Cover Story

Heroes HOMETOWN 2020 PRESENTED BY WORCESTER MAGAZINE

The world turns on small our society have begun to rumble. kindnesses, more so now As people died around the world, when times feel unbear- we learned the hard way that ably bleak. there were structural weaknesses

By any standard, 2020 has been throughout our healthcare and a terrible year, one where a disease educational systems, and indeed, tainted nearly every aspect of our throughout our entire economy. lives. The way we live has been Racial injustice took the spotlight altered, and the fault lines beneath as a string of deaths of unarmed people of color brought protesters into the street. Lastly, a heated election showed fissures in our very democracy, as unfounded claims of voter fraud erode some people’s trust in our electoral process. The headlines are enough to make you want to curl up and hide.

There are people, though, who did not hide, but instead stepped into the gap, doing what they could to make Worcester a better place. They helped their neighbors, they found ways to help children’s education while schools were closed. They fed the hungry and fought for justice at every turn.

To paraphrase one person in the stories that follow, Worcester became its own heroes. From city leaders working around the clock to deliver a pandemic response, to workers ranging from firefighters to grocery store clerks who faced danger just to keep the city’s wheels turning. There is no way we could possibly recognize everyone who deserves it in such a trying year, but what follows are profiles of eight people or organizations that, we feel, made an enormous impact with small acts of kindness, who changed lives simply by extending a hand when it was needed. (Metaphorically. We’re still not allowed to touch hands.)

These aren’t the people in the spotlight all year round. They’re not seeking fame or political influence. Indeed, several of them were reluctant to let us shine a light on them at all, preferring the light be on the people who need it most, but their efforts have not not gone unnoticed. When everything seemed darkest, they were among the ones that shined brightest.

MUTUAL AID WORCESTER

On March 13, even before the statewide shutdown of schools, Worcester Public Schools proactively closed for three weeks to protect students and staff during the pandemic and prevent community spread of COVID-19. In addition to the lack of inclass academic instruction and social interaction, children would be facing the lack of school lunches — an even more basic need for the thousands of children for whom it may be their only hot, nutritious meal of the day.

That was when an idea began to germinate, one that would grow into a thriving grassroots effort called Mutual Aid Worcester. The aim is to help Worcester communities identify individual needs and develop community solutions in response. It began as a Facebook page for residents to reach out to one another and provide support. Deb Powers, who helped start and now manages the Facebook page, warns, “Don’t make me sound like a hero because I’m not — the people who are actually out there devoting their miles, their hands, their lives, are the real heroes.” However, it is something of a full-time job.

MAW clearly distinguishes between mutual aid and charity on the Facebook page. Mutual aid is about meeting each other’s needs in a practical manner while solving immediate problems in a grassroots, bottom-up way, and charity is usually donated funds where they get to determine who is deserving.

On March 14, the very first post on the Facebook page suggests resources for parents looking for enrichment activities for children — a mix of online and offline ideas — during the initial remote learning period, which stretched to the rest of the school year. On March 16, they posted the Mobile Meal schedule of the school district announcing free breakfast and lunch or supper meals for all children 18 or younger. In the days following, they posted about free coronavirus testing resources, help with pharmacy pick-ups for medicines, emergency handwashing stations for unsheltered neighbors, emergency food alternatives for pet food, and availability of home made cloth face masks.

Despite Powers’ indication that she “hates talking about the Facebook group itself, when there are people who work very hard behind the scenes to deliver food and masks,” it is the social media presence of MAW that makes the difference. It allows the organization to spread the word and assist with coordination for the actual work to have an impact. For instance, Powers talked of a few food pantries that started because of the need and were able to use MAW to pull people together.

As the group expands, to better organize requests and offers of aid, Powers has created sub-groups based on neighborhoods, allowing members to further localize their efforts. There are currently five: North, South, East side, West side and Central Worcester MAW. By utilizing the groups feature, residents can connect directly with their closest neighbors to request or receive help.

MAW’s mission is not only limited to short-term assistance — members of the group are advocating for widespread change in the city’s pandemic response as well, especially relating to people of color. “Being involved in Mutual Aid Worcester Education Group has highlighted one point,” said member Bill Gardiner, “that the remote learning going on in the city isn’t very robust and a lot of Black and Latin students have been left out of it.”

The public schools’ remote learning system consists primarily of Google classroom, with teacherstudent communication restricted to email. In addition to issues with work engagement and response time, work is rendered impossible if the student doesn’t have access to a computer.

“We were looking for someone who could donate their time to refurbishing laptops that people were willing to donate to the cause,” Gardiner explained. The laptops would then be delivered by volunteers. The initiative stalled due to lack of financial resources, something Gardiner attributes to its specialized nature, as opposed to more basic resources such as food, which received large donations from area stores and restaurants.

Despite initial setbacks, the MAW Education Group still plans to enable parents, students and teachers to make themselves heard. The group hopes to organize a town hall-style Zoom conference where community members can discuss their needs

Ute Gray, left, and Deb Powers represent Mutual Aid Worcester

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and potential solutions.

When a crisis on the scale of a pandemic hits, it serves as a stress test to highlight the cracks in the system, unfortunately when society’s vulnerable fall through them. Many initiatives that started as crisis responses are making the shift to sustained social justice movements.

“This needs to continue even after the crisis is over,” said Powers, “because we were seeing gaps that needed to be filled.” While MAW isn’t going anywhere, there are currently no plans to make the leap to an official nonprofit group. The benefits associated with nonprofit status would be outweighed by how “that ties your hands,” Powers explained. Instead, when needed, other organizations can be fiscal sponsors — when a nonprofit shares its legal and tax-exempt status with a project that shares its mission.

“MAW is the face of Worcester,” she said, “and Worcester residents are their own heroes.” – Veer Mudambi

SHA-ASIA MEDINA of Our Story Edutainment

Sha-Asia Medina’s mother raised her to be a “village baby” — open and connected to everything and everyone that Worcester had to offer.

“There are a lot of people in this city who invested in me and shared their wisdom,” Medina said, “I feel moved to bring something back to the community.”

Medina is a graduate of Worcester Technical High School where she studied finance, marketing and business management. She went on to attend Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, where she earned degrees in Black studies and urban education, in addition to a minor in geography. As a Posse Scholar, Medina was awarded full tuition and welcomed into a tight-knit cohort along with nine other Black students who made up her “posse.”

“The Posse Foundation was founded three years ago when schools began acknowledging the fact that

Linda S. Lloyd, president and executive director of Angels Answer, Inc., was born to help others.

“I was without when I was really little because I couldn’t control it, because my dad was a World War II veteran and he spent my formative years in the VA Hospital. So we knew what it was like to be without food,” Lloyd said. “The town helped us out sometimes. They gave our family a table and two chairs at Christmas time and gave me a doll and gave my brother a toy, and you don’t forget that.”

Lloyd knows about being a child going to bed hungry firsthand, because she was one. She also made a pledge to herself to give back to children, as other have given back to her when she was a child.

“For kids to become academic successes, they need to have a full belly,” Lloyd said. “Kids are our future leaders. They’re the future. We have to help them to become the best that they can be.”

Lloyd has always been a person who’s fighting for the underdog. And despite her share of heartaches, she has always been a giver and never a whiner.

On June 1, 2011, Lloyd officially earned her wings as a “Food Angel.”

Lloyd was one of the first responders when the tornadoes roared through Brimfield and Monson. Over the next year, Lloyd helped distribute thousands of dollars of food donations to those who desperately needed it.

She also became a member of the board of directors for the “Pathway to Renewal,” a not-for-profit agency that allocated funds to those families who lost their homes in the tornado, to help them rebuild.

Furthermore, Lloyd set up food pantries and provided hot meats at two prominent churches in the center of Brimfield and Monson.

In 2012, Lloyd founded the

RICK CINCLAIR

a lot of really bright high school students of color from inner cities would go off to exceptional four-year institutions, and drop out within a year,” she explained. “When they asked the kids, ‘Why aren’t you staying?’ The response was basically, ‘Because I don’t have my posse.’” Medina met with the group regularly throughout her senior year of high school before arriving at Bucknell in the fall of 2015.

“I went to college one way and came out another way,” she said, “If you don’t do that, then there’s something wrong; we should all be transforming.”

After graduating, Medina returned to Worcester and began working for an organization her mother had started 15 years prior, Our Story Edutainment. “At Our Story Edutainment, we try to teach Black history and the history of the African diaspora in a way that is educational, but also entertaining,” she explained.

Medina and her brother were

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not-for-profit relief agency Angels Answer Inc., dedicated to helping feed and support those in need. As part of its “Angels & Backpacks Program,” Angels Answer sends home each Friday more than 100 bags of food distributed between the Warren Community Elementary, Quaboag Regional Middle/High and Hardwick Elementary schools.

“I’m on call with the school’s counselors and police departments and they let me know when there’s a family in dire need,” Lloyd said. “We get calls from schools saying we have this family that is really struggling. Can you born in New York City, and upon moving to Worcester, the family felt disappointed by the lack of Black culture reflected in their new home. “At the time, there wasn’t a lot going on for Black folks in Worcester,” said Medina. “My mom decided to create the programming she wanted for her own children and take the whole city along for the ride.”

Our Story Edutainment is known for annual events like the Bob Marley Birthday Bash and the Kwanzaa Celebration. As the current director, Medina is dedicated to finding ways to employ music, documentaries, spoken word and life experiences as vehicles for multi-cultural learning.

During the spring of 2020, Medina formed a connection with local organizer Magdelene Barjolo, in response to the “Amplify Black Voices” rally held in Worcester. “We decided we needed to do something different because a lot of times, Black women

LINDA S. LLOYD executive director of Angels Answer

Linda S. Lloyd, founder of Angels Answer Inc., a nonprofit emergency food agency.

and Black trans-people get lost in the help them out? And we say, of course. We pack up all this food and deliver it.”

Angels Answer Inc. also provides nutritional snacks for kids in school.

“The teachers are so excited to have fresh fruit come in, like apples and yogurt cups and things like that for snack time, and any child that needs it can enjoy it,” Lloyd said.

Lloyd said things were pretty bad before the pandemic but, the situation is out of control now.

“So many families are in need because of lack of work for their husbands and wives. There’s a lack of income coming in. There are foreclosures on houses, through no fault of their own. We get calls all the time asking people to ‘adopt’ people during the holidays, families for Thanksgiving and Christmas,” Lloyd said. “COVID doesn’t know class at all. Anybody could be in good standing and get sick and all of a sudden everything goes down. They’ve lost their income and they could be high-income providers. When you get COVID, the whole family’s involved.”

Angels Answer also helps out several food pantries including Angels Answer for Renaissance Medical Group in Southbridge, and Friendly House and Project New Hope (for veterans), both in Worcester.

Angels Answer, Inc. also adopted an orphanage in Venezuela and is narrative,” she recalled. “We place so much focus on Black men that we often erase some of the other victims of police violence.”

Barjolo and Medina formed a team of eight local young people to plan a peaceful demonstration. “We wanted to share how Black women were feeling about what was going on in the community and the fact that we experience hyper invisibility every day,” she recalled. “Everyone is duplicating us. Everyone wants a piece of us. But, at the same time, we’re also invisible.” Together, the group organized the Say Her Name Solidarity March on June 13, 2020, at East Park with great success.

It’s hard to imagine anyone perceiving Medina as invisible. She is a natural leader, a captivating speaker and a profound force in the community. Our “village baby” has grown into a hometown hero.

– Sarah Connell Sanders

helping out with the “Feeding Kids in Venezuela Food Program.”

Angels Answers Mobile Food Pantry helps out Warren low-income families and seniors with food assistance, and Angels Answer 2 Pets supplies low-income senior citizens with dog and cat supplies at the Ware Senior Center

Angels Answer Inc. supplies food donations to Veterans Inc., and organizes and assembles holiday boxes of toiletries, treats and nonperishable food that are sent to soldiers stationed overseas.

Angels Answer Inc. is also in the midst of a winter fuel oil and utility drive. To donate, volunteer, or for corporate sponsorship, contact Angels Answer, Inc., PO Box 221 Ware, MA 01082; or call Lloyd at (413) 320 1981 or email her at angel_aide@ yahoo.com

Lloyd said she couldn’t do this without the help of her family, her husband Dana, who serves as vice president of Angels Answer, and her two sons, Zach and Sky, who help pick up the food, as well as all her volunteers.

“It makes you feel like you’re making a difference in the world and people are really grateful,” Lloyd said. “Angels Answer throws a little lifeline out there to life someone up in their darkest hour.” – Craig S. Semon

IMRANA SOOFI Ujima Food Pantry founder

assumption really impacted the work negatively,” Soofi said. She went so far as to say she had never seen such unwillingness to support a particular group of people, and ultimately had to get the food herself from wholesalers.

Ironically, Ujima ended up receiving more produce than it could feasibly use and ended up donating to the food pantries that had initially declined to work with them.

Despite the success, the inability of so many, even in the social work field, to look beyond these biases and show empathy was shocking. “I literally had other social workers saying ‘but their parents will take care of them,’” Soofi said disbelievingly. “The preconception is if you’re going to college, you’re automatically privileged,” she continued, and that applies to all students, not just international.

The next argument is that, if not their families, then the schools themselves could take responsibility for international students since they receive federal aid. Soofi followed this up as well. “Colleges told me ‘we are struggling,’” she said. While they did receive money from the government, those funds came with no guidelines on how to distribute them. Some prioritized students who received financial aid or students who asked for it, but in all of the approaches there were students who fell through the cracks. “Some students said ‘what help? We didn’t even know we were eligible,’” said Soofi.

Lastly, many international students, undergraduate and graduate students alike, have families of their own to support. Soofi herself fell into this category at one time — as a single mother of two, working multiple jobs while pursuing her degree. Even if they don’t have children, many are sending stipends back to families at home.

More than simply ensuring that international students stay fed, Soofi hopes to give them the tools to stand up to bias and prejudice. “We ended up creating a wonderful network” of international students at different schools, she explained. “It’s important to organize international students as a group” because together, they can be a force and advocate for themselves.

Students served by Ujima Food Pantry often go on to volunteer themselves, meeting other international students they would otherwise not have connected with and creating something that will remain long after the pandemic — a community.

Ujima Food Pantry is currently located at 817 Main Street. However, the location will be undergoing significant renovations to serve as the new base for Blackseed Farmers Market. Soofi hopes to partner with either a church, a mosque or a college that can provide a space to continue running Ujima Food Pantry. Anyone with a potential lead can email operationsintern@ujimafoodpantry.org. – Veer Mudambi

Founder and executive director of Ujima Food Pantry Imrana Soofi.

Imrana Soofi is a born problem solver. Whether it’s organizing a community effort to delead a local family’s apartment or helping Afghan refugees in the wake of 9/11 — if someone needs help, Soofi will make sure they get it.

When the pandemic hit and college campuses shut down, leaving international students essentially stranded, Soofi would not let it stand. “We saw that there was huge need, especially amongst international students — they depend on their on-campus jobs for income since their visas bring a number of restrictions.”

Soofi, who is executive director of the Muslim Community Link, a nonprofit that supports Muslims in the Worcester area, pointed out that “(international students) were doing the best that they could just to survive.” Early on, she was able to help students who were doubling up in rooms and apartments with rent and utilities, and for a short while, “we were serving

ASHLEY GREEN

students from Connecticut and New York.”

Initially, she hoped that the food pantry she was working with at the time that served undocumented immigrants would include these students. However, her colleagues were against the idea, arguing the international students didn’t need the help. “They said if you want a food pantry for them, you’ll have to start your own,” said Soofi. “So I did.”

Ujima Food Pantry, which takes its name from the third principle of Kwanzaa, meaning “collective work and responsibility,” was far from her first rodeo. Soofi had tackled the issue of food insecurity before, and even helped start the Regional Environmental Council, which helps get fresh produce to Worcester’s vulnerable neighborhoods. However, in reaching out to her contacts, she learned that her former colleagues’ attitude was not unusual.

“I found that a lot of people just assumed international students were extremely privileged and that

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DARCY SCHWARTZ founder of ArtReach

When Darcy Schwartz opened ArtReach in 2015 in a storefront building at 322 West Boylston St. on a small strip of businesses in the Greendale section of Worcester, she envisioned it as “going into a community and have the community come and create art.”

The world has since turned upside down, but Schwartz, through ArtReach, has become “a pillar of the community,” and indeed way beyond. Schwartz and a dedicated team are overseeing her longtime dream of having an artist-owned studio with art enrichment and other programs while also continuing to address unexpected and ever-changing needs across multiple communities.

“The need is great for so many things. We have a bunch of good things happening,” Schwartz said recently.

This month students in the studio (with the studio following gathering and social distancing requirements) and online have been participating in ArtReach’s Create-A-Turkey-Plate For Food Event where they have made special dinner plates for their families in exchange for donating food items to District 1 Worcester City Councilor Sean M. Rose’s annual Holiday Dinner Donation Drive. ArtReach is in Rose’s district.

Students received a plate for painting, two brushes, and ceramic paint colors in red, blue, yellow,

As the homework center program coordinator at Yes We Care, Anika Romney certainly does care.

“In life, as I started getting older, I wanted to be helping kids and have kids be my focus,” Romney said. “The idea of being a great parent one day was always on my mind. And it just kind of blossomed into this.”

For roughly five years, Romney has been running the Yes We Care afterschool homework program with 20 to 25 students from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday at Belmont A.M.E. Zion Church, 55 Illinois St., Worcester.

“We basically take kids, K through 6,” she said. “The kids are awesome. Some of them are really rambunctious. Others are really focused and determined to do well.

Darcy Schwartz is the founder of ArtReach.

CHRISTINE PETERSON

green, brown, black and white. Participants online were also given a Facebook Live time to log in and join in the activity.

Create-A-Turkey-Plate is an annual ArtReach happening that predates the pandemic — although it has a special poignance this year — but the studio was quick to respond when So we have a variety.”

Romney has some help. Her 16-year-old daughter, Anesha Melendez, of Claremont Academy and 16-year-old foster daughter, Anayah Perez, of South High, help her out. Also, in the past, National Honors Society and students needing internships have helped out.

“I think in today’s day and age, kids are very expectant and I’m trying to teach them that it could be the little thing that you do for somebody that they will remember for a lifetime,” Romney said. “Not everybody has what you guys have and this is a good way to give back. So do things it was announced March 13 that schools in Worcester would be temporarily closed because of COVID-19.

On March 16, ArtReach launched Art-in-the-Heart, which offered free virtual art classes for children while home from school. Art submissions were put up on a “virtual art gallery,” and students also created work that said “thank you” to everyone doing their part during COVID-19. Art-in-the-Heart ran for 65 days as a full-time live program online that also included storytellers, Schwartz said. “It reached two million people from all over the country and all over the world from my dining room. We couldn’t use the studio.”

Later, a summer program at the reopened studio and online was also successful.

In the city at large, ArtReach participated last month in World Smile Day and the Harvey Ball with the Worcester Historical Museum. Virtual paintings by ArtReach students could be bought at the Harvey Ball auction for $100.

Currently, the ArtReach studio has a maximum of 10 students — due to COVID — coming in during the morning to do remote learning with their respective schools. Some students “may need help transitioning to the platform,” Schwartz said. Then in the afternoon, ArtReach offers art programs, as well as music and theater, both at the studio and online. “We’ve brought back many of our artists,” Schwartz said.

Meanwhile art supplies can be picked up from the studio “touch free.”

“Darcy is a pillar of the community,” said Rose. “She’s the conduit to a vast network of folks in the arts community and the community as a whole.

ANIKA ROMNEYYes We Care program coordinator

She’s been a tremendous support and advocate for families in need.”

Schwartz said, “With the arts there’s just so many wonderful things we can do if we continue to adapt to what the new normal might be.”

She has worked as a children’s illustrator and printmaker and also created an in-school/after-school outreach program that she’s taken to public and private schools.

With ArtReach at 322 West Boylston St., she had her first art studio and one that students could come to. Now she’s adapted on that. “We have become an arts center that’s also doing remote learning,” she said of hosting remote students. “Some do remote learning and stay for the art and some come (in the afternoon) for the enrichment,” she said.

“We’re doing pretty well so far. No cases of COVID. No students sick. No staff sick. So I feel like we’re doing OK.”

Schwartz is eyeing a larger building down farther a little on West Boylston Street as a future home for ArtReach with more space.

But should the pandemic dramatically re-intensify in the meantime, creating further needs, “Thanks to the many adults who work here I feel like we’re able to set ourselves up to move quickly,” Schwartz said.

For more information about ArtReach, call (774) 262-3953 or visit www.artreachstudioafs.com. – Richard Duckett

with a compassionate heart.”

Romney wants to give back to the future leaders of tomorrow.

“I would say I was in and out of trouble in school. I used to get suspended a lot. I was actually in foster care,” Romney said. “I’m trying to teach kids the importance of school and why they want to get good grades.”

A member of Belmont AME Zion Church, which runs Yes We Care, Romney was only volunteering one day a week in the beginning when she was asked by Elizabeth White, the retired school teacher who started the homework program, to take on more responsibility.

“She said, ‘The kids love you. Would you consider doing this, take my place because I need to retire.’

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FATHER JONATHAN SLAVINKAS of St. Bernard’s Church

As pastor of St. Bernard’s Catholic Church Our Lady of Providence Parish at 236 Lincoln St., Rev. Jonathan J. Slavinkas has made a conscious decision to be present to the community spiritually, especially for the neighborhood youths, while having the doors of the church unlocked and open, so no matter what faith they are, they can walk in and feel welcome in the house of God, even if they don’t believe in God.

“I preach the gospel message, and St. Bernard preaches the gospel message through living out his love in the simplest way, by being present to the community,” Rev. Slavinkas said. “So it’s not going down the street and asking, ‘Hey, have you found Jesus yet?’ Rather the question of evangelization becomes, ‘Hey, how are you doing today? What’s your name? What’s going on in your life?’ … And then, being there for them. So they know, if, perhaps, there are physical needs that they have, in terms of shelter, clothing, food, they feel welcome.”

Rev. Slavinkas said he’s absolutely blessed to be at St. Bernard’s and he credits the great role models in his life at his home parish of St. John’s on Temple Street. “I was baptized by Monsignor (Francis) Scollen, who married my parents. Father (Charles F.) Monroe gave me first communion and Father (John) Madden vested me when I became a priest at ordination,” Rev. Slavinkas said. “So I laugh at it to think I’m with this motley crew now.”

Everything that he does is because of the love that his parents gave him and because they instilled in him the importance of community, the 36-year-old social media-savvy pastor said.

ANIKA ROMNEY CONTINUED FROM PAGE 12

And I said to her, ‘What? I don’t think so. I don’t think I can run this,’” Romney recalled.

In the beginning, Romney was very hesitant but then, the kids convinced her.

“I would just come in to stop by and drop something off, and the kids would be like ‘Miss A!’ Some of the other facilitators would get upset because I would be coming in on their time and the kids were distracted because I was there,” Romney said. “So that’s how it all started. It started

“I’m born and raised Worcester. I’m a Worcester boy. I grew up off of Hamilton Street on Harold Street. I went to Lake View Elementary. I went to East Middle. I went to North High, very diverse schools there,” Rev. Slavinkas said. “Both my parents always taught me the door was always open in the house. Everyone is always welcome at the table, no matter what. And they always showed me the importance for caring for one another.”

Rev. Slavinkas said he envisions St. Bernard’s serving three communities — the neighborhood community, the “old-school parishioners” who have been attending church for many years; and a very big Hispanic community.

“Being present to all and bringing all together and making them feel welcome in this one beautiful space, it’s a beautiful task,” Rev. Slavinkas said. “It’s not always easy. But, by the grace of God, things get done.

Rev. Slavinkas said the most important thing about the church is having a beautiful gym that can be opened to the youths of the neighborhood. “We have teens that face great struggles. We have teens that could be easily swayed to enter into this way of life or that way of life,” Rev. Slavinkas said. “So, instead of worrying so much about money to make ends meet at the gym, why don’t we open the gym more for the teens? Why don’t we show people what’s actually going on? Make an impact in their lives and then trust in God that we’ll get the donations that are needed to keep it going … The gym becomes my first church because it’s where I am engaged in the life of a teen.”

Rev. Slavinkas said the goal is to make the teens know that they

just one day a week and then I was asked to lead that program and it just took off from there.”

Despite COVID, which has put the homework program on hold this year, the afterschool program has an open-door policy for any youngster who can use it. And, in the wake of COVID, Romney does have a couple of kids Monday through Thursday at home that she helps during the school days.

“Any kids who could be struggling, we try to help them out,” Romney said. “I even have people call me, ‘Hey, I have a seventh-grader, eighthgrader, ninth-grader, 10-grader, that’s

Father Jonathan Slavinkas at St. Bernard Catholic Church of Our Lady of Providence Parish.

CHRISTINE PETERSON

have a safe place where they can continuously come, and where they are going to be loved and not judged, regardless of their hardships and bad choices in their lives.

“The gym is the greatest asset of the parish. So the teens can be in there. They can simply just allow themselves to be kids, teens,” Rev. Slavinkas said. “They don’t have to worry about what is going on at home. They don’t have to worry about bills being paid and not paid. They just go in and shoot a basketball and escape from it all, but then, at the same time, I’m able to engage in their lives and talk to them, see how they’re doing.”

And this carries over to all people in the neighborhood, the church having issues. Can you help me out?’ We don’t say no to anybody. We take everybody.”

In addition to the homework program, Romney also does the distribution of food, clothing and houseware for the church, which usually takes place on Wednesdays.

Since COVID started, Romney estimates well over 1,000 people have been helped out.

“We started with private appointments for clothes and housewares and food and things of that nature. We had diapers at one time, formula,” Romney said. “We work with different agencies (including Veterans doors are unlocked and wide open and all are welcome.

“So people, I think, want to be in touch with Christ more, in touch with that spiritual side, and, so, I’m able to leave the church doors open because people need it and there is a trust with it,” Rev. Slavinkas said. “And, yeah, something might happen, something might get stolen. So be it; at the end of the day, we’ll deal with that.”

St. Bernard’s also offers a computer lab where youth can come in and do their homework, as well as teen work opportunities with some of the local restaurants and pasta sauce fundraisers that goes back to the gym programs and youth ministries.

In addition, the St. Bernard’s food Inc., Jeremiah’s Inn, YMCA of Central Massachusetts, and the Boys and Girls Club of Worcester) as well. Agencies will come in and pick up in bulk and distribute to their people that they work with. We try to help out any organization that needs it.”

And one thing that Romney and company (including Romney’s mother, Thelma Richardson, who helps with the deliveries) provide for worthwhile agencies is a bunch of nutritious snacks for children.

Romney, who does confess she gets a little bit overwhelmed on delivery day when they received two trucks and have to unload and orgapantry gives out $30,000 worth of food a year, despite a lot of people being afraid of catching the coronavirus, Rev. Slavinkas said.

When he talks about the success of the food pantry, Rev. Slavinkas rattles off the names of Christine Consolmagno (one of the 16 Riley children who grew up on Paine Street behind the church) and Shelia Ponte, who both run the pantry. “It’s a whole team that moves this community forward,” Rev. Slavinkas said. “It was a whole team that got NOV. 26 me where I’m at. It was a whole community that mentored and loved me within Worcester, and I’m simply giving back and in the way that God is calling me to give back.” – Craig S. Semon nize, said she feels personally blessed in helping out the community. “I always say that I’m blessed to be a blessing,” Romney said. “People will say, ‘Thank you’ and I say, ‘No, no, no, I’m blessed to be a blessing … That’s just how I feel. It’s kind of satisfying to know that I’m able to help somebody else that’s maybe less fortunate.” If you want to volunteer, donate goods or services, partner with Yes We Care, host a private fundraiser or send a financial gift, call Anika Romney at (774) 303-0717. DEC. 2, 2020 WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM – Craig S. Semon

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NELLY MEDINA parent organizer for education justice

Nelly Medina is on a mission Medina continues to work with — “save the beach, feed the the college by serving on the Hispeople and equal educa- panics Achieving and Celebrating tion,” she says. She’s doing Excellence Committee and the QCC that and more, as an advocate for Mentoring Advisory Council. But children and numerous other groups, the list of her public service affiliathrough her work with Citizens tions goes far beyond that — “every for Juvenile Justice, the Worcester population I talk to, I figure out if Education Justice Alliance and the there’s a way I can get in and make a Parents Union of Massachusetts. difference,” she said.

“If you’re an activist and you have Medina also works with Neighbor this goal in your heart, you get led,” to Neighbor, the Jim McGovern CamMedina said. “You let yourself get paign Organization, the National led.” Association for the Advancement

While a student at Quinsigamond of Colored People, Massachusetts Community College — from where Women of Color Coalition and the she earned an associate’s degree in Worcester Together Undocumented law enforcement and general studies Task Force. She also previously was liberal arts — Medina and fellow involved with Interfaith and its student Vaughn Lee recruited more Worcester Coalition for Education than 150 students over summer and Equity. break in 2018 for the launch of the Interfaith, she said, was her first QCC Mentoring Program. A year exposure to citywide organization later, 90 of those students met with work and her first grassroots involve- Nelly Medina is fighting for community access their mentors once a month. As a student mentor outreach specialist, ment. Through this coalition, she met the team at Jobs with Justice, to Coe’s Pond. she also worked as the student lead which put her through leadership ASHLEY GREEN for the EveryVoice Coalition Cam- training that prepared her for the which falls under the umbrella of and public school reform, and as lead paign — and it was then, she said, “I work she does today. Massachusetts Jobs with Justice, parent organizer, Medina helps other realized I had influence.” Parents Union of Massachusetts, works to establish education equity parents navigate school systems and works with them to get access to services such as IEPs and bilingual ed. The organization also provides Worcester information on housing and helps parents understand their rights. 31 CarolineStreet As part of her work with PUMA, Massachusetts Jobs with Justice and Plantation Street area ... Brandnew One-bedroom the Worcester Education Alliance, Medina was involved in a survey of apartment...includes washer/dryer, storage, off-street parents in the city and a subsequent report that was recently released, parking, heat andh/w ... No smoking, no pets. detailing families’ struggles with remote learning. And, during the COVID pandemic, PUMA has been even more of a Worcester necessity because it has helped pro vide, in cooperation with the Rock Center Hill Apts of Salvation Church, free food boxes through a USDA program and hot 503-505 Mill St....TheTatnuck area’s newest apartment meals to families and to hundreds of families in the city. Medina has had homes. large 1&2BR, W/D in each apt, storage, elevator, a large role in the distribution of the boxes and meals. The need has been heat &hot waterincluded. Nice walkingarea. No pets. so great that the church is opening a food pantry within a month at its Main Street location. Since the pandemic began, PUMA has grown to about 220 mothers from marginalized communities, said Medina, who herself is a mom. “It’s a support system; it’s a sisterhood,” she said. “It’s unpolitical. It’s basically moms sharing information.” She’s also proud to note that some

To view apartments508-756-2147 or cathy@botanybayproperties.com of these moms are now volunteering with PUMA. “These are moms who were afraid to leave their houses. They were afraid of deportation,” she said.

Medina is also on the Board of Directors for the Citizens for Juvenile Justice, the only independent, nonprofit statewide organization working to improve the state’s juvenile justice system. A former foster student herself, Medina uses her experience to advocate for youth in the Massachusetts child welfare system.

“I hit so many demographics. That’s not stopping me. I’m using it to my advantage. I think that’s so important,” she said.

As part of her work with CfJJ, she has collaborated with lawyers from the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute and is currently working to amend the Foster Children’s Bill of Rights, as well as on legislation that would prohibit siblings being separated while in the foster care system.

“I found my Dharma purpose of life, which is to help heal wounds caused by unequal education and advocacy for equity for foster children, who are often tossed down the trauma-to-prison pipeline. That work led me to CfJJ. Every room had its purpose and led me to where I am today,” Medina said.

It’s why, she said, that “everything I do will always go back education.” She added, “A foster child sitting in a chair at Worcester Public Schools could be the mayor someday — but someone needs to tell him that.”

Her newest project is working to save Hillside Beach, which is near the Worcester Housing Authority’s Lakeside Apartments. The beach has been closed for years and is gated off, allowing zero access for the Lakeside residents, Medina said. The city has recently proposed turning the area into wetlands as part of a proposal to renovate the East-West train network in the Columbus Park area along Coes Reservoir.

“It’s not fair. This natural park space — they are taking this from us,” she said, adding, “It’s insane the disparity that exists … by ZIP code. Even the quality of air they want to take from us.”

At the end of the day, whether she is working to help children or save the beach, “it’s not about me,” Medina said. “My advocacy is all tied into my heart. I know what I’m supposed to be doing. It’s changing lives.”

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT

Jenna Dolber, 16, is a sophomore at Blackstone Valley Tech in Upton in the Multi-Media Communications shop. Check out more of her work on Instagram at jen_theabominable