Medford Community Calendar Project
Donation protected
Hi! We are Divya Anand and Kate Godin, residents of Medford, MA. In 2019, we created a fundraising Community Calendar project in support of the residents of the Medford Housing Authority. The MHA houses one of the most diverse communities in Medford. Of the 290 units of federally subsidized family units and 402 units of federally subsidized “elderly/disabled” units, 66% of residents identify as Haitian. Our calendar projects have brought together MHA residents from different races, financial backgrounds, age groups, genders, abilities, cultures, and beyond. The success of this project thus far is based on its flexibility that allows residents (who are often working multiple jobs) to contribute their stories/experiences in ways most comfortable to them. It also opens up these relatively “unseen” and “unheard” members of the community into the mainstream in ways that they chose to do so.
An Overview of Our Past Project:
Our initial project was inspired by Megan Markle's "Together: Our Community Cookbook" that was published to raise funds for families affected by the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire in London, UK. In a similar way, we wanted to bring our community together through the sharing of food, culture, and stories. In 2020, our first calendar, “Made in Medford”, was a labor of love and good food; it showcases family recipes from MHA residents alongside artistically arranged photographs of each prepared dish. Over the course of 2019, residents shared recipes, stories, cultures and culminated our efforts with a potluck dinner hosted at the MHA. (You can read more about it here ). We successfully published this inaugural calendar and raised $5,000 for resident programming at the MHA.
Our Current Project! We are looking for your support!
Due to the pandemic, we were unable to publish a calendar for 2021 but we were able to solicit submissions for a 2022 Calendar from residents that showcased their creative talents alongside images donated by local amateur photographer Betsy Lenora. The 2022 calendar features the broad artistic talent of MHA residents from the ages 8-100+ years old. Residents responded to the question of what gave them hope in the pandemic year with photos and stories. Their submissions included photography, gardening, painting, and storytelling have been compiled and formatted into our 2022 calendar. In recent fundraising efforts, many resident have approached us for free calendars. We would love to provide the MHA residents and other members of the Medford community these calendars for free but to meet our fundraising goal we will need your help. Please consider donating to help us meet our fundraising goal of $7,000 that will cover the cost of the calendar production ($2000) and reach our pre-pandemic fundraising amount ($5000) and if you would like us to send you a calendar please indicate in the comments! See below for snapshots from both 2020 and 2022 calendars.
Ways that you can contribute:
· Buy a calendar for $10 as a gift for yourself or someone on your wishlist - let us know in the comments and we will respond to you by email to arrange a calendar delivery.
· Donate $10 or more to provide a free calendar to a MHA resident and others in the Medford community.
Our initial project was inspired by Megan Markle's "Together: Our Community Cookbook" that was published to raise funds for families affected by the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire in London, UK. In a similar way, we wanted to bring our community together through the sharing of food, culture, and stories. In 2020, our first calendar, “Made in Medford”, was a labor of love and good food; it showcases family recipes from MHA residents alongside artistically arranged photographs of each prepared dish. Over the course of 2019, residents shared recipes, stories, cultures and culminated our efforts with a potluck dinner hosted at the MHA. (You can read more about it here ). We successfully published this inaugural calendar and raised $5,000 for resident programming at the MHA.
Our Current Project! We are looking for your support!
Due to the pandemic, we were unable to publish a calendar for 2021 but we were able to solicit submissions for a 2022 Calendar from residents that showcased their creative talents alongside images donated by local amateur photographer Betsy Lenora. The 2022 calendar features the broad artistic talent of MHA residents from the ages 8-100+ years old. Residents responded to the question of what gave them hope in the pandemic year with photos and stories. Their submissions included photography, gardening, painting, and storytelling have been compiled and formatted into our 2022 calendar. In recent fundraising efforts, many resident have approached us for free calendars. We would love to provide the MHA residents and other members of the Medford community these calendars for free but to meet our fundraising goal we will need your help. Please consider donating to help us meet our fundraising goal of $7,000 that will cover the cost of the calendar production ($2000) and reach our pre-pandemic fundraising amount ($5000) and if you would like us to send you a calendar please indicate in the comments! See below for snapshots from both 2020 and 2022 calendars.
Ways that you can contribute:
· Buy a calendar for $10 as a gift for yourself or someone on your wishlist - let us know in the comments and we will respond to you by email to arrange a calendar delivery.
· Donate $10 or more to provide a free calendar to a MHA resident and others in the Medford community.
Snapshots from the production of the 2020 recipe calendar:
Haitian Poulet Creole cooking lesson at the MHA:
Haitian Poulet Creole:
Potluck celebration with the MHA participants and other residents:
Preview of the 2022 calendar pages!
Month of March:
Month of June:
Month of July:
-Thank you!
Fundraising team (3)
Kate Godin
Organizer
Medford, MA
Michael Pacious
Beneficiary
Divya Anand
Team member
Lisa Tonello
Team member
