Pentucket Bank Help Moves YWCA Closer to Reopening Housing

Pentucket Bank presented a check July 6 to YWCA Haverhill. Participating, from left to right, were Renee McGuire, YWCA site director; Mary B. O’Brien, YWCA executive director; Patricia O’Brien, YWCA board president; Jose Pino, marketing and special events coordinator, and Pentucket Bank Vice President Katherine Castro, YWCA board vice president.

Fall plans to reopen YWCA’s Winter Street residence for very low income women received a boost last week when Pentucket Bank donated $5,000 to the organization.

Pentucket Bank becomes the “premier sponsor” of YWCA Haverhill’s 27th Annual Tribute to Women, taking place Thursday, Oct. 27. The YWCA residence has been closed since 2012.

“Two very exciting things are in store for the YWCA in October,” said YWCA Executive Director Mary B. O’Brien. “When the YWCA Residence re-opens, it will once again provide much-needed housing for very low income women in Haverhill, and the Tribute to Women is always the highlight of the year for the YWCA,” she added.

Proceeds from Tribute to Women will help to complete and furnish the second and third floors residences at YWCA, 107 Winter St. For the first time, the residence will be handicapped accessible. Ten single-room-occupancy units will replace what were previously six units. Work began last December and the project is expected to be finished in October, officials said.

At the 2016 Tribute to Women awards lunch, 20 women who work or live in the greater Haverhill community will be “honored for their professional achievements and for their service to the community.” Besides the residence reopening, proceeds support year-round child care for working parents and services for domestic violence or sexual assault victims.

Previous honorees include Stacey L. Bruzzese, president and CEO of the Greater Haverhill Chamber of Commerce; Kim Ocasio, owner of Ocasio’s True Martial Arts; Karen Kennedy, director of Mission and Community Partnerships for Holy Family Hospital, Methuen and Haverhill; and several Pentucket Bank employees over the years, including Diane Galvin, executive vice president, Jean McCann, vice president and commercial lender, Kerrianne (Godin) Petalidas, assistant vice president and senior branch manager at Merrimack Street, and Patti Guerin, assistant vice president and senior branch manager at Westgate.

For more information about Tribute to Women, contact YWCA Site Director Renee McGuire at 978-374-6121 or e-mail [email protected]. Nominations for women to be honored at the event will be accepted until Aug. 3.