Jamaica Plain's state senator and mayoral candidates teamed up together to pack gift bags for seniors in celebration of Mothers Day to help a local nonprofit.
Volunteers of America of Massachusetts (VOAMASS), a nonprofit that creates opportunities for individuals through residential and outpatient behavioral health treatment, re-entry for justice-involved individuals, veteran services and senior living, hosted the 26th Annual I Remember Mama on May 8, 2021.
Left to right: State Rep. Joe Santiago, Sonia Chang-Diaz, Michael A. Satterwhite, a volunteer who has been present for all 26 I Remember Mama events, and John Barros. (Image courtesy of VOAMASS)
The event is a signature fundraiser that supports VOAMASS’s substance use recovery programs.
While the event traditionally includes a hotel ballroom brunch for roughly 200 senior mothers living in public housing throughout Boston, because of COVID-19 restrictions, VOAMASS packaged and delivered 200 gift bags to the women as a reminder of how much the community cherishes them.
Two mayoral candidates John Barros and state Rep. Jon Santiago, joined state Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz to help VOAMASS assemble the bags at Shiloh House, a residential recovery center for women with co-occurring behavioral health and substance use disorders in Jamaica Plain.