Our Communications Director Anne Favaloro shares her family’s personal story with the Medford Boat Club to express her gratitude for their sponsorship, which made our event so meaningful for them. We have reproduced it here with her permission.
Medford Boat Club
P.O. Box 6
Medford, MA 02155
Dear Medford Boat Club,
When you decided to let The Children’s Room come to the boat club for the Annual Memories Walk, your decision had a positive impact on many families. I’d like to tell you about mine.
My husband George grew up in a house near the boat club, and spent many hours swimming and sailing there with his three brothers. I have heard happy stories about sailing races and summer fun with cousins and friends, and countless hours of diving to see who could get the most bottles from the bottom of the lake!
Sadly, along with the normal happy childhood stories, my husband’s family suffered a tragic loss when my husband’s brother Frank was killed in a car accident shortly after the boys finished high school. That was 30 years ago. My husband’s family remembers and honors Frank in many ways. We now walk with other grieving families at the Annual Memory Walk.
Anne Favaloro and her mother-in-law Sylvia Favaloro
When we found out the walk would leave from the Medford Boat Club this year, it had special meaning for our family. George’s parents drove out from Easthampton Mass to take part in memory of their son Frank. So all of us walked around the lake and shared memories of Frank and looked at the lake that had been a place of life and fun for him as a boy. We are forever grateful to The Boat Club for making a difference by being a welcoming and caring place where our family, and other grieving families, could come together and support each other.
My own association with The Children’s Room extends back to many years volunteering with families, and I am now on the staff as well. So I want to thank you for relating to the difficult situation of all the families we are trying to help, and for supporting our compelling mission.
With warm regards,
Anne Favaloro
Communications Director
