By Courtney Wright
Happy November, Veteran’s Day, and Thanksgiving!
This past Friday- on Halloween, ‘Halloween on the Hill’ enjoyed another successful and frightening year. I mused to John Jackson how lucky we’ve been that in the last decade+ , it hasn’t poured rain on Halloween during the event- I take it as a sign. The Tobin Community Center and their staff set up and ran the Haunted Hallways that are notoriously terrifying and popular. There were face painters, pony rides, a petting zoo, cupcake decorating, and trick or treating supplies for the Map being handed out. Thank you to all of the organizations and businesses that contributed to making the event a success; Mission Main, Mission Hill Health Movement, and Sociedad Latina, all had on-theme programming happening on their sites in conjunction with the following businesses who handed out candy for trick or treaters: Tavern of Tales, Chilacates, Milkweed, Mike’s Donuts, Lily’s Pasta, Yellow Door Taqueria, Tremont House of Pizza, Mission Bar and Grill and Penguin Pizza. Thank you to John for spearheading this event every year that brings together people, organizations and businesses in Mission Hill. Mossy and I had talked about doing a joint costume but we’ll have to work on that for next year.
Speaking of Mossy- Please join us this Tuesday, November 11th at 11 a.m. in Hanlon Square for our annual Veteran’s Day ceremony led by our esteemed local Veterans from Mission Hill Post 327. Come by and thank your service members, enjoy coffee and donuts courtesy of Maria and Mike’s Donuts , and listen to the sounds provided by the Post’s awesome bugler.
On October 21, Main Streets had our annual fundraising event at the Mission Bar and Grill. Thank you to everyone who came out to join us and contributed to keeping our business district welcoming by purchasing a ticket. We had a great turnout, and I was so grateful to see such a mix of old faces and for the opportunity to meet new ones. We gave several community awards to deserving individuals and businesses. We gave our Cherished Neighborhood Asset award to our host of the evening, Mission Bar and Grill. The Mission has always made itself open and available to host events, celebrations, fundraisers, etc to support the local community and institutions. They provide Thanksgiving meals every year to local housing developments and are genuinely fun, easy and thoughtful to work with. Thank you Harry and Melo for all you do for us.
For Volunteer of the Year, we awarded Elijah Dodson, a newly graduated Wentworth Masters student who helped Main Streets with a lot of things over the last 2 years. Elijah has helped with websites, technology, social media, bringing exposure to small businesses on his college campus, etc. Good luck and congratulations Elijah!
Richard Rouse was kind enough to join us for the evening to assist me in presenting Tricia Fitzgerald with the Kevin Fitzgerald Friend of Mission Hill award. Richard is much more entertaining and well-spoken than I- and apparently the voice of an angel when singing I learned. I’ve known Tricia for about 13 years due to working on the MHRR every year. As I said that evening, all my encounters with her have left me with a good story, good advice, or good insight into whatever we may have been discussing at the time. More than anything she’s said, the biggest influence she has had on me personally and I am sure many like me, is in what she does and how she shows up- always. Whether it is a service day in cold and rainy miserable conditions, or to remove weeds and dig out garden beds, or to come forward and honor others on behalf of her late husband Kevin, and their wonderful legacy, the list goes on. She sent me a note after the event and I hope she wouldn’t mind me paraphrasing a little here, but her comment has stuck with me over the last week. In talking about the work that goes on to keep Mission Hill vibrant, Tricia said, “Kevin would be so proud of all of us.” As many of us scramble to meet and try to find ways to support the community and fill gaps in the face of a gov’t shutdown and SNAP irregularity- I thought of Tricia’s comment and reminds me that it’s a privilege to be able to carry on the work we so often honor, and to be in a position to offer support and resources where we are able. I hope we can all channel that energy and act in ways that we can be proud of when it comes to supporting our businesses and friends in need this holiday season (I consider the next 3 months the holiday season fyi).
-Back to Business- For this year’s Business of the Year, we used the opportunity to honor MH’s 2025 Legacy Business Awardee, Penguin Pizza. The owner Pam was present at the event with her husband and twin girls Mollie and Hannah Carthy, who by the looks of their networking abilities and entrepreneurial spirit, may be opening a business up in no time themselves! I’ve spoken a lot of the Penguin’s contributions and the value they add to our business district over the years, so in lieu of that, I am happy to share what they are doing now- beginning last week, to support people in our community facing food insecurity due to the government shutdown and interruptions to the SNAP program. The Penguin has started a “Donate a Meal” online initiative that for every $5 raised, a meal (pizza or pasta) is provided to someone in need. Pam and her team are nothing if not creative (&very giving) and since this is a new predicament we all find ourselves in, details of the program can evolve and change- to donate a meal, visit https://order.toasttab.com/online/penguin-pizza if you scroll down about half way, you’ll see a button for “Donate a Meal”. If you cannot access it online, please contact the Penguin at 617-277-9200 or by email at pamela@thepenguinpizza.com
In times like this, it is worth it to remind everyone that Solid Ground Café also has and has had a “Pay it Forward” program, another way to donate meals to the community while also supporting local, small business. You can “Pay it Forward” and purchase a meal through Solid Ground at https://order.toasttab.com/online/solidgroundcafe. We are working with other businesses and organizations to set up similar systems that enable us to contribute not only to community members experiencing hunger, but also to make sure that money is circulating within our local economy and supporting our small businesses who are desperately taking a hit in these economic times.
As I mentioned, it is an incredibly challenging time for so many and there are a lot of people in the community working together to try and come up with ways to assist with the shortfalls in services and funding. One way that has been identified so far, is to create a QR code and fund where people can donate money towards feeding the community. We plan to use the money to purchase gift cards for food from local stores and grocery to keep as much funding local as possible. Thank you to Christine Dwyer and New England Baptist Hospital for being willing to host the donation page and create the QR code. Flyers are being made and will be distributed when completed. In the meantime, go to https://nebh.org/giving -> donate now -> under gift designation, select other-> write in “Mission Hill Eats” or use the QR code at the end of this article.
See ya’ll Tuesday in Hanlon Square-
Any questions, asks, etc- please reach out to missionhillmainstreetsboston@gmail.com.