Above: Community groups in Southborough are asking the public to thank frontline workers, including local hospital medical professionals, food service workers, and cleaning staff – through thank you notes, valentines, and/or signing up for a car parade. (image from eventbrite signup page)
The public is encouraged to participate in a special effort to thank essential workers for their efforts during the pandemic.
Back in January, Southborough’s Neighbors for Peace and Hate Has No Home Here announced that their annual candlelit peace vigil would instead be a vehicle parade parade for peace and unity. The intent was to thank frontline healthcare workers at Marlborough Hospital and Southborough’s first responders through the parade and thank you cards. The event had to be postponed due to the weather.
Now, they’ve announced further revamps. For the event rescheduled to this Saturday, they asked to also shine a light on some of the “unsung heroes” in our community. Event organizers are asking those writing cards to thank not just the medical professionals at the local hospital, but also the food service workers and cleaning staff:
We want to be sure we send Thanks to the often overlooked front line workers, the men and women with the unglamorous jobs behind the scenes that also have been putting their lives on the line for us.
Those workers have also been on the Covid frontlines since March. Organizers stressed, “Their untold stories over the past year have brought out inequities that have already existed.” They noted that in some cases, some workers have struggled due to a spouse losing their job or being forced to quit work to take care of their children. In other cases, their kids have been home alone trying to learn remotely, sometimes without reliable internet access.
The event falls the day before Valentine’s Day. So, participants are now encouraged to include Valentines to frontline workers along with the Thank You cards they’ve already been collecting.
You can drop off your cards/letters on Saturday, February 13 at 1:00 pm at Neary School.
That is also the time and place that drivers will meet up to organize a vehicle parade:
Decorate your Vehicle with messages of Peace and Unity, Thank-you, and now Valentines too!
Participants will swing by the public safety station “With a salute to our first responders the Fire and Police departments of Southborough”. From there, they’ll head on to UMass Memorial Hospital in Marlborough to thank their frontline workers and drop off the Thank You cards and Valentines.
To help organizers plan the event, they are asking participants to pre-register. You can do that here.
(If stormy weather forces another postponement, registered participants will be notified.)
