Alumnae in Action
Event Photos
| Izmir, Turkey: Clothes Drive |
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Handing over the donations. |
| Club president Arzu Gürz Abay ’94 writes, “Our clothes drive project has been very successful. Our club was able to collect several bags full of children’s clothes and toys plus adult clothes. We also received a letter of thanks from the mayor of the municipality of Karsiyaka in Izmir himself.” |
| Springfield, MA: Gardening the Community |
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| On Saturday, May 5, local alums, staff, and MHC students traveled to Springfield for the second annual spring Alumnae in Action event in honor of Earth Day. Working with volunteers from Gardening the Community, an urban community gardening and youth advocacy organization, the group prepared dirt beds and planted flower and vegetable seeds in a quarter-acre lot located in downtown Springfield. The organic vegetables are harvested in the summer and fall and sold at a local farmer’s market. |
| Hatfield, MA: Food Bank of Western Massachusetts |
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| Krysia L. Villón ’96 and Destiny Montes sort food for the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts. |
| A lively group of nearly 30 MHC alumnae, staff, and guests (including one notable guest not yet one year of age) gathered together on Thursday, November 9, 2006, from 4-7 pm at the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts for the fall Alumnae in Action food service project. After refreshments and a tour of the recently expanded and renovated facilities, alumnae volunteers got to work sorting food in the warehouse, preparing information kits, and writing hundreds of cards to Food Bank volunteers. |
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Alumnae, staff, and friends with student representatives of the MHC Environmental Action Coalition at the River Valley Academy, a school for teens with special needs in Holyoke. L to R: Grace Bianciardi ’01, Emily Wheeler ’08, Amanda Blackwell, Jennett L. Teece ’59, Ann Fisher ’08, Gennie Noice ’09, Mollie Buermann ’09, Darnell Blackwell, Krysia L. Villón ’96, Leanna James Blackwell. |
On Saturday, April 29, the group (which also included Amanda Moody ’04 and Nicole Mazzeo ’05) donned garden gloves and got to work pulling weeds, picking up trash, planting flowers and shrubs, and cleaning up the playground of the school, which just moved to a new home after several years in a former meat-packing plant. |
“It means a lot to be able to create a better place for these kids,” said Maria Bianciardi ’99, a nurse at the River Valley Academy. “I’m so happy for this show of support from MHC alumnae and students.” Bianciardi is eager to implement a health and nutrition curriculum at the school—and the new garden, which Alumnae in Action volunteers helped prepare, will play an integral part. |
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L to R: Aili Petersen ’02, Denise Harrison ’84, Shelly Warburton Keir ’92, Gracia Chin Barry ’66, and Stacy Hagerty. |
Aili Petersen writes, “Although half of our planned group got rained out, we went ahead with the stream clean-up and, as you can see from this photo, we removed quite a bit of trash that was in and around the stream.Our club looks forward to participating in Alumnae In Action again in the future!” |
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L to R: Nancy Buskirk ’58, Louise Peelle ’61, Elizabeth Stone ’75, Sevanne Demirjian ’95, Anne Davis ’52, and Allison Walacavage ’03. |
Sevanne Demirjian ’95 writes, “Our group had a great time while helping people keep track of the plants they wanted to buy and occationally giving plant advice too. Then the second crew came to help clean up after the three day sale. This sale is on a huge scale with a 10 post tent, over 25,000 plants, and over 10,000 varieties for sale. Our clean up crew was very efficient and we had most everything put away in a few hours, even the hundreds of little porcelain garden decoration mushrooms individually wrapped!! We had over five decades represented at the plant sale, from the 1950’s to 2003. It was a beautiful day and everyone liked the Alumnae in Action idea so much they wanted to participate again next year!” |
