4-23
A few years ago we lost a great friend and lifelong supporter of The Valley Patriot, Scott Clegg. Scott was a man who went out of his way to donate his time, money and resources to helping those less fortunate, as well as honoring veterans, and being active in the community.
When he passed, we named our Valley Patriot Goodwill Ambassador Award after Scott so that people will always remember the goodwill he brought to our community. The award is given out at our annual BASH.
This year we honored two local homeless advocates for their consistent dedication to feeding and servicing the homeless in Lawrence.
The first, Jill Stackelin of Methuen works full time for the city, ran the Methuen Santa Parade for 25 years and still finds time to help “The Movement Family” (TMF) run homeless dinners once a week.
The second, Susan Evans who has volunteered with Veterans Northeast Outreach and drives from Carlisle to Lawrence every Wednesday night to help TMF feed the homeless.
Both of these women have made personal sacrifices above and beyond their times.
Two tables of young inner city TMF volunteers packed the hall at the Relief’s In in Lawrence to cheer on Jill Stackelin and Sue Evans, as well as TMF founder Michael Gorman who said that the help of Jill and Sue are so important to the mission of TMF.
“These individuals are always there when we need them. They give of their time and they work hard to help us reach out and service the needs of those on the streets, those who have given up hope. That’s invaluable.”
Valley Patriot publisher Tom Duggan said that Sue Evans and Jill Stackelin are the kind of people who don’t want credit for what they do.
“They just want to make a difference. And in a world where everyone takes credit for everything, even the things they had nothing to do with, I try to find people for this award who are underappreciated because they don’t toot their own horns. They deserve a lot of credit for what they do and I’m honored to be able to give them that credit.”
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