Celebrating Our Community Heroes
Recognizing the outstanding work of community leaders and partner organizations who give their time and talent to improve our communities is part of our annual celebrations of good.
2020 Celebration of Social Justice
At our 32nd annual Celebration of Social Justice, our first-ever held virtually, we continued a tradition of recognizing individuals and organizations that have achieved outstanding success in addressing critical social justice issues. We honored Robert Lewis, Jr., Founder and President of The BASE, for his work advocating for racial equity and breaking down barriers that prevent communities of color from reaching their full potential.
Read more about Robert and The BASE.
Previous Social Justice Award Honorees
2020 Community Advocacy Awards: Saluting Our Community Warriors During Unprecedented Times
Our annual Community Advocacy Awards celebrate local community leaders who give their time and talent to address vital needs throughout Eastern’s New England footprint. In 2020, many people stepped up to lend their support in extraordinary ways during an unprecedented time. Read more about our recognition of these COVID-19 Warriors.
2020 Community Advocacy Awards: COVID-19 Warriors
Cape Cod
Housing Assistance Corporation of Cape Cod
Alisa Magnotta, Chief Executive Officer
“Our vision is a Cape Cod in which everyone has a safe, stable, place to call home.”
Since its founding in 1974, Housing Assistance Corporation has assisted more than 180,000 low- and middle-income households on Cape Cod, Nantucket, and Martha's Vineyard through programs aimed at homelessness prevention, housing stabilization, and empowerment. Housing Assistance has stepped up its efforts to provide urgent and ongoing assistance with past due rent, mortgage payments, or other housing-related expenses for Cape Cod and Islands residents who have lost income due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Merrimack Valley
Boys and Girls Club of Greater Lowell
Joe Hungler, Executive Director
"Inspire and enable young people to realize their full potential as productive, responsible and caring citizens."
Throughout his career, Joe has been an advocate for youth from all walks of life and has created a climate of welcoming and inclusion within the Club. Under his leadership, the Club has instituted a nutrition program that provides 50,000 fresh, healthy meals annually; established music, robotics, fashion design, leadership and workforce programs; and increased daily attendance by more than 50 percent. Though the Club remained closed for most of the pandemic, Joe and his team found new ways to support the youth they serve. This included serving two meals per day to 250 children, distributing books and activity kits to keep children engaged, supplying additional food on Fridays for the weekends, and inspiring young people to realize their full potential through virtual dance classes and a podcast.
MetroWest
A Place to Turn
Joanne Barry, Executive Director
“Serving those in need in an atmosphere of caring and mutual respect”
Committed to providing emergency food and clothing to neighbors in the MetroWest community, A Place to Turn recognizes that economic hardship exists in the suburbs and is not exclusively an urban problem. The organization’s food pantry began as a fledgling entity in the basement of a private home and in 1981 settled at its present location in Natick. During the pandemic, it has been able to meet the increased demand for assistance and continue to provide nutritious, healthy food to many neighbors in need.
New Hampshire
Families in Transition - New Horizons
Maria Devlin, President & CEO
“Preventing and breaking the cycle of homelessness”
Families in Transition offers programs and services to assist families and individuals through integrated case management, affordable housing, emergency homelessness services, food services, and substance use treatment. As a state-wide 501c3 non-profit, Families in Transition has headquarters and operations in Manchester, NH, and locations in Concord, Dover, and Wolfeboro. During the pandemic, their work continues in preventing and breaking the cycle of homelessness, providing housing options, safe adult and family shelters, meals, and groceries through their food pantry to people in need as the demand for services increases.
North Shore
Citizens Inn
Corey Jackson, Executive Director
“Everyone deserves safety, dignity and hope — to have shelter from the weather, heal when they are sick, and share meals in a place where they can grow and flourish as part of a community”
For 37 years, Citizens Inn has worked toward ending homelessness and hunger across the North Shore, through emergency shelter, sober living transitional housing, affordable housing units, and a food pantry program. Through the COVID-19 pandemic, Citizens Inn Haven from Hunger saw a 369% increase in signups for the food pantry. In 2020, Haven distributed 2,050,825 pounds of food to households in Peabody, Salem and Lynnfield.
South Shore
Father Bill’s & MainSpring
John Yazwinski, President & CEO
“Nobody should be homeless”
For nearly 40 years, Father Bill’s & MainSpring has been a leader in addressing homelessness across the region through emergency shelter, housing, workforce development, and homelessness prevention programs. During the pandemic, the organization collaborated with public officials and non-profit partners to open additional temporary shelter sites to safely shelter guests, including elders, and support those most vulnerable to the virus.
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