–By John Lynds
East Boston’s Neighborhood of Affordable Housing will pay tribute to longtime residents and activists who have given much of their lives to the betterment of the community through their support of Trinity House programs.
On June 22 at 5 p.m. at the Trinity House on Meridian Street, NOAH will honor Fran Riley and Evelyn Morash as Trinity Treasures for their dedicated service to Eastie. NOAH will also honor Edie DeAngelis, Judge Joseph Ferrino, Mary Cahalane, Grace Flynn, Joey Cuzzi, Rick Dimino and other local leaders at the June event.
Along with Eastie and former Eastie resident NOAH has also chosen to honor Mayor Thomas Menino as a Trinity Treasure because of his committed of nearly $1 million in funds over the past decade to preserve Trinity as a Historic Landmark and beautiful home for low income individuals.
The Trinity Treasures event is meant to commemorate the beautiful 165 year old Greek-Revival landmark–the Trinity House. The event also serves to recognizing those who created, lived and inspired the programs at the Trinity House as well as the beliefs, standards, ideals and values which stirred people to action decades ago.
“The Trinity House remains a testament to the lifeblood of a fair, equitable neighborhood and society,” said NOAH Executive Director Phil Giffee. “The overheated political rhetoric at the national level make these principles, and the people who lived them, even more important to our community today.”
The event will also mark the completion of historic improvements to the Trinity House so Giffee thought it would make sense to remember and thank the unique individuals who created the memorable, magical programs at Trinity.
“In these times of national discord, we also want to recall the values which motivated these dynamic people, including the Mayor, and rededicate ourselves to positive social activities,” said Giffee. “The principles they taught and lived transcend time, geography, gender or politics. They hold communities, neighborhoods and societies together. They recognize differences but do not hold them as barriers to communication, friendship, dialogue. We need to remember these principles now more than ever.”
In order to make this a timeless event–not just one which celebrates Trinity and NOAH’s history–NOAH has been working with its youth environmental/leadership program (E3C) and some living Trinity Treasures to learn and share stories.
“We want our young people to learn from the community building masters of the Trinity House days and, we want our Trinity Treasures to meet and hear the stories of our active youth crew,” said Giffee. “We want to motivate and continue hiring these hard-working youth by learning the stories of our elder forbearers. They have agreed to be part of a combined effort to help us raise funds to continue youth work.”
NOAH is seeking corporate and community support for the event. Tickets will be $50. Corporate sponsorships range from $1,000 – $10,000. Funds raised are earmarked to NOAH’s youth/environmental programs and its goal for the event is to raise between $50,000 and $100,000.
“I am very proud that NOAH can honor the fine examples lived by hard-working East Boston men and women who built great programs at Trinity,” said Ernani DeAraujo, NOAH’s board president. “I have heard so much about them over my lifetime in the neighborhood. I am also glad that we can feature NOAH’s energetic and animated youth crew. Blending old, present and new leaders to share their spirited stories will be both entertaining and enlightening. I hope neighborhood residents will attend this terrific event.”
Deborah Jackson, President of East Boston Savings Bank and Jerry Sargent, President of Citizens Bank as well as elected officials, Senator Anthony Petruccelli, Representative Carlo Basile and City Councilor Sal LaMattina are on the Trinity Event Committee.