Excellence in service awards

In Donnie’s own words, he has the personality of a helper and protector. Across the company, Donnie is well known by many for his role to keep us safe day-to-day. As president of our Veterans Employee Resource Group, Donnie’s care for his fellow veterans and colleagues is clear. But it’s the commitment to communities beyond his own that is so powerful. He finds impactful ways to use his skills to help others seen through his longstanding support of the Boston Wounded Veterans Run and his pro bono security assessments of Father Bill’s & mainspring’s properties. Last year, Donnie not only leveraged his military and operational expertise to assist with the evacuation of Afghan refugees from Kabul, but he also organized a campaign to collect donated items from his colleagues to ensure that these families had basic essentials upon their arrival in the United States. Recently, he became a gray shirt with Team Rubicon – volunteering to be deployed as part of a disaster response team when a climate or humanitarian crisis occurs. Donnie explains his motivation in the humblest way: “I have helped people, and I have needed help…During my last few seconds alive I want to be able to tell myself that my life was impactful.”

Marisa is a champion for public health. She is dedicated to promoting diversity, equity and inclusion within Blue Cross and addressing health disparities in communities across the state. She has volunteered to provide training and support to our company’s Spanish member support team, volunteered as a legal interpreter for immigrant families facing deportation through our partnership with Kids in Need of Defense, and delivered a division-wide coffee chat on how representation matters. Marisa is also a leader of Blue Cross’s AzuLatinx Employee Resource Group and a longstanding member of our BlueCrew Leadership Council, where she served as a project lead for our Service Day project and holiday food drive with SEWA.

Marisa serves on Playworks New England’s leadership council and the Lawrence Family Health Center’s events committee. In both roles, she has used her creativity, leadership, and strong network to provide critical fundraising support that has helped the organizations endure through pandemic-related challenges. Furthermore, Marisa is completing her master’s degree in public health at Regis College. In 2021, she worked with a team of researchers on a study looking at the impact of COVID-19 on Massachusetts seniors that is being submitted as an abstract to the American Public Health Association.

Renee uses her leadership and passion for gardening to improve her community. She is a founding member of our Company Garden Program, a leader of our [email protected] Leadership Council, and a veteran member of our BlueCrew Leadership Council. After seeing her local Greenwood Street Community Garden in severe neglect, Renee took it upon herself to bring it back to life. She signed up for our gardening classes with The Trustees and then recruited gardeners from her neighborhood to help. Her knowledge, care and dedication to the project were contagious. Every day from April through November of 2021, Renee was in the garden cleaning up common spaces, helping maintain plots and harvesting and distributing produce grown on-site. For her efforts revitalizing the community garden, Renee was selected as the 2021 Volunteer of the Year by the Trustees, an organization that engages thousands of volunteers each year across Massachusetts.

Alex is passionate about breaking down barriers to help marginalized communities access quality care, dignified health experiences, and opportunities to achieve better health outcomes. As a member of our Innovation team, Alex played a crucial role in the development of the Magnolia Model – Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts’ anti-racism framework -- and has leveraged the design-thinking methodology to resolve member pain points related to IVF and fertility and diabetes management. Since 2019, Alex has been a leader of MIT Hacking Medicine and MIT Hacking Racism where he helped plan global hackathons related to democratizing healthcare through collaboration and innovation. Most recently, Alex was selected to participate in GenUnity’s three-month health equity leadership program where he is currently engaging in community discussions to make connections and understand how Blue Cross can further promote health equity. Through his kindness, willingness to challenge the status quo, and desire for inclusion, Alex is making an impact and creating better experiences for our members and beyond.

Lack of sewing experience did not stop Cathy from addressing a need she identified in her community. At the start of the pandemic, she purchased a sewing machine and watched a YouTube video to teach herself how to sew, producing close to 1,000 masks to donate to first responders and to sell as fundraisers to benefit causes close to her heart such as autism and breast cancer. Seeking a way to honor the memory of her sister, Cathy connected with Annie’s Kindness Blankets following a Service Day project and continued to purchase materials and make blankets to donate to women's sober houses on the South Shore at Christmas time.

Danick leverages her technology and media skills to support the causes she is passionate about and to uplift her Haitian immigrant community. In 2021, she joined the board of Jeunesse Contre La Drogue (Youth Against Drugs), a Brockton-based organization focused on deterring young people from drug use and supporting young people’s reentry to society after being released from prison. In this role, she has helped expand their online presence, creating a Facebook page and YouTube channel and participating in their live weekly Haitian radio show. Danick also promotes computer literacy within the Haitian community by facilitating IT workshops with Mass Community Health Service in Action. Throughout the pandemic, she applied her technology skills to help her church transition to online services so the congregation could continue to worship safely from home. For Danick, who grew up in a family where it was very important to help those who are in need, she says, “Serving others and giving back to my community gives me a sense of accomplishment.”

Cathy is committed to giving back to the communities that once supported her. In her words, “Someone was there for me at my lowest point. I couldn't imagine not being there for someone else. Giving should be a natural thing.” As a lifelong client of Dimock Health Center, Cathy now serves on its Health Services Board – a group of leaders including Dimock patients—where she oversees and supports the health center’s programs and services. She serves as a Board of Trustees at her alma matter Bunker Hill Community College and mentors other adults pursuing additional education with Other Facets of Life. Within the Blue Cross community, Cathy is also active on the Women’s Inclusion Network’s leadership team.

Julia consistently goes above and beyond to support her colleagues. During the height of the pandemic, she put together events to improve her team’s mental health, guiding meditation exercises and sharing best practices for working from home. As a member of our BlueCrew Leadership Council she spearheaded a Service Day event with a new community partner, Our Neighbor’s Table. She also serves on the Women’s Inclusion Network leadership team, helping engage 700 women by writing and distributing monthly newsletters and designing and facilitating event programming.

Renee’s colleagues describe her as a “beacon of light” and “a renaissance women with 21st century technical skills.” As a nurse, she is trained to help others. During our 2021 Service Day, she worked all day at Ruth House, Ascentria Care Alliance’s teen parenting program in Brockton. On her way home, she saw a woman in distress. Renee pulled over, jumped out of her car and saved her life. Moved by the experience, Renee has since volunteered weekly at the Ruth House using her skills as a certified Barre instructor to facilitate weekly wellness events such as yoga and meditation. She also donates her time to give back to Blue Cross. As secretary of the Asian Blue Community Employee Resource Group, Renee helps make the programs fun and engaging. She taught Bollywood dance at an event and created engaging online presentations to promote connections among our colleagues.

Stephanie is a strong advocate and role model for women at Blue Cross. During her two-year tenure as President of the Women’s Inclusion Network Employee Resource Group, she helped establish a new strategy and piloted programs such as WIN Circles, a group mentoring program that created a safe environment for 50 participating members to share their experiences and learn from one another. She also connected the WIN Employee Resource Group with women’s related nonprofits and created volunteer opportunities to support Pine Street Inn’s women’s shelter. Outside of Blue Cross, Stephanie lends her strategic planning expertise to support the short- and long-term planning of her Redemption Hill Church in Medford.