‘Community support service’ group of business professionals formed to help fellow parishioners

By Bill Doyle | CFP Correspondent

WORCESTER - Geoff Boucher and Maggie Mood want to help their fellow parishioners at Our Lady of Czestochowa.

So they’ve formed what Mrs. Mood called “a community support service” with other business professionals. Mr. Boucher is a financial planner with New York Life and he meets with people at the church to answer questions about Social Security, 401Ks and other financial matters.

Mrs. Mood is vice president of sales and marketing for Mass. Advantage, a Medicare Advantage Plan that was built for people of Worcester County with the help of UMass Memorial Health providers. She has more than 30 years experience in the Medicare field, including 23 for Harvard Pilgrim Health Care. She helps parishioners choose the correct plan for them and answers other insurance questions.

Neither accept any money for their advice to parishioners.

The service is in the beginning stages, but Mr. Boucher said a few other professionals have offered their guidance and that he hopes more will.

“We wanted to start our own business group,” he said, “connecting people who are like us who either run our own businesses or have knowledge of what we can do to help the other parishioners within the church and even people who might not go to the church.”

The service includes about eight professionals, including those involved in landscaping and the mattress business.

Father Richard Polek, Our Lady of Czestochowa pastor, gave Mr. Boucher the names of a few parishioners to contact, including a real estate attorney, a travel agent and a mechanic, who might be interested in joining the service. They won’t offer their services for free, but Mrs. Mood said what is most important to know about these professionals is that they are “trusted sources.” She said the group plans to post a link on the parish website with those trusted sources that they can contact.

Eventually, they hope to offer rides to appointments, provide companionship and offer assistance in straightening out bills. Mr. Boucher said there is no charge to belong to the service or to receive advice from the service.

“The sense is to get all these people together,” Mr. Boucher said, “and talk about what we can do to engage in our community and help one another. Hands helping hands.”

“For me, right now,” Mrs. Mood said, “this is all driven by my desire to help pay back my community.”

Mr. Boucher, 40, and his wife Samantha Golemo, got married at Our Lady of Czestochowa and she is a longtime parishioner there. They have two sons, Julian, 7, and Jonah, 3.

Mrs. Mood, 58, moved from Poland to Worcester 40 years ago. She lives in Worcester with her husband, Richard, and their daughter Alicia, who just graduated from the University of New Hampshire.

Their parish and their Catholic religion mean a lot to Mr. Boucher and Mrs. Mood.
“My parish is my community,” Mrs. Mood said, “and my faith is my grounding, my moral base. It grounds me and guides me through life.”

“For me,” Mr. Boucher said, “my church has just been everything.”

At his parish, Mr. Boucher has run Alpha programs to discuss life, faith and God. During Mass, he and his wife take the grade school children to the back of the church to educate them on the Gospel. They also teach CCD to second-graders together.

“It’s really become a great part of our lives,” he said of his religion. “We pray every night with our kids. We thank God for all of our gifts.”

Mr. Boucher looks at his parish as a big family and he believes everyone should help one another.

Mrs. Mood grew frustrated when her mother received phone calls trying to sell her Medicare plans that weren’t right for her. At a Medicare meeting at a senior center in Webster, some people were relieved to be able to speak in Polish to Mrs. Mood. Some complained about not being able to see their doctor for more than a year because a salesperson had made all sorts of promises but sold them the wrong plan.

“That really got me angry and I said, ‘I have to do something for my people,’” Mrs. Mood said.
After a Mass last fall, Father Polek asked her why she hadn’t accompanied her fellow parishioners on a pilgrimage. She couldn’t go because of her hectic work schedule, but she told him that she could make her own kind of pilgrimage.

“My pilgrimage could be my time, my free time, to offer to people at our church and help them with Medicare questions,” she said.

She asked Father Polek if he knew people who needed help with their health insurance and she placed a notice in the parish bulletin last October to offer her assistance in signing up for Medicare. At Masses each week, Father Polek promoted her willingness to help. Since then, she estimated she’s aided 60 people, most at the parish rectory at night or on weekends. She said she has received no money for this, just a box of chocolates, and she’s more concerned about people choosing the best plan for them, whether it’s her company’s plan or not.

Mr. Boucher joined Mrs. Mood and others last fall in offering to help others.

“The whole thought process was,” Mr. Boucher said, “how do we connect with people and not make it feel like we’re trying to get something out of it? How do we volunteer our services? How do we educate people in the community on who they can talk to and who they can trust?”

Professionals who would like to offer their services or anyone who needs assistance from this support service can contact Mr. Boucher at 774-641-3326 or [email protected] or Mrs. Mood at [email protected].

Mrs. Mood said people can also reach out for advice if they want to start a similar service in their own community.

“We need to start giving back,” she said. “We need to support one another.”