Covid Angels helped 2,000 get vaccines
Apr. 16—In a city already renowned for one angel program to help those in the throes of opioid addiction, Gloucester now adds another group of celestial beings dedicated to helping eradicate the COVID-19 virus.
In an early evening ceremony Thursday at City Hall's Kyrouz Auditorium, five volunteers from a grassroots assemblage, now known as the Covid Angels, were honored for helping more than 2,000 residents of Gloucester and other Massachusetts communities secure coveted appointments for COVID-19 vaccinations during the last three months.
"This group of volunteers didn't do this for recognition and that makes it even more important that we honor them," said state Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr, a Gloucester resident. "With their efforts, they have shown the great strength of neighbors dedicated to helping each other. They are a shining example of people helping their neighbors."
The honored group included four Gloucester residents — Adam Orlando, Amy Orlando (who are husband and wife), Jamie Margiotta and Sara Gray — and Paul Bernardo of Peabody. Three other members of the group — Patricia Dalpiaz, Danielle Osier and Nicole Duckworth — were unable to attend the ceremony and were honored in absentia.
Tarr, along with state Rep. Ann-Margaret Ferrante, also of Gloucester, and Mayor Sefatia Romeo Theken, talked about the group's tireless efforts — often including all-night shifts on their computers — to secure vaccination appointments for the elderly, teachers and other at-risk residents seeking to be vaccinated.
"I don't know how they did it," Romeo Theken said. "It's just amazing how much these people care."
"To say that they are angels is an understatement," Ferrante said.
In their individual remarks following the presentation of citations from the Massachusetts Senate and House, the Covid Angels spoke with a strikingly unified voice of their desire first to help elderly family members and friends secure appointments — particularly those who might have difficulty navigating the often complex landscape of the vaccination process — before expanding their efforts to other constituencies and other communities.
Not only were the group members strangers to most of the people they helped, but they were also strangers to each other at first.
"I'm so proud of all these strangers that came together," Margiotta said of her volunteer colleagues. "We have a bond that will last the rest of our lives."
Margiotta also said the group's efforts, though extraordinary to date, have just begun.
"We're not stopping until that list (of those looking for vaccine appointments) is done," she said.
The spirit of selflessness was not lost on the approximately two dozen people that attended the ceremony or the officials that organized it.
"Nobody told them to do this," Tarr said. "Nobody paid them to do this and nobody organized them to do this. They did this on their own. Because of all of that, this group absolutely deserves to be recognized."
Contact Sean Horgan at 978-675-2714, or shorgan@gloucestertimes.com. Follow him on Twitter at @SeanGDT
