Worcester, Massachusetts - Worcester Community Action Council welcomed Mark K. Shriver for a (virtual) keynote address at the agency's newly named Reiliency Awards on Friday, February 14, 2022 at a celebration which include a small in-person gathering at the JMAC Theatre in Worcester. A dogged champion for children throughout his career, Shriver is the son of Sargent Shriver who first established community action agencies as a component of President Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty. He presented WCAC's first-ever Sargent Shriver Trailblazer Award, named in his father's honor.

WCAC's Sargent Shriver Trailblazer Award is named for Sargent Shriver, noted American diplomat, politician, and activist. He was the primary architect of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s War on Poverty, leading to the establishment of the Community Action Network. The award is given to an individual or organization making remarkable contributions to improving the lives of those in need, having demonstrated a collaborative spirit and tireless efforts to impact policy and affect substantive change.

For more than two decades Bureau has been a community leader in Worcester, developing and supporting numerous groups in support of families including the Economic Mobility Task Force, the Worcester Zero Fare Task Force, the Parent Mental Health Ambassador Project, and the Cares for Kids Babysitting Training Program all to help improve the lives of families in Worcester. Her work has roots within WCAC where the work of Worcester Community Connections began. She has grown this work incredibly and has been a tried-and-true partner to WCAC and many organizations across our community for decades. 

As noted by Mark Shriver in his remarks announcing the award, "Anne is an embodiment of perseverance and tenacity, graceful diplomacy, modest courage, and relentless veritas. Anne is often the wind giving fuel to many sails and the Worcester community is better because of her."

WCAC's Champion for Kids Award is given to an individual or organization having demonstrated an exemplary commitment to WCAC’s early education and care programs; supporting and nurturing a dynamic environment to foster life-long learning.

As Executive Director of the United Way of South Central Massachusetts, Mary O'Coin has been a tremendous ally for WCAC, particularly for the agency's early education and care programs located in southern Worcester County. A frequent visitor as a reader in WCAC's Head Start classrooms in Southbridge and Webster, O'Coin has shepherded important grant resources to support parenting workshops for WCAC’s Healthy Families of Southern Worcester County program, the agency's Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program providing low to moderate income families access to free tax preparation services, and most recently to support a critically needed social-emotional wellness curriculum for WCAC’s Head Start program.

Kimberly Collazo of MAPFRE Insurance has been a strong supporter of WCAC's Head Start program since the agency opened our center in Webster in 2019. MAPFRE employees have generously 'adopted' our early education and care programs each winter donating new winter coats for all participants. Collazo has coordinated the company’s generosity during WCAC's annual Coat Drive for Kids resulting in the donation of nearly four hundred coats over the past two winters! She has also helped coordinate MAPFRE's Book Buddies program where employees visit classrooms monthly to read books and share activities with our preschoolers. In presenting the award, WCAC's Board of Directors Vice Chair Karen Walker-Rucks noted, "We are most grateful for MAPFRE's tremendous support and for Kim's dedication to our little ones."

IGGY STRONG - PROVIDING YOUTH OPPORTUNITIES

WCAC's 2022 Iggy Strong - Providing Youth Opportunities honoree is Officer Ignacio Garcia, posthumously.

Officer Garcia developed great relationships with area youth which in our current climate is often difficult to do. Even while fighting a battle for his life his mind was always on his family and work. He would do things under the radar that no one knew about to provide a space for youth to grow and develop their potential and allow them to thrive. He was particularly connected to WCAC's Safe and Successful Youth Initiative providing an opportunity for participants to access assistance such as outreach, case management, education, behavioral health and employment with a goal of reducing recidivism and participants' exposure to serious violence.

WCAC's 2022 Action Hero honorees are our own Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) team, Leslie Wong of Sturbridge Council on Aging, Caroline Sullivan of Elder Services of Worcester, and Warner Fletcher of Fletcher Tilton Attorneys at Law.

WCAC’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance team, comprised of Tim Jaegle, Nicole Cardin & Maggie Perez, were chosen as a 2022 Action Hero award in recognition of their diligence, commitment, and outstanding customer service in supporting thousands of low-to-moderate income households to maximize their income tax returns. In 2021, the team coordinated Thirty-two volunteers who donated 630 hours to prepare income tax returned at no cost for 664 low-income households through WCAC’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program, an increase of 120 households over 2020 despite the program operating fully remotely!

WCAC's home heating assistance team is particularly grateful to Leslie Wong of the Sturbridge Council on Aging and Caroline Sullivan of Elder Services of Worcester for their dedicated and creative outreach efforts in connecting with vulnerable senior citizens to ease their access to home heating assistance. From hosting social-distanced, outdoor application events during the height of the pandemic, to training themselve and their staff in order to accept fuel applications onsite, WCAC recognized Wong and Sullivan for prioritizing othe agency's home heating assistance program and helping to connect with vulnerable seniors.

No stranger to Worcester area non-profits, Warner S. Fletcher has dedicated more than 30 years of legal experience as a trustee of many private family foundations, charitable foundations and non-profit organizations in the region. WCAC recognized Fletcher as an Action Hero for his strong financial support of the agency, most recently allowing for significant technology enhancements, ensuring expedited and efficient delivery of services to vulnerable clients particularly as our programs and services were forced to pivot to virtual realms given the Covid pandemic.

WCAC's 2022 Resiliency Awards were sponsored by National Grid. Additional sponsorship support provide by Webster Five, Cornerstone Bank, Fidelity Bank and Lamoureaux Pagano Associates Architects. A copy of the livestream event can be found on WCAC's website: https://www.wcac.net/about-wcac/action-heroes/