38 whose good works improve others' lives are named Heroines
By Paul E. Kandarian
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Susan A. Phippen of Scituate founded her town's animal shelter, as well as a program that provides a community Christmas for all.
Janet Bennett has spent nearly half a century serving in Hull's government, where she is the established "go to" person.
They are among 38 women across the suburbs south of Boston who are being recognized for the volunteer work they do outside their jobs, or for on-the-job contributions above and beyond what they're paid to do.
The Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women will be honoring its Unsung Heroines of 2008 on Wednesday at a State House ceremony.
"Our heroines are women who don't make the news but make the difference in their communities, businesses, or volunteer endeavors," said Linda Brantley, executive director of the commission. "They are the women who quietly, without fanfare or recognition and usually behind the scenes, use their time, talent, spirit, and enthusiasm to enrich the lives of others."
In all, 287 women from across the state were nominated by friends, families, or co-workers. All will be honored at Wednesday's event.
"When I got the letter," informing her of the award, "I threw it away; I didn't know what it was," said Kathleen Fanning of Pembroke. She later realized her mistake.
Fanning, a claims adjuster from Marshfield, launched the Appalachia Service Project, which sends 100 or so teens and adults into im poverished communities each year to do home repairs. She also serves meals once a month to the Pine Street Inn women's unit.
Helping others now runs in the family, she said: All three of her children, now in their 20s, also do volunteer work.
"Different and challenging" is how honoree Agalab finds her work as case worker and program manager at the Refugee and Immigrant Assistance Center in Jamaica Plain. Born in Somalia, she fled the capital of Mogadishu when civil war broke out in the early 1990s and volunteered to help thousands of other displaced citizens. She later fled to Kenya and worked with the Red Cross and United Nations.
She has been in the United States for 14 years and also works with the Somali Women and Children's Association as domestic violence coordinator. All her work is richly rewarding, she said.
"Someone coming here doesn't know where to go, what to do," Agalab said of her work in assisting them. "Helping them is more rewarding than anything in the world."
Phippen, of Scituate, doesn't have kids - she has dogs. So it makes sense that as part of her long history of service to Scituate, she founded the Scituate Animal Shelter. She is also founder and executive director of Scituate Community Christmas and is now heading up a drive to make a run-down Works Projects Administration building left over from the days of Franklin Roosevelt into the Scituate Visitors' Center.
"The new train station is nearby, so this makes sense," Phippen said. "We want to benefit from reverse tourism."
Like many of the honorees, Phippen has given years of civic service to her town. People who know her say she has served on just about every board there is, including serving six years as a selectwoman.
"I'm very fortunate to do it," she said. "I have no children, so I have the time."
Bennett, the "go to" person in Hull goverment, lives right across the street from the town building in which she works. That means she doesn't get many snow days, but she probably wouldn't take them even if she did.
Bennett has been the town clerk for 30 years and has served in town government for 47. She was nominated for the Unsung Heroines honor by local state Representative Garrett J. Bradley.
"I was ready to kill him for that," laughed Bennett, who came to work for the town when women traditionally did not advance in town government. "But it's really a very nice honor."
Outside of Elizabeth Lawton's Freetown home, from which she runs a "community-based and experiential" preschool called Rainbow Workshop, is a "peace pole." It bears messages of peace in several languages. Lawton stresses tolerance and cultural coexistence as part of the curriculum, and each month teaches her charges about different countries.
"The classroom becomes the country," said Lawton, who has run the school for 25 years. Last month, that involved emptying the classroom and building Cleopatra's cabana - sand included. "The kids learn the language, the food, music; it's very multicultural."
Elizabeth St. George has served Lakeville in many ways over the past 40 years, including cochairing the ball for the town's 150th birthday and serving on the open space committee. She is most proud of her volunteer work on behalf of the town's gleaming new library: She chaired the capital campaign committee that raised approximately $300,000. An avid reader, St. George is also an avid writer: For many years, she wrote a column, "Prevailing Winds," for local papers.
"It allowed me the privilege of traveling wherever the prevailing winds took me, editorially," said St. George, who at 75 continues to volunteer at the library in whatever capacity she is needed.
Janice Cunningham, who prior to coming to work for the town was the first sergeant on the Police Department at Bridgewater State College, sees her work as helping not just the first-line victims of domestic violence, but also the families.
"We've extended what we do to Christmas, to get gifts for families," said Cunningham, 55, who has been an East Bridgewater police officer for 19 years, "because if a mother can't give to her kids, she feels she's not doing her job and is then further victimized."
Marilyn Thomson, 61, has been the Huntington School librarian in Brockton for 16 years and was stunned she was named an Unsung Heroine.
"It's not my thing to get recognized; my thing is to do what I do and fly under the radar," said the popular school librarian, who was nominated for the honor by her twin 29-year-old daughters. "I just get a good feeling knowing what I'm doing for the kids, and that's enough.
"I love it," she said. "If I was independently wealthy, I'd still do the job - for nothing."
For more information on the program, visit mass.gov/women.
Paul E. Kandarian can be reached at [email protected]
Source: Boston Globe, May 11, 2008