GET TO KNOW SOME OF OUR SOCIAL JUSTICE WARRIORS:
To celebrate 45 years of MSAC, members talk about what the organization means to them.
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To celebrate 45 years of MSAC, members talk about what the organization means to them.
Lillie Bryan, a retired hospitality manager and dedicated foster parent, discovered MSAC at a local community center during a presentation about the Medicare Savings Program. There, she learned how Mass Senior Action Members are advocating to expand eligibility and reduce healthcare costs for tens of thousands of seniors.
Marlene currently serves as Vice President of the Greater Springfield Chapter. After accepting a meeting invitation, she realized she was among others dedicated to advancing equity in healthcare and nursing homes. Throughout the chapter, MSAC members contribute significant expertise and insight into the challenges and opportunities for improvement in senior healthcare.
Daisy Monsalve has been a member of Mass Senior Action for over a year now. Originally born in Cuba, she came to the states in 1958. She moved to Somerville upon her arrival in the country, and has lived in the same building ever since. A bit of a jack of all trades, she has had jobs ranging from a florist at Star Market to a paraprofessional for an immigration lawyer to assistant accountant at a bank. One of her longest careers was at Stone & Webster, where she began as a data processor and over 40 years worked her way up to record control in the nuclear section.
Sharon Keyes has recently joined the Boston chapter of the Mass Senior Action Council, but her journey as an active volunteer in her community is far from new.
Growing up in a church environment, Sharon’s parents demonstrated that attending services or meetings was just the beginning of community involvement. They actively served the church, engaged in various community projects, and often hosted fellow church families for meals and gatherings.
Gwen Mitchell and Adonica Chaplain joined the Mass Senior Action Council as a formidable “fighting duo.” Marrying brothers and becoming sister-in-laws, they raised their children together during the Boston Busing crisis.
They were dedicated to ensuring their children received a quality and equitable education, and their relentless efforts paid off, with all of their children graduating from college.
Mattie Valerie was invited to join Mass Senior Action Council by her North Shore Chapter Membership Coordinator, Mary Thompson.
Right after joining, Mattie became active, attending the membership meetings and organizing people to attend public meetings at city hall.
Chapter Board members noticed Mattie’s desire for social justice and asked her to serve on the Board. Right away, Mattie started recruiting others to join the chapter and become advocates.
Debra was introduced by a chapter leader to MSAC when she attended an exercise class at her local senior center in Malden. The member asked if she could give Debra information about MSAC and invited her to the local chapter meeting. Debra explained, “I had time before my class was to start, so my interest in MSAC was peaked. I went to my first meeting that afternoon and later paid my membership.”
Sarah Blakeney joined Mass Senior Action over 15 years ago. While she has been active through the years she often was quiet, serving lunch at the meetings, or supporting others as they spoke at the front of the group.
Raised in Cuba, Ruth was used to being active and using her voice. Her daughter worried her voice would get her in trouble or possibly jail so moved Ruth from her home country to Canada as a Cuban refugee to be with her daughter and stay out of the way of those who wanted her to keep quiet.
In 2021, Ruth and her family moved to Lynn from Canada. Her daughter works 2 jobs and is very busy.
Jia Jia Mai is a Malden Resident and new member of Mass Senior Action Council. She joined this year after meeting MSAC Metro North members at the Malden senior center and has been enthusiastically attending meetings since.
Bernice Ezell along with her husband Bobby are lifetime members of Mass Senior Action Council. Bernice serves on the board of the Greater Springfield Chapter as the board secretary.
Her work as an Adult Nurse Practitioner in Brightwood Health Center has been instrumental in the chapter efforts to better understand some of the impacts of disparities in our healthcare system. As we know, the first step to taking action on a cause is becoming informed.
Paulette is a woman that hears an issue, and is already ready to sign up for a solution. Her journey started with the Boston chapter of MSAC 6 years ago through chatting with another member about what things are available to do after retirement. She gravitated towards MSAC because she quickly found out that MSAC does not take it, but they take charge!
Pamela Taylor lives in the Melville Park Neighborhood in Dorchester and is retired from Mass General Hospital where she worked as human resource administrative secretary.
My name is Joan B. Noble, and I am 85 years old. I was born and have lived in Lynn my entire life. At the age of 6, I was stricken with Infantile Paralysis, also known as Poliomyelitis (Polio), leaving me totally paralyzed. I share this information with you in order to give you some insight into the many, many battles I have fought over the last 79 years.
Valerie Bonds is a former educator and a new but active member of MSAC’s Cambridge-Somerville chapter. After learning about the group from Cambridge- Somerville chapter president John Ratliff, she quickly plugged in.
My name is Dee Campbell-Tompkins. I am a Board member of the MSAC Metro North Chapter. I want to share my journey and offer information to seniors who might not know about The Aging Project, a “life line” for LGBTQ elders.
The United States Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. was sieged in early January 2021 and will forever be scarred in the memory banks of millions for years to come. Within the broad membership of our socially active Massachusetts Senior Action Council (MSAC), we have one particular member who is originally from the nation’s capital, MSAC Boston Chapter member, Linda Freeman.
Dot Macaione has been an advocate in the community her entire life. At 97 years young, Dot continues to support the Girls Scouts and is an active Shoe City Lions member. Her sister, Bernice Langlois, had been active in MSAC for many years encouraging Dot to join in the action but Dot did not join until she moved in 2010 after her sister passed away.
Dot said she enjoyed the meetings because they are so informative, “so many people have no idea what is going on, things that affect their everyday life, because they are not a MSAC member and do not get the information we receive at our chapter meetings.”
One reason Carmelle likes to be a member of Mass Senior Action because she cares about healthcare. She had a long career in healthcare, working for 25 years as a nurse companion. In this field, she says, she has seen a lot of health misery and suffering, especially in elders. She says, “I see how many seniors in my community are suffering, mentally and physically, and so I know how important it is to try to get services that will be good for seniors.” She knows firsthand how important it is to work together to try to obtain the resources that seniors deserve.
Mattie Lacewell has a history of social activism from her work with Fair Share to serving as the Director of he Upper Hill Resident Council, Inc. She retired from Monson Development Center where she worked as a Mental Health Care Administrator. Mattie has been a lifelong resident of Springfield with lineage roots of Alabama. Her activism was sparked from neighborhood concerns.
John is our state board secretary and an active member of the MSAC Cambridge Chapter. In his working life, he had been active in the union movement, anti-war movement, civil rights,and LGBT movements. In 2012 he retired and moved to Massachusetts, with his husband Ted, from Florida where he had been working as a lawyer for organizations like SEIU Local 1991.
After he retired, he didn’t want to stop being an activist and fighting for the rights of all so when he found out about Mass Senior Action, he immediately joined and jumped right into the action. John recently shared at an outreach in Cambridge, “Mass Senior Action felt like the place for me because I believe the only way we can make positive change is by coming together and collectively acting.”
Debbie Small is a long time MSAC member and served as the secretary of the Metro North Chapter, a volunteer position she would never have dreamed of holding three years ago. One day she finished teaching a line dance class at the Malden Senior Center (in 2013) and was wondering why the dining room was filled with so many people. Curiosity, thankfully, got the best of her and in she went. She could never have imagined that a seemingly tiny detour into the Metro North’s Chapter Meeting on that particular day would bring such profound changes into her life..."
She first heard about Mass Senior Action from John Bennett, former MSAC President. She often invited John to come to her social work college classes to talk about his work in the community. He would share about the accomplishments of MSAC and the power of this organization to bring about change through legislative advocacy and collective action. She joined MSAC and made a promise to myself that she would become more active in the organization when she retired..."
Rosa was born and raised in Alabama and came to Boston in 1964 after graduating from high school. She has lived in Lynn since 1996. She retired in 2010 after working for the State of Massachusetts for 30 years. After she retired she started going to the senior center in Lynn, and that’s where she first heard about MSAC...
Originally from Taiwan, Anli Vokrot moved to Marlboro, Massachusetts in 1982 with her husband, where she raised her son Peter, now 45, before spending years working in the food service industry she loved. After stints at Papa Gino’s and Boston Market, a move to Florida, and a return to Massachusetts in 2019, Anli settled in Somerville. In 2023, she found her next calling: advocating for seniors through the Massachusetts Senior Action Council. In just a short time, she has become one of the chapter’s most dedicated members and now serves as Vice President of the Cambridge/Somerville Chapter.