By Ellen Walker
Special to the Gazette
Monday, April 16, was a busy day here in the Boston area. The running of the 123rd annual Boston Marathon was held in typical hard to predict New England weather – starting with a deluge, unexpected sunshine and featured a finish-line dash of elite runners! Congratulations to all 30,000 who participated in this year’s marathon.
Again this year, Northeastern University has contributed to the spring clean-up of the Mission Hill neighborhood. A big “thank you” goes to all the NEU volunteers who helped with the project the weekend of April 13. The Community Assistance team is made of several students that help throughout the school year with various opportunities that arise. We sincerely appreciate the good neighbor efforts of our institutional partner, NEU and our Board member, Michael Fitzgerald.
The picket line of the Stop & Shop strikers received support from a number of the Presidential hopefuls and local officials at several of their store locations. Many residents and business owners in Mission Hill were observed supporting the local employees here at the Brigham Circle store in their efforts for a fair deal with the Dutch/Belgian grocery chain giant. We are glad to see a tentative, 3-year resolution under discussion for the employees of Stop & Shop that has allowed everyone to go back work and continue giving great customer service to Mission Hill shoppers!
Halal Restaurant is under new owners. Please welcome Sunin Napali, owner of Halal, 736 Huntington Avenue. He is assisted by Subin Deke and they are excited to be here in Mission Hill and look forward to becoming a stronger part of the community… stop by and say hello!
Recently, in dropping into the Laughing Monk for lunch, I enjoyed a delightful Shrimp Shumai, followed by a delicious yellow curry and rice dish. In preparing for the Mission Hill Main Streets annual fundraiser, I had the good fortune of sharing this meal with one of our sponsors and supporters over the years, Sarah Hamilton of MASCO. The acronym stands for Medical Academic and Scientific Community Organization. MASCOs role is to enhance the area for those who work here and we at MHMS look forward to partnering even more on matters of mutual benefit.
This year’s Mission Hill Crime Watch party was held on April 25th at the Mission Church Parish Center. The event was attended by several residents and community organizations. Our new Boston Police Captain Leighton Facey was in attendance and spoke to the crowd of his many years in service with the department in and around Mission Hill. He is excited to be a part of the community and working with us in this new role. Awards were presented to two individuals; Sgt. Benjamin Carrasco of the MBTA Transit Police for never missing any of the Crime Watch meetings and always providing full and complete updates and answers to question from the attendees and one to my predecessor Richard Rouse for his years of support for our city’s oldest continuously-meeting Crime Watch Committee.
On April 25, I had the pleasure of attending a gathering of community leaders at New England Baptist Hospital / Lahey Health’s chapel with a certification team from the American Nurses Credentialing Center from Silver Springs, MD. Christine Dwyer is proud that the hospital enjoys the highest certification of nursing excellence bestowed as part of the American Nurses Association stringent standards. A major tenet of the national Magnet ® Recognition Program is the relationship to the communities in which they serve. The event was attended by many of the hospital’s partners, community organizations and residents. President and CEO David Passafaro spoke about the engagement with the community and the excellence of the NEBH staff, especially the nurses. Many partners spoke about the excellence of the nursing staff and their local volunteer efforts. Sam Taub of the Celtics Partner Program, noted how important it is to “extend our arm into the community and provide the resources to run programs for students and seniors.” In five seasons they have reached 3,000 youth, 800 seniors and made 40 appearances in Mission Hill and the community. The community residents could not say enough about the role of the nurses and the hospital.” Carmen Pola said. “The nurses are the perfect glue and show our seniors so much respect and so much care.” Many agreed that Chris Dwyer is the key link with the community outreach. “You can always count on the Baptist. Chris never says no. She will always find a way to help.” Father Phil Dabney of Mission Church summed it up best. After stating that he has never heard a single patient complaint in all his years of patient visits at NEBH, he continued, “the image that comes to my mind when I think of the care provided is that of the Good Shepherd with the lamb astride His shoulders bringing safety, healing and care to those in need.”
Mission Hill Main Streets will be scheduling the spring flower drive in early May and will be looking for volunteers to help us with filling the planters, setting them out at key points in the neighborhood and watering them. More details to follow on our Facebook page.