, Nettie cleaned out sections of the basement at St. Francis Church to achieve her dream of helping the less fortunate. With $2,000 of her own money, she opened Hinka’s Cupboard, named in honor of her mother, who was very active with the church. Nettie felt the church was the perfect location for a food pantry. Time has proven her judgement to be accurate. Nettie has seen the line of 20 at the food pantry during 2018 quickly become a line of 150+ families in 2021. The significant increase in the number of people seeking services was unmistakable, and the response encouraging.
“What I remember most about the past year is there are many compassionate people out there willing to help,” she observed. “We have to look at the good. There are many people out there that are also food insecure. I’ve been doing as much as I could to help.”
Private donations are necessary to operate the food pantry, to purchase food and needed supplies. She pays for expenses—such as reimbursing the church for electricity, for the necessary lighting and refrigeration. One parishioner gave Nettie her stimulus check of $600. A grant of $1,000 was earned from the United Way, used to purchase diapers. Many parishioners also help out and teams of parishioners often go together to purchase supplies. A minimum of $1,000 to $1,500 per month is needed to sustain operations.
Nettie is continually amazed at the generosity she witnesses—friends Donna Siscavage ’73 and Jacqueline Golletz donated an industrial freezer, diapers, wipes, toiletry items, pet supplies, and made monetary donations, for example. Her former PE teacher, Ms. Ev Maher has donated to Hinka’s Cupboard too, along with classmates and alums Patty Nettis Deegan ’73 and Holly Pizzini ’73.
Hundreds of items are donated via Mercy's National Honor Society’s Souper Bowl (canned food) drive.
Community service has always been in her blood. Nettie recalls that while at Mercy she worked at Headstart at Snow School in Middletown for $1.00 an hour. She also served as Junior Class President, much to her own surprise. “People don’t know but I’m basically
a very shy person,” she explained. “Mercy brought me out of my shell and gave me the confidence to talk in front of people and put myself out there.” Finding her confidence allowed Nettie to make an enduring difference in individual lives and the life of the community. As her career progressed, she was the Johnny Peck Community Service Award recipient in 2003, Middletown's Outstanding Teacher in 2004, Disney Teacher of the Year nominee in 2005, and Elks Citizen of the Year in 2019.
With her 50th reunion fast approaching, Nettie may be among those organizing the celebration. She continues to look back with pride, while also looking ahead. Her advice to Mercy students is uplifting: “If you can dream it, you can do it. If you are interested in helping others and you like people, that part will never change. The methods may change, but the fulfillment is still there.”
Maryellen M. Shuckerow, MHSA, the Executive Director of St. Vincent de Paul Soup Kitchen and the Amazing Grace Food Pantry, both in Middletown, has come full circle. She worked with Sr. Pat McKeon as development director in the mid ’90s, then spent nearly two decades with the Chrysalis Center in Hartford, returning to St. Vincent de Paul to lead the organization in 2019, just months prior to the pandemic.
In their daily work, Mercy High School is seen as an important partner—and the annual Thanksgiving pie baking in particular quickly comes to mind. Mercy families have been coming together to prepare Thanksgiving pumpkin and apple pies for those in need for decades, in a proud and enduring tradition.
Additional program initiatives have developed more recently. Maryellen has implemented a recovery garden, a herbal sanctuary; pet therapy; “Holy Hens,” raising chickens; and Mushroom with a Mission, cultivating button and oyster mushrooms on the 2nd floor deck of the building. And, to treat Main Street as their home and to be active community citizens, a Clean Crew works to keep Main Street clean by sweeping sidewalks, cleaning out planters and performing general cleanup twice a week.
Maryellen is especially grateful for donations from Mercy student and families. In addition to the wonderful pies, Amazing Grace Food Pantry receives half of the Souper Bowl drive donations as well as the National Honor Society Bunny Bundles at Easter. Amazing Grace, it should be noted, supports over 800 families a month at the food pantry. This year, the Italian National Honor Society sponsored a Lasagna Making Night and 35 trays were baked and delivered to St. Vincent de Paul. The contributions of all Mercy students —via club drives, the baking of pies, and more—are greatly appreciated. All of which goes to the heart of the Mercy mission.
The leaders of the soup kitchens and food pantries acknowledge that their biggest challenge has been responding to people in need throughout the pandemic. The need for donations—monetary and food—has not abated. To assist, contact:
Hinka’s Cupboard
St. Francis of Assisi Church Amazing Grace Food Pantry 16 Stack Street, Middletown 10 Elm Street, Middletown St. Vincent de Paul Soup Kitchen www.facebook.com/Hinkascupboard 617 Main Street, Middletown annettesilverman1@att.net www.svdmiddletown.org maryellen@svdmiddletown.org
Shown at left: Nettie and a volunteer work to stock the shelves at Hinka’s Cupboard and prepare food bags for distribution. Shown above, top photo: Middletown South Fire Department food drive for Hinka’s. Middle photo: Ms. Daniela Aparo delivered NHS bunny bundles to Maryellen Shuckerow and Kim Kincy at Amazing Grace. Bottom photo: St. Vincent de Paul chef Jeremiah Ruffini accepted the lasagna trays from ’20-’21 Italian NHS officers Isabel Kessler, Adriana Shea and Michele Grelotti.
