MASSACHUSETTS PROBATION AND COMMUNITY SERVICE HELP FEED
ELDERLY AND NEEDY FOR THANKSGIVING

Probation employees and offenders alike were involved in several charity efforts throughout the state to help bring food, cheer and comfort to those who need it the most. The efforts ranged from providing Thanksgiving meals to hundreds of families and the elderly, who would otherwise go without, to distributing warm coats to men, women and children.

In Middlesex County, more than 100 senior citizens were treated to a traditional Thanksgiving meal, with all of the trimmings, at the Cambridge Community Center.

Cambridge District Court Assistant Chief Probation Officers Ron Layne and Tim Kelleher; Probation Officer Katherine Seoane; and Middlesex County Community Corrections Center Probation Officer in Charge Frank Murphy helped prepare the food and serve it to the 105 Cambridge area senior citizens who turned out for the event.

Probationers, assigned to an Essex County Trial Court Community Service crew, unloaded 1,000 turkeys, 15 pounds each, from an Amesbury warehouse where they were stored. The 32 offenders also unloaded 1,000 individual boxes of fixings such as canned vegetables, stuffing and gravy onto a truck for delivery to the Lazarus House, a local charity organization. The offenders unloaded the turkeys and boxes and distributed them to waiting families.

“This is a positive and productive way for the offenders to give back to the community,” said Tony Matrano, Essex County assistant court coordinator.

In Worcester County, the Fitchburg Community Corrections Center is conducting a Community Coat Drive through the end of the year for local families. New and used coats, infant to adult sizes, may be dropped off at the Community Corrections Center, 19 Fairmont Place, Fitchburg. Arrangements for drop off may be made by calling 978-342-1600.

“There is definitely a need in the community. We have the resources and we are happy to help,” said Lynn Clifford, Probation Officer in Charge.

In Hampshire and Hampden Counties, the Eastern Hampshire District Court Probation Department and Hampden County Trial Court Community Service joined forces with local radio station Rock 102 to provide meals to needy families.

The Eastern Hampshire District Court donated food items and money to the Mayflower Marathon, a charity food drive to benefit the Open Pantry of Springfield. The two-day marathon took place at the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield where a trailer truck was set up for donations. Probation Operations Supervisor Susan MacDougall and her husband delivered the more than 100 pounds of food collected at the court to the Springfield site.

Probationers on a Hampden County Community Service crew unloaded the food from the trailer into individual trucks which were used to transport the food to the Open Pantry of Springfield. The community service crew unloaded the food from the trucks and carried it into the Pantry where it was distributed to more than 1,000 needy families in the Western Massachusetts area.