Pa'lante continuing strong

This past Saturday, about 50 residents, officials and organizers came to the second Pa’lante Norwood meeting at the Emerald City Plant Shop on Washington Street.

The event centers around organizing, whether it be for political causes, community betterment, local organization support and more. The idea is if you have an idea for an initiative in Town that you wanted support for, or if you wanted to volunteer to help the Town, this was a regular gathering designed to bring those two groups of people together.

Organizer Mark Negron said he wants to connect people, and while they had a similar attendance number last time in January, he said he was happy to see many unfamiliar faces.

“We got a lot of people here who represent a lot of good stuff; these are all people that I see connecting and doing. We got select board members, we got (Assistant Community Development Director) Ilex Jones here talking about the Community Preservation Committee (https://tinyurl.com/23vdrnfv), we’re just connecting people,” he said. “We want to see people we haven’t seen before too, that’s a good sign.”

Negron said he wanted to thank everybody for coming to the night. “I think we all are in the same boat, and this whole idea came about because I could see the desperation and anxiety on people’s faces,” he said. “And I wanted to create something that would bring people together and connect a lot of dots.”

The phrase “Pa’lante” is a contraction of the phrase “para adelante, which roughly translates to moving forward. The phrase was popularized in the 1960s as the title of a magazine in Puerto Rico which advocated for the Spanish colony-turned-U.S.-territory’s independence from the United States.

Emerald City owner Quontay “Q” Turner said she welcomed Pa’lante back, as she felt the shop was becoming more and more a fixture of the community, so why fight it?

“I mean this is what it’s for,” she said. “We’re centered in Norwood here on Washington Street. I originally wanted a plant shop but when I saw how big the space was I realized there could be events here. So we have community meetings, karaoke night; a whole host of events every month. I’m just very blessed to have this in my space.”

Turner said they are currently vending for the Bloom Festival, which was in Providence last weekend and then they’re heading to Burlington, Vermont, at the end of the month to travel with the show. “And then we’re going to be turning four in May, so we have a whole host of events coming up,” she said. “We’ll be doing a plant giveaway at the Mattapan Branch of the Boston Public Library on May 17. So stay tuned for all of our events!”

Resident Dani LoPiccolo said she was helping to garner volunteers for the Norwood Food Forest initiative, which organizes work at the Norwood Community Orchard and the Grace Episcopal Church. “I’m really focused on creating opportunities for micro-volunteering because everyone is just so busy. We want to create opportunities for people to volunteer without a huge time commitment,” she said. “Some individuals we have now do make a huge time commitment and if we can supplement that with people who are able to give whatever time they have it helps sustain and build this bigger program.”

LoPiccolo said though she just started on the project last month, she’s been working with volunteers here in Norwood and at the Boston Food Forest Coalition (https://www.bostonfoodforest.org) to gather resources and better understand how they can start producing sustainable food for those in Norwood who need it.

LoPiccolo said they will also be working on putting together lists so they can get that food to those who need it most. If you’re interested in volunteering, shoot her an email at DelPiccolo@gmail.com

“There is going to be a lot of talk around growing your own food, especially after the last week,” said Negron.

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Norwood Police Department School Resource Officer Geoffrey Baguma was there as well looking for volunteers for the upcoming Juneteenth Celebration at the Norwood Common for June 14 from 12:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Baguma said interested residents can reach out to him directly at NorwoodJuneteenth@gmail.com or any of the group’s social media accounts.

Baguma also said they are looking for new musical acts for this year’s performances. Interested parties can reach out the same way presented above. “We’re looking to provide a different variety of talent every year,” he said. “We have folks come back every year who have been glad to be a part of it, and we appreciate them, but we would like to mix it up a little bit so musicians, performing artists, dancers, all of the above really. They can reach out to us.”

Baguma said he feels like the event is cemented as a part of Norwood’s fabric. Some events in Town come and go, but some have stood the test of time, and Baguma said he thinks they have at least started down that road.

“We’re really excited because this being our fourth year we feel like we finally have our roots in the community,” he said. “And it can’t be Norwood Juneteenth without Norwood and people coming together helping us. A phrase I’ve been thinking about a lot this year is, ‘Our breath is your breath, and your breath is our breath,’ and we’re hoping things happen where we can come together and create.”

Cultural council member marypaz also organized around artist issues in the community. Go to https://tinyurl.com/yc85pd5e for more information.