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I started my involvement with the Boston Home in 1995 based on contact with Linda Woodard -- a Nobles faculty member -- who connected me with her husband John Woodard, a Boston Home trustee. I had told Linda that I wanted to use my technology skills to connect to people who had physical disabilities.
Back in September 1992, I had suffered a ruptured disk and was horizontal for about 30 days. Unable to stand and able to crawl just a bit during that month, there were many "moments of doubt" when I wondered if I would ever walk again. I made a promise to G-d at that point that if I were ever to get healthy again, I would try to get involved in some community service activity to help people who were physically disabled.
The first marathon in April 97 was just me and my seventh grade son bike-riding from Hopkinton. We raised over $2,000 and biked the 26 miles. After getting healthy in the years from 92-94, my two main exercises had become walking and swimming. My physical therapist had giving me the slogan of "walking is nutrition for your back" which I made into the acronym of WINFYB.
The next year in April 98, Linda Stranieri (one of the residents) told me that she wanted to go. I was shocked, not having any experience about pushing someone in a wheelchair 26 miles. But Linda was (and is) a trooper probably more stubborn than me. She was a veteran scuba-diver and had once volunteered to do hang-gliding (until the pilot unfortunately died) and so was game for anything! Two of my colleagues at Nobles -- Mark Sheeran and Sarah Snyder -- volunteered to help me. We decided to do half of the marathon, starting in Newton. We raised over $2,000 again and helped the Boston Home purchase a new computer with Dragon Dictate for voice-dictation.
The next year in April 99, we had 6 wheelers and about 15 pushers along with shirts from Dunkin Donuts, our official sponsor! We raised over $3000 which we we used for a video conferencing unit for the Boston Home (along with ISDN line).
The next year in April 2000, we had 10 wheelers and about 40 pushers along with shirts donated from www.servicesoft.com -- a company associated with a Nobles parent, Marie Maloney. We raised over $4000.
This year in April 2001, we will be wearing shirts designed by Colleen Powers with her growing Photoshop skills! Via video conferencing, ongoing e-mail and in-person contact, the relationship between Nobles and the Boston Home has matured into one of institutional community service and friendship. This past February, we were thrilled to have 10 visitors from the Boston Home come to our school in a real (not just virtual way). Last year (April 2000), we celebrated our first Nobles/Boston Home multi-cultural video conferenced Passover Seder in what we hope will be an annual tradition!
Inspired by a debilitating back injury that kept him immobile for a month Bergen became involved with the Boston Home in 1995 in an effort to use his technology skills to connect to people who had physical disabilities. In 1997, he started the first annual Boston Home Marathon fundraiser. Bergen and his son biked the entire Marathon course to raise over $2,000 for the home. The next year, one of the residents told Bergen that she wanted to go with him, so he and two Nobles faculty members, Mark Sheeran and Sarah Snyder, pushed her half of the Marathon course, starting in Newton. Again they raised over $2,000 and helped the Boston Home purchase a new computer with Dragon Dictate for voice-dictation. The number of participants in the fundraising effort has grown in the past few years, along with the amount of money raised. The Nobles effort has raised money to purchase a video conferencing unit and an ISDN line for the Boston Home. Now in its fifth year, the 2001 Boston Home Marathon has grown to a total of twelve wheelers and 35 pushers and raised $2,600 for the home.
The Marathon is not the only connection between the Boston Home and Nobles; via video conferencing, ongoing e-mail and in-person contact, the relationship between Nobles and the Boston Home has matured into one of institutional community service and friendship. This past February, ten visitors from the Boston Home came to visit the Nobles campus, and in April 2000, residents participated in the first Nobles/Boston Home multi-cultural video conference Passover Seder.
In addition to these group endeavors, Nobles student Senam Kumahia (Class II) has edited an autobiography of Boston Home resident Colleen Powers entitled Crossing the Digital Divide which was "written" by Powers using Dragon Dictate and voice dictation equipment purchased by previous marathon donors.
The relationships that have developed through the various programs that Bergen and the Nobles community have established with the Boston Home have enabled people on both end of the exchange to learn about communication and self-expression. Kate Hibbard (Class III) says of her experience in the Marathon, "That was the most fulfilling activity I have done all year! [The residents] love to talk to you – absolutely anything you say, no matter how stupid, they will love." According to Boston Home CEO, Marva Serotkin, "The computer center at the home has opened the world to our residents – from e-mailing friends and family to developing new friendships at Nobles. The video conferences extend [Nobles’] world into our home. Our mission is to care for our residents in ways that enable them to retain the ability of self-expression and self-determination. There are compromises resulting from their disabilities but the joy of being part of such a grand event as the marathon will be replayed over and over."