FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Susan Kooperstein

October 22, 2010 617-348-6241

Ari Herzog
617-348-6244

Victoria Reggie Kennedy to Address

ABCD Community Awards Dinner on October 29
19 Outstanding Community Volunteers will be Honored
America’s much-loved and celebrated Victoria Reggie Kennedy – the widow of our
beloved longtime U.S. Senator Edward M. Kennedy, often called the “Champion of the
Poor” and a tireless advocate for programs and all initiatives that bring opportunity and
social justice to disadvantaged children and families – will address honorees and guests at
the renowned Action for Boston Community Development (ABCD) Community Awards
Dinner on October 29 at the Seaport World Trade Center on the Boston waterfront.

The 36th annual event brings more than 1,500 guests and neighborhood activists together
to honor 19 exceptional community volunteers for their important contributions in
placating the plight of Boston’s underprivileged communities through voluntary
leadership and service.

Mrs. Kennedy is an attorney and advocate for issues that affect the lives of women,
children and families, such as homelessness, economic opportunity, health care,
education, domestic violence and involvement in the political process. She is the
Founding President of “Common Sense about Kids and Guns,” a non-profit, non-partisan
organization that works to reduce hand gun deaths and injuries to children. She speaks
and writes about issues that affect the lives of families, including recent articles on health
care reform and the politicization of religion. She sits on the boards of several significant
arts and human services/social issues organizations.

The 19 community heroes receiving awards include:

Sister Pat Andrews, Sherry Dong, Veronica Robles, Monica Pomare, Joyce
Hamilton Cagiano, the Mature Wisdom Works Team, Roy E. Martin, Sr., Amy
Burack, the Reverend Edward Burks, Patrick Cleary, Kathleen Gaskin Holland,
Elisabeth Cronin Murphy, Robert L. Karash, Vivien Morris, Rebecca Mattson,
Christine Dwyer, Elizabeth Flaherty, Paulette Ford, and Isabelle Nutter.

ABCD will also award four of its employees: community planner Roxanne Reddington-
Wilde, telecommunications manager Joanne Miller MacLeod, East Boston’s ABCD
Head Start director Amy Lima, and Roxbury’s ABCD Head Start director Flossy
Calderon.
Special awards will be presented to Robert “Sidewalk Sam” Guillemin, NStar vice
president of customer care Penni McLean-Conner, and the Boston Red Sox. A lifetime
achievement award will be presented to Hubie Jones, and a first-ever young community
award will be presented to Anthony Richards, an ABCD Neighborhood Client Services
Coordinator in Dorchester.

The 2010 dinner is being emceed by FOX25 news reporter Nicole Jacobs, with special
guest appearances by FOX25 anchors and longtime ABCD friends Maria Stephanos and
Mark Ockerbloom.

Friends Committee Chair Pat Moscaritolo is President/CEO at the Greater Boston

Convention and Visitor’s Bureau.

To reserve tickets:
For more information and to order tickets, please call Pamela Nedbalek at (617) 348-
6238 or email nedbalek@bostonabcd.org.

About ABCD:
ABCD serves more than 80,000 low-income Boston-area residents through its central
offices and a decentralized network of Neighborhood Service Centers (NSCs). Programs
and affiliations include Fuel Assistance; Head Start; Child Care Services; Child Care
Choices of Boston; Education; Career Development; Housing and Homelessness
Services; Health Services; Family Planning; Urban College of Boston; University High –
an Alternative High School; Ostiguy High School for high school students in recovery;
Weatherization; Foster Grandparents; Elder Services; Intergenerational Programs;
management of the Combined Federal Campaign, Commonwealth of Massachusetts and
City of Boston employee giving campaigns; advocacy and consumer services.