Volunteer of the Year 2009

Raised in Wayland, Massachusetts, I was taught from a young age about the importance of giving back. My family, school, synagogue and community provided me with many opportunities to participate in charitable events and to fundraise for a variety of causes. My time spent at Tufts University, an institution with a strong commitment to serving its surrounding neighborhoods, further solidified the importance of community service.

Upon graduating Tufts, I took a public relations internship at Starlight New England with the hopes of getting some quality experience in the world of nonprofit PR. As it was a small office, I found myself engaged in a host of activities ranging from media relations to administrative work to office painting. What started as a typical internship soon transformed into something more as I quickly fell in love with the organization and its mission.

I believe I was particularly affected by Starlight because, as a child, I suffered with bouts of severe croup for which I needed to be hospitalized in an oxygen tent. Though I have limited memory of this, I was left with a fear of hospitals and their overwhelming sterility and lack of warmth. I have flashes of memories of being stabbed with needles or being separated from my parents and not understanding why. I know how much an organization like Starlight would have helped me with my feelings of isolation, fear and sadness during that period.

Over time, I have gotten over my fears and have even spent many years working in local hospitals, including summers as an assistant in the Tufts Medical Center Community Health and Infectious Disease lab and almost five years in the marketing and public affairs department at Faulkner Hospital in Jamaica Plain. In my current position as a Senior Account Executive at Aria Marketing in Newton, my clients are all healthcare IT companies. I have always felt a close connection to the world of healthcare and hospitals and have been driven by a desire to positively affect that world in some way. This is what fuels my continued passionate involvement with Starlight.

For the past nine years, I have worked with Starlight in a number of capacities, including volunteering for Hospital Happenings, helping at Great Escapes events, wrapping presents, writing and editing press materials, creating Parties in a Box, staffing volunteer recruitment events, recruiting co-workers and friends to volunteer, dressing as Starry the Starlight mascot, working as a member of the young professionals group, and, most recently, donating to the organization in honor of the guests at my wedding. Thinking back, I realize this is just a partial list. I have had so many wonderful and rewarding opportunities to interact with the Starlight children and their families and to see the joy and excitement in their eyes as they participate in various programs. With all of the fun and moving ways Starlight has allowed me to be of service, it’s no wonder I’ve stayed so long.

I am so honored, not only to be selected as Starlight’s International Volunteer of the Year, but to be given the opportunity to donate a Fun Center to the Floating Hospital at Tufts Medical Center. My connections to Tufts run deep. As an undergraduate at Tufts University, I spent summers working in a Tufts Medical Center lab doing cancer research. My father is Chief of Mammography at Tufts and my brother is completing medical school at Tufts before beginning his medical residency, also at Tufts. Finally, I will always have a fond memory of the day, several years ago, that I dressed up as Starry to compete in an obstacle course against Wally, the Red Sox mascot, to the amusement of the Tufts pediatric patients.

I want to thank Starlight from the bottom of my heart. This organization has given me as much, if not more, than I have ever given to it. I applaud all Starlight volunteers on their amazing efforts that I have witnessed over the years, as well as the stellar Starlight staff whose dedication to their mission is unequaled and deeply appreciated.