Put a Little Love in Your Heart
Photo: Kerry Brett
Back in the day, Jackie DeShannon sang the hit song "Put a Little Love in Your Heart." These days, her words carry even more meaning. We need a lot of love to heal the world we’re living in and it starts with you and me.
Every week, I get the chance to interview women who are putting love, kindness and good into our little corner of the world. Spending time with these exceptional women and recording their inspiring stories is is a labor of love. Since the focus of this issue is advocacy, I thought I’d share the stories of four women who saw a need in our community and decided to do something about it. From horses for the handicapped, to Kindness Kits, support for children with autism, and backpacks for homeless kids, these four women are spreading love wherever they go.
“I tell the parents of special needs children: your child can do more than you think. Unleash all of their possibilities and find people who also believe in what they can do.”
Photo courtesy of Debby Sabin
Debby Sabin
Founded in 1988 at a little stable in Weston, Massachusetts, Lovelane Special Needs Horseback Riding Program is a place where miracles happen. A licensed Occupational Therapist, Debby launched the program with a skeleton staff, a couple of horses and about five students per week. Although many of her students have profound physical limitations, it is the gait of the horse that triggers sensation in many of these little riders, giving them the joy of motion, and renewed self-confidence. Thanks to devoted parents and robust fundraising, Lovelane is now a state of the art riding facility in Lincoln, Massachusetts. The program serves 130 students per week with 19 staff members, 197 volunteers and 12 horses. After serving 31 years as the Executive Director & Program Director of Lovelane, Debby is now on the board of directors, but continues to do what she loves best: teaching children how to ride. Says Debby: “these children have taught me more about possibility, courage and life than I could ever have imagined.”
“I said to him: this is not going to be Nana’s Kindness Project. This is going to be Connor’s Kindness Project.”
Photo courtesy of Sharon Marrama
Sharon Marrama & Connor Wright
We talk a lot about “mother love” but what about the bond between a grandmother and her grandchild? Meet Sharon Marrama, grandmother of 15-year-old Connor Wright and Co-Founders of Connor’s Kindness Project. Hatched during the pandemic when Connor was in the 5th grade, the original goal was to deliver COVID-19 care packages to isolated children. Within a year, the organization began delivering Kindness Kits to kids in hospitals and shelters and today, more than 7,000 Kindness Kits have been delivered to more than 40 hospitals and shelters throughout New England. Armed with Teen Ambassadors and volunteers, the charity has also created the Kids Kindness Club, where Connor speaks to students about the power of simple acts of kindness.
Recently featured in People magazine and on The Sherri Show, Sharon and Connor have high hopes for taking their charity national. Says Sharon: “Kindness is about taking something that’s in you and giving it to someone else to make them feel better. It’s as simple as that.” To date, Connor’s Kindness Project has thrown an estimated 330,000 acts of kindness out into the world.
www.ConnorsKindnessProject.com (Episode 253 of The Story Behind Her Success)
Candice Hartford
“As an autistic parent, there is intense isolation and no matter how supportive your friends with typical children want to be, you need to have someone who understands your life.”
Photo courtesy of Candice Hartford
Candice Hartford is a Mass General Brigham NICU nurse with a heart of gold. A California native raising her family on the South Shore, she’s also the mother of twin boys born prematurely and later diagnosed with autism. It is this life-changing experience that led Candice to found
Raising Harts, a 501c3 charity that is creating community, connection, education, and support for families with autistic and neurodiverse children and their siblings. Says Candice: “While there were support groups in a clinical setting for families with autistic children, I really wanted someone to come over with their coffee (or a bowl of wine) and cry with me today.” Her sons Grady and Keaton are now 8 and the community their mother has created has nurtured them and hundreds of autistic and neuro-diverse children and families. Through Raising Harts, Candice is delivering friendship and hope right here in Massachusetts.
www.RaisingHarts.org (Episode 237 of The Story Behind Her Success).
“School is the only normal thing for a child experiencing homelessness.”
Cheryl Opper
Photo courtesy of Cheryl Opper
Twenty years ago, Cheryl Opper was sitting at her kitchen table, looking through a magazine, searching for a pumpkin cheesecake recipe. Coffee cup in hand, she stumbled upon an article about a woman from Los Angeles named Agnes Stevens. With every word she read, Cheryl said she knew in her heart that she had found her next chapter. Agnes had created School on Wheels to address the homeless crisis in California and Cheryl wanted to bring the charity to Massachusetts. Today, School on Wheels of Massachusetts is a thriving charity that serves as a lifeline for homeless children. There are over 27,000 homeless students in Massachusetts from kindergarten through high school. The average age of a homeless person in our state is 8 years old and chances are, that child will move 3-5 times this year, leaving giant gaps in their ability to learn. A lifelong teacher, Cheryl recruited an army of volunteer tutors and created relationships with homeless shelters to provide consistent one-on-one educational support for homeless kids. The relationship begins with the gift of a backpack, stuffed with school essentials and a handwritten note that reads: “I believe in you. Anything is possible.” Says Cheryl: “There are homeless students in every school across our state and they are just like your child and my child. They just want somebody to show up for them and tell them that they matter.”
www.SOWMA.org (Episode 254 of The Story Behind Her Success )
And there they are: Debby Sabin, Sharon Marrama, Candice Hartford, and Cheryl Opper. Four women determined to lead with love. Please support these incredible local charities.
The Story Behind Her Success weekly series is heard worldwide as a podcast and on 11 radio stations from the South Shore to Portland, Maine. To listen to the episodes featured in this article, or to nominate someone for the show, just go to: CandyOTerry.com.
