{"id":10745,"date":"2023-05-28T18:59:03","date_gmt":"2023-05-28T23:59:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.framingham.com\/news\/?p=10745"},"modified":"2023-05-28T19:03:21","modified_gmt":"2023-05-29T00:03:21","slug":"framingham-council-on-aging-holds-3rd-annual-senior-heroes-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.framingham.com\/news\/2023\/05\/28\/seniors\/framingham-council-on-aging-holds-3rd-annual-senior-heroes-awards\/","title":{"rendered":"Framingham Council on Aging Holds 3rd Annual Senior Heroes Awards"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Framingham Council on Aging 3rd Annual Senior Heroes Award recipients Norma Shulman, William Rabkin, Margaret Kelley and Peggy Holland.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

FRAMINGHAM, MA<\/strong> -- Peggy Holland<\/strong> has been answering suicide hotline calls since 1986.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A decade ago, she became one of the first volunteers for Framingham-based Call2Talk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This month, she was one of four senior citizens honored by the Framingham Council on Aging<\/strong> at the 3rd Annual Senior Heroes Awards<\/strong>. Holland was honored for her efforts in health\/healthcare. Other recipients included Margaret Kelley, William Rabkin, and Norma Shulman<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than 75 individuals attended the ceremony at the Callahan Center on Thursday afternoon, May 25.
In 2020, Framingham Council on Aging member Glenda Thomas came up with the idea to recognize \u201cseniors who promote diversity and inclusion.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The hope of the awards is that \u201cmore people will see that we are all honored when we value and respect our difference and share our cultural histories with one another,\u201d said the Council in the program book. Individuals nominated senior citizens and a Committee including Thomas, as well as Robin Dateo, David Fuller, Council on Aging member Kathie McCarthy, Council on Aging member Brian Sullivan, former City Councilor Margareth Shepard, and former Framingham Elder Service Director Grace O\u2019Donnell selected the four honorees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Margaret \u201cMeg\u201d Kelley, a lifelong Framingham resident, was the senior hero recipient in social development. A retired school teacher, Kelley has served as a volunteer at St. Bridget\u2019s Parish for decades. As the volunteer co-director of the food pantry, she has recruited and scheduled adult and student volunteers. She also has conducted numerous food drives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kelley is also a passionate Framingham History Center volunteer. She is a weekly volunteer host, serving as a docent for public school students. She co-authored the book The ABCs of Framingham History.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kelley\u2019s lifetime motto is \u201cbe kind, take care of others, and help those in need.\u201d She is an active Framingham Garden Club volunteer and co-chaired the fundraiser \u201cMusic in Bloom,\u201d which raises money for the Club\u2019s scholarship program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besides Call2Talk, Holland has volunteered for the Partakers College Behind Bars program at MCI-Framingham\u2019s women\u2019s prison. For 15 years, she has mentored female inmates in college level classes. For two decades, Holland has volunteered as a tutor with Framingham Public Library\u2019s Literacy Unlimited program helping individuals learn English as a second language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through Family Promise MetroWest, Holland has cooked and delivered meals for homeless families. For 20 years, Holland has volunteered for the REACH program, which assists survivors of domestic violence. She also has volunteered with the United Way of Tri-County.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bill Rabkin was the recipient for arts\/culture for his volunteer efforts with Access Framingham.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAfter moving to Framingham, he joined AFTC as a volunteer in 2009 to gain skills in video production,\u201d wrote the Committee in the program book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe has used the skills he learned to create video programs at the Temple he attends, at the Framingham History Center, at the Callahan Center, and the Framingham Library. He has been the face behind the camera at so many events,\u201d noted the program book. \u201cThe time he commits to videotaping and editing makes it possible for people who could not attend these programs in person to enjoy them at a later date on local, free cable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The final recipient was Shulman, who was honored for her public service. Shulman was honored her \u201cmany roles as a volunteer in the City to educate and recruit people of all ages, abilities, backgrounds, and culture to register to vote and to get involved in local government.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor 48 years, 27 of which Norma was a Town Meeting member, she has been a strong activist to ensure that all voices within the community are heard, included, and counted,\u201d noted the program book. \u201cAs a Democratic State Committee elected member, a 20-year member of the local Democratic Committee, and as a delegate to the State and National conventions, she has a mandate to welcome diversity in the group\u2019s activities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She is co-chair of the MA Democratic Women\u2019s Outreach Committee encouraging and supporting women in roles as candidates, elected officials, leaders and advocates,\u201d noted the program book. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe is encouraged to see more organizations and individuals making specific efforts to declare and follow up with making Framingham a welcome community. Examples of this are the Black Student Union, Pelham Apartments, Welcome Framingham, and other local organizations that seek to attract youth, people of color, LGBTQ+ community, people of diverse physical abilities and varied religious backgrounds,\u201d noted her bio in the program book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senate President Karen Spilka\u2019s office, represented by aide Dennis Giombetti, awarded citations to all four honorees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

State Representatives Jack Patrick Lewis, Kate Donaghue and Priscila Sousa awarded House of Representatives citations to the quartet of honorees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

City Council Vice Chair Janet Leombruno, at-large City Councilor George P. King Jr., District 3 City Councilor Adam Steiner, and District 7 City Councilor Leora Mallach attended the ceremony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Friends of the Callahan provided the funding for the hired photographer, the commemorative plaques for the four honorees, and the refreshments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

###<\/p>\n\n\n

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FRAMINGHAM, MA — Peggy Holland has been answering suicide hotline calls since 1986. A decade ago, she became one of the first volunteers for Framingham-based Call2Talk. This month, she was one of four senior citizens honored by the Framingham Council on Aging at the 3rd Annual Senior Heroes Awards. Holland was honored for her efforts in health\/healthcare…. [read more]<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10746,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[848,2626,219,215,5068,5066,5069,5065],"class_list":["post-10745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-seniors","tag-callahan-senior-center","tag-council-on-aging","tag-dennis-giombetti","tag-karen-spilka","tag-margaret-kelley","tag-norma-shulman","tag-peggy-holland","tag-william-rabkin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.framingham.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.framingham.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.framingham.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.framingham.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.framingham.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10745"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.framingham.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10745\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10749,"href":"https:\/\/www.framingham.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10745\/revisions\/10749"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.framingham.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.framingham.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.framingham.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.framingham.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}