Rocky Hill Democrats honor the service of two fantastic community pillars, Maria Libro Judge and Shilpa Gohill. There is a risk in calling for community service. If we treat it as a duty instead of a genuine way to give back, we risk losing what makes it satisfying. As we learned from our awardees below, their efforts to help people in Rocky Hill have been deeply rewarding and emotionally fulfilling.
Maria Libro Judge
For Maria Libro Judge, who has served as the CEO for Rose Hill Memorial Park since 2013, exposure to great sadness is part of the job. Even as Maria works with people in grief, she has found joy in organizing for her community. This includes helping people at the individual level, like when she supported local pastor Ron B. Cox in writing a book about childhood belonging. It also involves activities that benefit the town as a whole, such as sponsoring parades, fireworks displays, and T-ball teams.
Maria insists that service can be a source of happiness in hard times. “I’ve witnessed profound grief. Some days are incredibly challenging.” But she has found when she has participated in community activities, especially involving children, “you stop thinking about everything else. It gives you things to think about that are outside of yourself.” This was her experience years ago, volunteering for her local parent teacher organization, and more recently, when she helped to organize a pirate themed excursion for children on the Connecticut River.
Children find treasure on a pirate ship in the connecticut river
“You can’t be sorrowful and grateful at the same time,” she says, which is why she encourages her staff at Rose Hill to be involved in community projects. One highlight she recalled was hosting an event with Shine your Light CT, a Connecticut nonprofit that supports people in healing through the arts. The event connected children with autism to people in their 20s and 30s with the condition, who talked about how their life and careers had developed as they got older. “It gives hope,” said Maria – to the children, to the families, and to the organizers.
When asked how to get started with community service, Maria recommended getting engaged with the town. She hears of many opportunities through the Parks and Recreation Department, including Rita Chabra and Craig Bowman, as well as from Mayor Marotta. She insists that whatever form your community service takes, it can help you through dark times. “So you decide that you know the world is coming to an end – and I know there’s a lot of challenges going on now – but you can either continue to think that the world is coming to an end, or you can go and live your life and help others, right?”
Shilpa Gohil
In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, frighteningly little was known about the disease. Masks could help protect people, but very few could be found. Shilpa Gohil recalls how the need for masks in a time of social distancing brought her closer to her community.
“I always had the sewing machine with me when I moved to Connecticut, and during the pandemic, everything was shut down. There was a big demand for masks and no one knew where to find them. I had some leftover fabric with me. I started making them for my family. And then friends reached out to me like, asking ‘can you make a couple for us so that we can go grocery shopping?’ So I started that. And then I and one of my other friends came up with an idea to just give out those masks for free. We started to put it on the Spring Christmas Tree for people to take. The first time we put the masks on the tree, they were gone within an hour. And then it encouraged us to do more and more. In the end we put more than 2,300 masks on that tree.”
The act of giving to her community was a meaningful experience in Shilpa’s life; one of many instances where she has found time to contribute to Rocky Hill and her broader community. Shilpa has been a PTO board member; as a parent, she has helped in many school programs, raising funds and organizing for the high school band. Over time, the draw of working with children caused her to change careers. Although she has a background as an accountant, Shilpa today is a teacher working for the Connecticut Department of Children & Families.
Today, Shilpa is particularly proud to be connected with local charities that serve Rocky Hill. One group, BAPS Charities, is organizing a walk in Rocky Hill this June in support of local firefighters and police officers. Shilpa has been a volunteer with BAPS for 4 years. Also, as a member of the Rocky Hill Greater Together Community Fund by Hartford Foundation, Shilpa is also involved in that group’s effort to support community programs by granting funds in our own town.
How can someone get involved with volunteering? “I would say, just start, “says Shilpa. “Start small. Start wherever you can. I have started as small as just passing out the books in the school, and I have gone way up. I made friends, I made connections. My career choice also changed, like I was an accountant and now I’m working as a special education teacher. Community service gives so much joy and it fills your heart with so much love. And then, when you have those moments when somebody hugs you and says ‘thank you’… it’s very rewarding, very rewarding.”
Join us in appreciation
Please join us on May 3rd to show appreciation for these two members of our community who have done so much for the town.
