Gov. Maura Healey and state Rep. Angelo Puppolo visited Rick’s Place for a tour and presentation from Executive Director Therese Ross on Aug. 19.
Reminder Publishing photos by Peter Tuohy
WILBRAHAM — State Rep. Angelo Puppolo extended an invite to Gov. Maura Healey to visit Wilbraham’s Rick’s Place, allowing the governor to learn firsthand about the organization’s programs Aug. 19.
Rick’s Place, located at 35 Post Office Park, was established in 2007 by friends and families of Rick Thorpe — who grew up in Wilbraham and died in the World Trade Center’s south tower on Sept. 11, 2001.
It provides free grief support to children, teens and families through facilitated peer activities, school-based programs and community outreach after a loved one has died. It is not a clinically-based group and utilizes peer support where the group understands what everyone is going through.
It has continued to grow and opened an expanded facility in June after seeing a 25% increase in participants over the past year.
Rick’s Place Board President Bill Scatolini said he grew up with Thorpe in a close-knit group, winning a few football championships together at Minnechaug Regional High School.
“Thank you for coming out and seeing our space,” Scatolini said. “It means a lot. We’re really grateful for the money that the state has sent our way. Angelo has been the ambassador to deliver our message, which was a hard fought message to get to Boston. Once the message was received and learned, it’s been very beneficial for us as a nonprofit … After Rick died on 9/11, I thought it was really important to memorialize Rick in some fashion.”
Puppolo is a longtime advocate for Rick’s Place, and has delivered $775,000 in state funding to the facility.
“We are very thrilled, obviously, having the governor come here today,” Puppolo said. “She’s been a solid supporter. We talked about the program and she wanted to come out and see it firsthand. God’s work has been done here, and [Executive Director Therese Ross], to you and your team and the volunteers, I mean, it is absolutely incredible what goes on here … There is a need and you guys are filling that void, which is critically, critically important.”
Puppolo added that Healey has delivered $485,000 in state funds since becoming governor and thanked her for unwavering support.
He said he wants to raise that number to over $1 million with Healey’s help. Healey stated “we will get over $1 million, we’ve got another budget to get ready here in January.”
“You’ve got a great champion in Angelo and he brought this to my attention when I became governor,” Healey said. “I’m really happy that I could come today, see and hear about Rick’s Place and the amazing work.”
Healey spent about a half hour talking with participants and asking questions about their experiences at Rick’s Place and their experiences with losing a loved one.
One participant who lost his older brother gave her a homemade 3D-printed dragon before she asked him questions about his art, school, family and what he enjoys most about coming to Rick’s Place. His father said “Rick’s Place is somewhere where you’re going to come out strong.”
Healey told Reminder Publishing that she and Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll has spent a lot of time in Western Massachusetts focusing on “things that matter a lot to people in this area.”
She named making more housing available with lower costs, dealing with the price of gas and electric bills and getting better access to healthcare, primary care and mental health care as areas of focus.
“It’s been great to be able to be out and talk to people about what we’re doing, hear about what they need,” Healey said. “We came forward with a plan for Western Massachusetts and I’ve spent a lot of time making sure that we were looking at funding for bridges and roads and culverts, making sure that we were looking at a new formula for funding the public schools so that our Western Mass. communities don’t lose out on school funding, you know, having a Western Mass. director and somebody who’s also really focused on rural affairs. That’s just our mindset.”
She said Rick’s Place is an organization that really supports mental health and is a great example of using taxpayer dollars to make a difference.
“Being able to hear the stories today of the families who benefit from the work, I take that with me,” Healey said. “I take people’s stories with me every time I’m in some place, and that helps drive the work that I gotta do for the state.”
