NORTHBOROUGH – When Mary Ellen Duggan learned that she would be Applefest grand marshal, she was shocked.
“I love Applefest. I really do. It just brings everybody in the community out,” said Duggan. “There’s something for everybody.”
Meet Mary Ellen
Duggan grew up in Canton and moved to Northborough when she started her family.
“I think as my kids grew up, I grew with them in the ways you’re involved with town things,” she said.
That means helping out with Girl Scouts, PTO and Booster Club. She ran the snack shack for the Booster Club for many years. As her kids grew up, Duggan became involved with the Northboro Junior Woman’s Club, the Northborough Food Pantry and Northborough Helping Hands Association Inc.
She is currently in her second year as copresident of the Junior Woman’s Club; she also volunteers with Community Meals, Our Father’s Table and Northborough Rotary Club and its Nutrition 68 program. She is also involved with her church St. Bernadette Parish as the outreach minister.
All of the work is intertwined, she said.
“I think there are so many opportunities to get everybody involved in helping our community. Our community is a helping community. If you have a need, and you put it out there, someone is going to answer your need,” Duggan said.
For example, when shoes were needed for the families who lived at the Econo Lodge, community members were “head over heels” donating items. The community is generous when people need support, which she has personally experienced.
“If I can make someone else’s life easier, that’s really my job. That’s why we’re put on this Earth — to make someone’s else’s journey a little easier,” Duggan said.
In their nominating letter, members of the Junior Woman’s Club noted that Duggan helped organize the curbside Community Meals and chaired the meal for St. Bernadette’s when they returned to being held in-person.
When the new families arrived at the Econo Lodge, Duggan made sure the children were ready to attend school in the fall, helped organize clothing drives and baby showers, arranged rides for high schoolers who wanted to participate in after-school sports, and celebrated the children’s birthdays.
“We know that this is just a snip-it of the many kind and caring acts that Mary Ellen does for others in her community,” the Juniors wrote. “… Mary Ellen ‘lives each day trying to accomplish something, not merely to exist,’ words from the Junior Woman’s Club Pledge.”
Work in schools
Duggan said her job with the Public Schools of Northborough and Southborough is great, as she’s able to interact with these helping organizations.
Duggan worked as a pediatric nurse at UMass Memorial for the first 20 years of her career before becoming a school nurse in Southborough. She served as a school nurse for about 15 years, and was then tapped to be the nurse leader and district wellness coordinator.
Superintendent Greg Martineau said that she “exemplifies unwavering dedication and commitment to NSboro students, consistently putting their needs and well-being at the forefront of her efforts.”
She was working in this role during the COVID-19 pandemic. Duggan said that if she had to pick an upside from the past five years, it would be the collaborative health and wellness initiatives, Be Well Northborough.
The initiative was led by town staff from numerous departments to help the community recover from the pandemic.
“Making those connections and the connections with the health departments and bringing everybody together for a common good [was great], even though it was a difficult time for everybody. I think the relationships that were formed during that were something that would never have happened,” Duggan said.
She noted that she is only one person who is involved with these organizations and this work. You can’t do anything by yourself, she said.
“There are so many ways to volunteer and help others that you might not think that you have time. It’s the season of your life how you can help. Making a meal for your neighbor who just had a baby might be your season or life, or it might be being involved with Junior Woman’s Club or Helping Hands or whatever it is,” Duggan said.