The ABCD North End / West End Neighborhood Service Center recently held its annual Labor Day party complete with friendly faces, a hearty lunch, and a raffle.
The ABCD Center serving the North End and West End provides weekly hot meals and support services to low-income seniors. For their Labor Day celebration, Director Maria Stella-Gulla and her dedicated staff ensured that every patron received a meal of fresh salad, sausages, peppers, rice, salad, and a brownie with ice cream on the side.
Jean, a lifelong North End resident who joined the celebration remarked, “The whole world is like one small town.” Looking back on growing up in the neighborhood, she recalled the presence of Jewish, Portuguese and Spanish families co-existing alongside Irish and Italian ones, and talked about puppet shows at the library as well the evolution and transition of things; different businesses dotting the streets throughout the years. “There were lots of synagogues, and I remember when the Eliot School wasn’t located on Charter Street! We collect so many memories and I appreciate the chance to get together and laugh with people.”
Others at the table shared snippets of news, anecdotes, and commentaries. There were a lot of reunions taking place, as well as new connections being made. Later on, a raffle was held to give away bags of useful items. This provided some amusement and entertainment as Stella-Gulla’s granddaughter Elizabeth assisted. The food was provided by the North End Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center and the bags were donated by BioGen.
