The honorees, chosen from hundreds of nominations this year, will each be recognized for outstanding contributions to their organizations and communities.
Lucinda Williams of Hatfield, a farmer who has served as chair of the Cattlemens' Beef Board, is among 100 women from across the commonwealth will be recognized this week by the state Commission on the Status of Women with its annual Unsung Heroines awards. BOSTON - One hundred women from across the commonwealth will be recognized this week by the state Commission on the Status of Women with its annual Unsung Heroines awards.
The honorees, chosen from hundreds of nominations this year, will each be recognized for outstanding contributions to their organizations and communities.
A recognition ceremony is set for Wednesday from 1 to 4 p.m. in the Great Hall of the Statehouse.
“The Unsung Heroines are women who don’t make the news, but make the difference,” according to the commission.
They include individuals like Lucinda Williams, of Hatfield, a farmer who has served as chair of the Cattlemen’s Beef Board, and Janet Crimmins, of East Longmeadow, co-founder of the Link to Libraries which promotes literacy in the region by supplying new and gently-used books to elementary-school libraries and non-profit organizations.
Janet M. Crimmins of East Longmeadow, co-founder of Link to Libraries Inc., reads to pupils at Talmadge Elementary School in Springfield.Says Susan Jaye Kaplan, Crimmins’ co-founder in Link to Libraries, “Janet is a thoughtful, meticulous woman in all that she does. She is always mindful of what she says and how it will be taken and in that vein is ever the gentle-woman.”
“It has been my good fortune and blessing to have her as my partner as she brings to the organization a passion unequaled to anything I have seen and expertise in the subject of reading,” said Kaplan. “She is also a loving mother, wife and grandmother of three.”
In addition to Williams and Crimmins, the other women from Hampden, Hampshire and Franklin counties who will be honored include: Bertha Baranowski, of Hadley; Cynthia Brubaker, of Amherst; Lisa Felty, of Southampton; Nicole LaChapelle, of Easthampton; Haydee Lamberty-Rodriguez, of Springfield; Ann Lentini, of Westfield, Dale Melcher, of Amherst; Kathleen Plante, of Springfield, Laurie Sanders, of Westhampton; and Linda Warner Young, of South Hadley.
Their work represents a broad range of community activities. Lamberty-Rodriguez, for instance, is involved with the Girl Scouts of Central and Western Massachusetts, while Sanders has been a director on the board of the Westhampton Public Library as it went through a major expansion project. Plante is development director at Human Resources Unlimited in Springfield.
“They are the women who use their time, talent and enthusiasm to enrich the lives of others and make a difference in their neighborhoods, cities and towns,” said the commission’s announcement. “They are mentors, volunteers and innovators who do what needs to be done without expectations of recognition or gratitude. These women are the glue that keeps a community together and every community has them."
The commission’s annual Unsung Heroine initiative is underwritten a group of private sponsors and the commission’s trust fund. No tax dollars are used to fund the event.
The state Commission on the Status of Women is an independent state agency that was legislatively created in 1998 to advance women to full equality in all areas of life and to promote their rights and opportunities.