Staff Writer
Published: 6/25/2021 6:21:18 PM
GREENFIELD — Looking to lessen the financial burden the COVID-19 pandemic has created for children and families, members of the Mayor’s Task Force on Domestic Violence have donated $500 worth of diapers and baby wipes to three social service agencies.
Using the rest of its fiscal year 2021 funds, the task force purchased several cases of diapers and delivered them on Wednesday morning to Montague Catholic Social Ministries, the New England Learning Center for Women in Transition (NELCWIT) and Community Action Pioneer Valley’s Family Center.
“We’re just trying to lighten the load,” said Mary Kociela, a member of the task force and director of domestic and sexual violence projects at the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office. “It’s been a very difficult year, and people are struggling for even the most basic needs. We just felt like this would be one way to lessen the burden on some local families and children.”
Typically, she said, the Mayor’s Task Force on Domestic Violence organizes campaigns and events in the community that fall under the realm of education and prevention, but in the aftermath of the pandemic, it seemed more appropriate to use funding in a more tangible way.
“Coming out of the pandemic, we knew there were great needs on the part of families, and diapers just seemed like something that could benefit a lot of different families throughout the city, so that’s what we decided to do,” Kociela explained.
Mayor Roxann Wedegartner commended the task force’s “initiative and imagination.”
“Coming out of a very difficult year, a year in which we saw victims isolated and very serious cases of domestic violence, it is important to do everything we can right now to support families in our community,” Wedegartner said in a press release.
Zoraida Agudelo, project manager at NELCWIT, a sexual and domestic violence crisis center serving Franklin County and the North Quabbin region, said she was grateful for the donation.
“It’s really important for us to have the resources to be able to help the community,” Agudelo said. “It’s very meaningful to know (the task force) cares about the survivors as much as they do.”
She added that the services and support provided by NELCWIT are only possible through a team effort.
“It feels good to know we have the support of the community,” she said.
Mary Byrne can be reached at mbyrne@recorder.com or 413-930-4429. Twitter: @MaryEByrne
June 26, 2021 at 05:27AM
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Mayor's Task Force on Domestic Violence donates diapers, baby wipes to social service agencies - The Recorder
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