18 January, 2011
Dear Editor,
On behalf of the Hopkinton Youth Commission, I’d like to thank our friends and neighbors for making the fourth Annual Martin Luther King
Day of Giving Back a tremendous success. People of all ages gathered at the middle school to enjoy breakfast and hear our wonderful speaker, Sarah Varadian, tell us about her life of service which started as a 12 year old. (Look for a video of her talk on
hcam.tv)
Together, we then engaged in many different service projects to benefit others. Most of these projects were led by middle and high school youth
and their clubs, teams, church or scouting groups. Many commented how nice it was to see our teens mixing in with other generations to give
back - and having fun doing it! Here are a few examples of what we did to make a difference:
Compiled 165 CARE packages, wrote letters and made photo frames for our troops overseas; made 120 fleece scarves, over 60 fleece blankets and 155 hats for the homeless; assembled and decorated 125 cancer care packages and collected 86 pints of blood for the Red Cross Blood Drive. Many donated items were collected including 8 large bins of canned goods for the food pantry. In addition, teens made lunch for the seniors, firefighters and police officers; led a program for young children at the library; painted rooms at Serenity House; provided lunch and a tennis clinic to children with cancer; handed out sandwiches to the homeless in Boston and joined up with a Boston running club of homeless adults.
We are grateful to the Middle School for hosting this event and to our local press for promoting the day. A huge thank you to South Street
Dunkin’ Donuts for sponsoring our breakfast and to our additional sponsors - The Women’s Club, Hopkinton Police Association, Sewfisticated
Fabrics in Framingham and Collela's.
This event could not have taken place without the hard work from our dedicated committee – Dorothy Maruska, Gayle Turner, Mary Green, Lisa
Engstrom, Suzanne Gallo, Anne Mattina, Anne Schneider, Michelle Murdock, Allison Cofone, Julie Forte and Sandy Katz. Many others helped to make this day such a big success
Please e-mail your ideas for next year and/or interest in joining the MLK Committee to MLKhopkinton@comcast.net. We do need help to keep this
amazing day moving forward.
And most of all, thank you to the people of Hopkinton who made this event so successful. Our entire community should be proud of the amazing response we had in promoting service and volunteerism in the spirit of Dr. King.
Linda Katz
HopkintonYouth Commission
