WIN-WIN: As founder of the Newton-based nonprofit Discovering What’s Next, Carol Greenfield
has discovered that people over age 55 are excited to enter their “encore” stage of life, but find few opportunities that offer the meaningful, paid part-time work they are seeking. To fill this need, the Newton resident has taken on a new role as director of ReServe Greater Boston.
Founded in New York City in 2005, ReServe is a program of Career Moves, a division of Jewish Vocational Service, that matches older adults with assignments in the nonprofit and public sectors that pay a stipend. With an average placement of three to 12 months, the positions are designed to be project-based with flexible, part-time hours.
Greenfield said she brought ReServe to Greater Boston through a grant from the Tufts Health Plan Foundation to address two social trends: nonprofit organizations doing more with less funding, and an increasingly large over-55 demographic with skills, experience, and time to share.
“We look to combine passion, purpose, and a paycheck,” Greenfield said. “There is tremendous need on both sides. We’re just beginning to scratch the surface.”
A “First Impressions” information session will take place Tuesday from 2 to 3:30 p.m. at the MetroWest Health Foundation, 161 Worcester Road in Framingham. The event is free, but registration is required; it can be arranged at ww.reserveinc.org/greaterboston.
For more information, call 617-399-3191.
MUSICAL REVIVAL: About 10 years ago, Newton resident Michael Noone
was living in Toledo, Spain, and exploring archives and libraries at local monasteries, palaces, and cathedrals when he discovered Renaissance-era music that he thought needed to be widely heard.
Gary Wayne Gilbert
Masterworks from the Jesuit German College in Rome: Tomas Luis de Victoria and Giacomo Carissimi Ensemble Plus Ultra, Michael Noone, director. Photographed in St. Mary’s Chapel on the BC campus.
His subsequent 10-disc CD set featuring music by priest-composer Tomas Luis de Victoria, “Victoria: Sacred Works,” recently won a Gramophone Award in the early music category. The awards are presented annually by a British classical music magazine, Gramophone.
The 117 tracks compiled by Noone were performed by his London-based Ensemble Plus Ultra and released to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Victoria’s death in 1611.
Noone said he completed more than a dozen trans-Atlantic trips in 2008 and 2009 while joining his team of musicians in recording more than a dozen hours of music over 60 days, using Spanish and English churches renowned for their acoustics as settings for their performances.
Noone, a Boston College professor and chairman of its music department, said it was a “major achievement” to interest a top classical music label, Deutsche Grammophon,
in recording the 16th-century music. Noone also received international acclaim in 2007, when King Juan Carlos I of Spain presented him with the Royal Toledo Foundation’s medal for services to Spanish culture in recognition of his numerous publications, teaching, performances, and recordings of music from its Golden Age.
“It’s all very exciting because, frankly, I didn’t expect this level of success’’ for the CD set, said Noone, who has more than 350 tracks available on iTunes, and 40 music videos posted on YouTube and Vimeo. “It was worth spending two years in a jet-lag haze.”
Noone and his Ensemble Plus Ultra are scheduled to perform at the Boston Early Music Festival in November.
GIVING BACK: On every 9/11 anniversary since 2006, Milford resident Michael Shain has organized a free dinner for area military families through his nonprofit organization, Thanks to Yanks, and forwards any remaining fund-raising dollars to local veterans and related charities.
On the five occasions in which there was a surplus, including the most recent event, the dollar figure has been matched by the Hannaford Supermarket in Milford.
Shain recently presented this year’s combined total of $300 in Hannaford gift cards to John Pilla, the veterans agent in Milford, to distribute to those in need throughout the year. In addition, Hannaford in Milford donates sheet cakes for the annual 9/11 dinner, as well as snacks for the free family magic show that Shain has coordinated in Milford for the past three years.
While the town’s Office of Veterans’ Services has funding to provide food for veterans in need, Pilla said, the generosity demonstrated by Shain, Hannaford, and other groups is “truly appreciated.” According to Pilla, gift certificates have been donated at Thanksgiving and Christmas for more than 10 years by the Disabled American Veterans and Veterans of Foreign Wars.
Shain, whose only tie to members of the military is his gratefulness for their service, said he plans to continue his project for many years.
“We certainly owe it to our veterans to help whenever we can,” he said.
EMPLOYEE OF THE YEAR:Brenda Carroll
of Needham was recently honored as the employee of the year at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital-Needham. Carroll has worked for the hospital for 12 years as a resource nurse, starting on the inpatient floor and moving to the intensive care, endoscopy, and infusion units.
She said she was “shocked” by the honor because she didn’t know she had been nominated. Carroll’s selection, which was based on peer nominations submitted to a committee, was announced during the hospital’s annual employee recognition dinner, where workers with 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 40, and 45 years at the facility were also recognized.
“It is a huge honor and I am very flattered,” Carroll said. “I feel very fortunate that I enjoy my job as much as I do. l love nursing and couldn’t see myself doing anything else.”
ON BOARD:Evan Zall
of Concord has been named as a board member of the Boston chapter of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization. He will also serve as communications cochairman for the organization.
Zall is president of the Ebben Zall Group, an advertising, public relations, and integrated media strategies firm in Needham. He also serves on the boards of the Arts Business Council of Greater Boston, the and Financial Management Association of New Hampshire.