MWCC's Weekly e-newsletter

Friday, March 18, 2005

KEN ANSIN TO GIVE UNSUNG HEROES KEYNOTE

By Kimberly B. Caisse

Local philanthropist Ken Ansin has long been drawn to the work of unsung heroes—here in North Central Massachusetts and thousands of miles away. Ansin will be the keynote speaker at the second annual Celebration of Unsung Heroes, co-sponsored by Mount Wachusett Community College and the Sentinel & Enterprise, Thursday, April 7 at the Gardner campus.

During his service as campaign chair of the United Way of North Central Massachusetts, Ansin said, he made a special effort to visit nonprofits that benefited from United Way support. “All the people who were delivering me to these places were the unsung heroes,” he said. “I was seeking them out. They weren’t saying, ‘Pick me!’”

	Ken Ansin during his visit to a Mali village last March.

In recent years, Ansin, a Lunenburg resident, has broadened his philanthropic work to the international arena. His nearly two-week visit to a village in Mali, a country in Africa, last March to meet a child he sponsors through Save the Children “was a life-changing event” for Ansin. Despite the challenges the villagers face—living in one of the poorest country in the world, tending crops in desert and semi-desert conditions—they are happy, he said. “These people are happier than most rich people. It really caused me to re-evaluate my life.”

In addition to helping a Mali child, Sanassy, with a monthly payment, Ansin has given Save the Children money to build two schools in the village. “It’s such an effective organization,” Ansin said of Save the Children. “It’s amazing what they do with little money.”

Ansin and his son Ryan’s visit to Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation (VVAF) clinics for innocent victims of war—landmine and ordnance detonations, birth defects associated with Agent Orange, lingering affects of napalm—in Vietnam and Cambodia had a similar impact on Ansin. He told Sentinel & Enterprise Publisher Asa Cole it was an “unforgettable experience” and he and Ryan “feel privileged to be able to do our small part to help.”

VVAF’s work to aid innocent victims of war goes beyond giving them medical care and fitting them with prosthetic limbs, according to Ansin, a member of the VVAF board. They teach family members how to perform physical therapy. They have opened factories to employ victims so they can become productive citizens in their villages. Once considered outcasts in their community, the women employed at a high-end silk scarf factory are now held in higher esteem because of their ability to earn a good wage. The VVAF also started the Sports for Life program for victims who were athletes prior to their injuries. There are teams in Angola and Cambodia.

Ansin is also involved in Ashoka, an organization that promotes social entrepreneurship around the world. He met some Ashoka fellows while in Mali, including a woman who aids battered women.

Cole said he asked Ansin to be the keynote speaker at the Celebration of Unsung Heroes “because I’ve been extremely taken with Ken over the years with all the things he’s involved in. He does all the things he asks others to do. I think that he will be an inspiration to this year’s Unsung Heroes.”

Ansin began his philanthropic work as an unsung hero. His first attempt at philanthropy was to start a litter cleanup club in his neighborhood. Members, who couldn’t be older than 12, were successful in cleaning up the neighborhood, he said. Also when he was young, Ansin requested muscular dystrophy carnival kits from McDonald’s and hosted summertime carnivals at his family’s rented home in Gloucester. He gave the proceeds to McDonald’s muscular dystrophy fund.  

Philanthropy runs in the Ansin family. His grandfather helped Jews from Eastern Europe escape the Holocaust during World War II and employed them in his shoe factories, Ansin said. His parents also supported many nonprofit organizations.   

This year's Unsung Heroes are: the Rev. David R. Cote, Jane Duffy, Elizabeth Ellis, Nancy Green, Miguel “Mickey” Guzman Sr., Betsy Hannula, Leslie Lightfoot, The Polus Center in Worcester and the Young Republican Club at St. Bernard’s High School.

The Celebration of Unsung Heroes will start at 5:30 p.m. For more information, contact Jo-Ann Meagher at (978) 630-9105.

NANCY GREEN IS PASSIONATE ABOUT HELPING NEIGHBORS IN NEED

	Nancy Green

Westminster’s Nancy Green “is an incredibly ambitious, unselfish person who truly loves helping others,” according to Tammy Dwelly, a volunteer with the Westminster Benefit Fund. “Nancy is an Unsung Hero because she prefers the anonymity and confidential nature of the Westminster Benefit Fund’s services over public recognition.”

For almost 18 years, volunteers with the Westminster Benefit Fund have been helping residents of Westminster through crises in their lives. A family may need a few months of their mortgage paid, a tank of oil or food stamps to get through a sudden crisis. The WBF’s board works with each family to determine what they need. The goal is to help them “so they don’t end up so far behind they can’t get back on their feet,” Green explained. “It’s one of the few passions I have in life.”

Green joined the WBF in 1990 and has held the treasurer and president positions. She is the current treasurer. “Volunteering comes naturally to Nancy,” Dwelly said when she nominated Green. Green also is an active member of Westminster’s Ladies Auxiliary of the American Legion, and she was instrumental in generating donations to purchase 50 American flags to line Westminster’s Main Street for Memorial Day.

“I think it’s made me a little more humble,” Green said of her WBF service. “I’m comfortable with where I live. I don’t think I need the fancy things in life if others are getting the basic things they need.”

Campus Events:

• The next R.A.D. Basic Self-Defense Course, a 12-hour course for women only, at MWCC starts Monday, March 21 and continues Tuesday, March 22, Thursday, March 24 and Friday, March 25 from 6 to 9 p.m. The cost of the course is $25. To register, please contact Melissa Garneau at (978) 630-9150.

• The Forest & Wood Products Institute at MWCC will host a 10-hour OSHA safety training session Monday, March 21 and Tuesday, March 22 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wood Products Workforce Development Coordinator Ken Hanson will cover at least nine OSHA safety standards. The cost is only $198 per person and includes lunch. To register, contact Hanson at (978) 630-9179 or khanson@mwcc.mass.edu.

• MWCC, in partnership with the Colleges of Worcester Consortium, will present Career Fair 2005 at Holy Cross College, Hogan Campus Center, Worcester, on Tuesday, March 22 from 2 to 5 p.m. It is open to MWCC students and alums. The fair is especially geared to business and human services disciplines, but students/alums with other majors are welcome. Details and a list of participating companies can be accessed at www.cowc.org. Bring plenty of resumes and dress for success! For more information, contact Pat Brewerton at (978) 630-9254 or pbrewerton@mwcc.mass.edu.

• The MWCC Pacers, the college’s American Cancer Society Relay for Life team, are looking for 30 members for this year’s Relay on Friday, June 10 and Saturday, June 11. The 2004 Relay raised $758,000, the highest amount of the other 156 relays in New England. The Gardner Relay has raised over $5 million dollars since its inception 11 years ago. This year’s goal is to raise 800,000. Other benchmarks reached at the 2004 Relay include having 733 survivors walk the track, a number unheard of at any of the other relays, and being ranked No. 11 nationwide in funds raised (out of 4,200 relays). To join the MWCC Pacers, contact Sue Goldstein, JoAnn Brooks and Jan LeClair to get your relay packet.

• The Lifelong Institute for Enrichment (LIFE) at MWCC is sponsoring a Robin Lane presentation of “Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis” on Thursday, March 31 at 2 p.m. at Best Western Royal Trade Plaza Hotel in Fitchburg. Tickets are on sale for $20 at MWCC’s Lifelong Learning office, room 163, or by contacting Lorraine Wickman at (978) 630-9176. In this compelling one-woman show, Lane reveals the real Jacqueline Onassis, the private woman behind the public mask, while keeping alive the mystique, the magic that was Jackie. Camelot lives again in this personal portrayal of a woman who found her way into the hearts of America.

• A classic piece of literature comes to Theatre at the Mount for 11 performances beginning on Thursday, March 31. “Honk! Jr.,” a part of the Broadway Junior Collection, is a musical version of Hans Christian Anderson’s “The Ugly Duckling” written by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe. Members of the cast represent students from 20 different local schools, plus a number of “home scholars.” Special performances for school groups will be presented on Thursday, March 31 at 9:30 a.m., Friday, April 1, Wednesday, April 6, Thursday, April 7 and Friday, April 8 at 9:30 a.m. and noon. Additional performances for the general public are Saturday, April 9 at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. All seats are $6. For tickets and information call (978) 632-2403 or visit the Theatre of the Mount web site at http://theatre.mwcc.edu.

Lea Ann Erickson
Director of Community Relations
Mount Wachusett Community College
Phone: (978) 630-9322
Fax: (978) 630-9561
cell: (508) 517-5202
l_erickson@mwcc.mass.edu

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