Page 18 THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – Friday, October 4, 2019 ASKS | from page 1 rent project, she will hold a Veterans Donation Drive to benefit the Chelsea Soldiers’ Home. That event is set for 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 12 at the Cpl. Scott J. Procopio Saugus American Legion Post 210, which is located at 44 Taylor St. in Saugus. Riley began her volunteerism when she started the Community Service Club during her first year at Belmonte Middle School. She wanted a project she could work on after school, so she began Saugus Blessings Bags in late 2014, working out of her house. She is the daughter of Christopher and Corinne Riley. She has an older brother and sister in Lynn, Danny Mahoney and Elena Barrett. Highlights of this week’s interview follow. Q: Please tell me a little bit about how Saugus Blessings Bags began – the organization. I understand you were still in school when you started this. So what inspired you? What was the inspiration? A: I was 16 and I was still in high school, and I decided there was not enough accessible help for things that I could do to help people. I didn’t really have a lot of money to be able to go and help homeless people, so I decided that I would do my own funding and my own budgeting and fi gure out what people needed the most and what shelters were asking for the most and just try to target those items and distribute those things to people who needed the help. Q: That’s how Saugus Blessings Bags came into being? A: Yes. I’m the Founder and President, and for the most part it’s just been myself running it. When I decided I wanted to take on projects of larger volume, I put together a Board of Directors of family and friends to help me, and we’ve gotten a lot of support from the town. Saugus Blessings Bags isn’t yet registered as a 501(c)3, but, hopefully, it will be soon. Q: You had a prior interest in the homeless and homelessness? A: Yes. My mother worked a lot with the Mass. Coalition for the Homeless, and I remember working with her when I was a little kid. Q: How old were you? A: Probably four or five. And for several years, and we worked with St. Margaret’s. I remember drawing pictures for the kids and putting them in the pockets of the coats that she would help fundraise for. I’ve always wanted to help people, and I was always taught to give to the less fortunate – whether it was monthe items we needed to get more of. Q: How much did you raise? Please give me a ballpark estimate? A: That’s tough to estimate. We raised money, but we mostly collected goods. Q: You had enough to take care of how many veterans? A: About 30 for our first SAUGUS BLESSINGS BAGS TEAM: Left to right: Olivia Riley, founder and president; Corinne Riley, treasurer; Cristina Palmieri, secretary and social media manager; and Chris Silva, webmaster. (Courtesy Photo to The Saugus Advocate) ey, goods or time – that there was always something people could do to help out. Q: Since your early childhood, you have always had a special affi nity for the homeless? A: Yes. Q: Because of the experience you gained working with your mom? A: Yes. Q: How did it all come down? You decided one day you were going to form a Saugus Blessings Bag? Tell me a little bit about that. A: There was a neighbor who was really accessible to a 16-year-old with no money. I wanted to fi gure out the most cost-effective ways to get these things to people in need, so I started a Facebook Page and started reaching out to people I used to work for – people I used to babysit for or tutor their kids. And I ended up working with the Girl Scouts. And I said, here is my idea. I would like to get some toiletries, gloves and socks to homeless veterans for our fi rst project, and they helped out, and they ended up doing a lot of the purchasing of the goods, and I was able to put the bags together and distributed them. Q: The fi rst project for Saugus Blessings Bags was the homeless veterans? A: Yes – the New England Center for Homeless Vets. Q: You got involved in this through your mom’s activities? A: Yes – but even going into Boston and taking the train with my friends and just seeing people in the streets and knowing that they didn’t have any other options. I mean the shelters were full. They didn’t have another choice. My biggest thing – I want something that people can hold onto after they left the shelters. They provide a lot, but they don’t provide things like toiletries and they can’t always provide clothes. Q: As a child, you got exposed to homelessness. A: Yes. It ’s hard not to, when we live so close to Boston. When you fi nd yourself spending time in the city, there is no way to avoid it. It’s not just one concentrated area; it’s everywhere. Q: How old were you when you fi rst observed it fi rsthand? A: When I was fi rst exposed to it was probably when I was a baby, because there’s really no way to avoid seeing it. I can remember as far back when I was five years old, I would start asking questions like “Why doesn’t that person have a house?” And my mother would explain to me that there were diff erent circumstances that people found themselves in and that there were ways to help, but there’s only so much that you can do. Q: And you were moved by the interaction? A: Of course. I always wanted to help people. It’s just tough to see another person and not feel compassion for their situation. It’s never anyone’s fi rst choice; people fi nd themselves in desperate situations, and you do what you can to help them, because you don’t know when you are going to be in that situation. Or your best friend. Or your mother. Or your father. Or your grandfather. You never know when they are going to run out of money or fi nd a massive medical bill – and that’s it for them. You never know. And this could happen. If people have the resources, they should use it to help out others should they fi nd themselves in a situation like that in the future. Q: You mentioned the Girl Scouts. Were you a Girl Scout? A: No, I wasn’t. I got a lot of volunteers, though, from Troop 555 in Saugus, and I had a couple from Revere. Q: How did things go the fi rst year of Saugus Blessings Bags? A: It went very well. I was really surprised. I learned a lot about the costs and found the cheapest places to buy large quantities of items and about project, and they were bags with toiletries and hygiene products: Advil, cough drops, a little fi rst aid kit, socks and gloves. Q: This was, like, a Christmas thing? A: I decided I wanted to do it shortly after Christmas. It was in the wintertime when I saw people who were in desperate need. We ended up making the delivery – me and my dad – in January of 2015. We had started out in December of 2014. Q: And the project has continued since then? A: I was away for college for a little bit and took a little break from it, but when I decided I was going back into the workforce and I was fi nished with school, I decided to take it on full-time again. And I spend a lot of time on it: every weekend that I have the time. I did go to school for business administration, so I did learn a little bit about marketing. I decided I wanted to make the project bigger. I recruited some of my friends, my mom and my boyfriend to get more hands on deck, basically. We have meetings every month. We have our board of directors. We keep minutes. We keep inventory and a list of donations and who donated what and when. It’s a lot more organized; we’re definitely better with the marketing and getting the word out, posting of events and fundraisers. We’re still working on getting a 501(c) (3) [nonprofit organization], and when we do, we’ll be able to hold a lot more diff erent types of events. Q: Currently you are working on your second drive? A: No, we have had others. Rosie’s Place was the second one. We did The Salvation Army in Saugus a couple of months ago. We’ve been active for about three years now. Q: How many people do you hope to help on the current project? What’s the target? A: I would like to hit 50 people or more. Q: Veterans or a mixed group? A: Just veterans for this one. This will be going to the Soldiers’ Home in Chelsea. Q: How is it going so far? A: It’s going very well. We were passing information at Founders Day and received a lot of cash donations, more money than goods. Then on Saturday, Oct. 12 is our donation drive where people can bring items. We do have a lot of items left over from buying bulk, so we don’t need to buy nearly as much goods this time. We have tons and tons of toothbrushes and toothpaste left over that we will be able to use, so we can spend money on the things that we need to reach our goal of 50. But we’ll do as many bags as we can get, and whatever we have left, we will hold onto for our next project. Q: It’s easy to see a kid in school doing this as a project, but I think it says something about the person who would want to continue doing this after they get out of school. There are so many other things that you could be doing. But you got back into it and now want to help more and more people A: I think the biggest thing why I still do it – I hear these stories about things not getting to the people they’re supposed to. I fi gure if I were in charge of it, I could make sure that people who need the help get it. Right now we let people know where their donation goes. We put pictures on Facebook and email them to people to show them the bags they created with their donation, so they will know what their donation is going to. Q: You have a special spot in your heart for the veterans. Is that because of you mom, or your late grandfather (Louis A. DeSouza, Sr.), who was a war hero? A: My grandfather was in the U.S. Navy, and I defi nitely think about him a lot when I do this. I have worked with the Saugus Veterans Council and have volunteered there to help with events. They’re all great and very nice. I have been involved with them since high school. Q: Let’s talk about your upcoming event. A: It’s set for Oct. 12 at the American Legion: The Veterans Donation Drive to benefi t the Soldiers’ Home in Chelsea. People can bring donations of new toiletries, gloves, socks and other things that can be found on our website, www. saugusblessingsbags.com. People can come and meet the team, have some refreshments and learn about Saugus Blessings Bags and what we are doing, and this will be in honor of Veterans Day (Nov. 11). Saugus is defi nitely a community that is very heavily involved in that, so I’m ASKS | SEE PAGE 19
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