Thank you to all who submitted nominations for the ONEderful Awards we’ll be giving out at the 3rd Annual ONE Spring Fling on 4/8! We are thrilled to be able to celebrate this year’s ONEderful Award winners Bonnie Acker, Mellisa Cain, and Carol Ann Wooster. Why are we so excited? Because they are fabulous people doing fabulous things in the Old North End. See what their nominators had to say:
“Bonnie is the “Gardening Queen” in the Old North End. In addition to her gorgeous artwork that adorns many walls in the ONE, Bonnie has spent countless hours designing, planting, and maintaining vegetable and flower gardens at the Integrated Arts Academy. Many an early morning finds Bonnie weeding, watering, and nurturing at IAA. During harvest, neighbors can stop by and taste a sweet berry or fresh bean. Bees happily buzz around the flowers, gathering nectar.
Manuka, a junior in high school, stopped by one day with her father to thank Bonnie for the fresh food they’ve gotten from the gardens. Through sign language and Manuka’s translation, her father was describing his gratitude. Because of Bonnie’s gardens, a neighbor with a 3-year-old has decided that she wants her own garden now. Thank you, Bonnie, for sharing your skills and your excitement about getting fresh food to so many!”
“Mellisa volunteers for every possible thing I know about in the neighborhood. She is nonstop in her commitment to the community. She does the community dinners, she does rights and democracy, she organized a vigil against the election, she volunteers with neighborhood teens. She goes and she goes. She is a total champion.”
“What does Carol do for the Old North End? The Sunshine Free Library— a continuation of always giving! I’ve known Carol for 20 yrs. At Burlington College we collected & distributed art works by community members in a book for free. She is constantly stepping out in her community to help make people feel loved, appreciated, and have their unique gifts be seen & celebrated. She is a champion of the MS walk, having navigated this disease for many yrs herself. Even with her own struggles, she reached out to let neighbors know they have support in rough times, like when I had cancer. She is someone who has lived in & loved the ONE before it was popular to do so. She shares her respect & love of her neighbors w/out basking for fanfare so I think it would be wonderful to give her some.”