Long a highlight on the SouthCoast social calendar, the United Way of Greater New Bedford‘s famed Clambake with Lobster fundraiser is set to take place again this year, albeit in altered fashion due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Rather than gathering on New Bedford’s Pier 3 on a single June evening, diners will be picking up their meals at Fairhaven’s ever-popular Mike’s Restaurant during pre-arranged time slots on consecutive Friday nights, June 12 and 19, for an event temporarily renamed “Clammed Up!”.
It’s too late to order for June 12, but you can sign up for June 19 meal pickups here.
Longtime Clambake with Lobster participants lamenting the lack of party-on-the-pier atmosphere should nevertheless celebrate that while they’re savoring a delicious, quintessentially New England feast, they’ll also be helping to feed the less fortunate in our community at a time when the need has never been greater. Here’s how:
With unemployment rates at their highest since the Great Depression, the United Way of Greater New Bedford is in the midst of its five-week Mobile Market program. From 5:30-7 p.m. every Monday since June 1 and through June 29, UWGNB sets up at a SouthCoast location and distributes boxes of produce to families who otherwise might not have access to fresh fruit and vegetables. The first two Mobile Markets appeared in Freetown and Waltham (voluneers seen in accompanying photo); the next three are in New Bedford (June 15 at Our Sisters’ School), Fairhaven (June 22, East Fairhaven Elementary School) and Acushnet (June 29, Acushnet Elementary School).
Throughout the year, UWGNB also helps feed the hungry through its Hunger Commission, which delivers food donated by local companies and grocery stores to soup kitchens and food pantries throughout the year, and conducts the annual Hunger Heroes program to provide meals to area families for Thanksgiving.
Eliminating hunger is only part of the mission of this extraordinary organization — click here for an expanded accounting of all the United Way of Greater New Bedford does — but it’s among the most important parts, particularly amid these difficult times.
Our team at Sylvia Group will miss gathering on Pier 3 this year, but we’re continuing our longtime sponsorship of the United Way clambake nevertheless. Our relationship with the United Way of Greater New Bedford is as old as our agency and actually older than the name “United Way” itself, dating back to the organization’s days as the Community Chest in the early 1950s. The clambake remains a key component of our support, along with our payroll-deduction contributions, various drives and volunteer efforts, and we hope you’ll join us for “Clammed Up!” — even if we won’t be chowing down in the same location.
By ROSEMARIE S. LOPES
Senior Partner, Sylvia Group
CONTACT ROSE
About Rosemarie Lopes and Sylvia Group
A Sylvia Group senior partner, Rosemarie Lopes heads Sylvia Group’s Employee Benefits division and serves as the agency’s principal life insurance expert, utilizing more than 15 years of industry experience working with businesses and individuals to design programs that fit their strategic plans and goals. Her designs for health, dental, disability, life, long-term care and travel insurance coverage help clients protect their investments and provide security for the people they care about most. Rose earned her Registered Health Underwriter (RHU®), Registered Employee Benefits Consultant (REBC®) and Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU®) designations through the American College of Financial Services.
Sylvia Group uses SPS – the Sylvia Protection System – to empower businesses and individuals with performance-based insurance, benefits and financial planning programs. SPS makes our clients active participants in managing risk and containing premiums, resulting in coverage that is both customized and cost-effective. In addition to making a difference for our clients, we make a difference for our community as a whole by actively supporting and serving many of southern New England’s most reputable and effective nonprofit organizations and institutions. Sylvia Group became an Alera Group company at the outset of 2020, enabling us to combine the local, personal service for which we’re known with the scope and resources of a national firm.
