Women Helping Women Archives

Lest one forgets, the incredibly successful run of Women Helping Women at the Garfield started as a way to support Dr. Maria Boria Berna and her clinic to provide health services to migrant women. This remarkable human being, after a career in international healthcare, including starting the first women’s hospital in India, had found her way to Rock Hall in the later years of her life and wanted to help the least fortunate around her.

Being a close friend of Maria and her husband, Chestertown’s Carla Massoni heard the call when her friend said she needed more supplies fifteen years ago. Within a day or so, Carla calls her friend and professional singer, Sue Matthews, and they start calling other friends, and all of a sudden, Women Helping Woman was born.

Now with Dr. Berna comfortably retired, Carla and Sue decided that all good things must come to an end. And while the spirit of Women Helping Women will live on, the Spy thought it would be helpful to document this remarkable chapter on the Mid-Shore. We spoke to Carla and Sue by Zoom to record their memories and their profound gratitude for all the “angels” that made this all possible.

This video is approximately eight minutes in length. Additional video provided by Justinian Dispenza at Andover Media

“The gift of women, the role of women, has always been the role of community. If you touch a woman, you touch a family, you touch a community, you touch a nation. It is my great hope that as women we will be able to stand our ground in the places we love and say, “This is not acceptable. This is what we will fight for, this is what we will fight against.” Terry Tempest Williams

Chestertown is a culture of tradition. Once it has established one, it is almost impossible for it to end. Perhaps Washington College’s commencement ritual is the oldest of these, coming in, we hope, at 239 years come this year. But you can add such newcomers as the Tea Party Festival, the Sultana’s Downrigging weekend, and a dozen or more smaller events that very quickly have moved from their inauguration premiere to a permanent mark of the annual calendar.

One of those was the creation of Women Helping Women. Designed to harness the power and talent of women living in Kent County to support Dr. Maria Boria’s healthcare needs of the migrant workers in the region, a small group of volunteers, led by art gallery owner Carla Massoni, created an annual concert to do just that. The Spy will be interviewing Carla, and the concert’s musical director, singer Sue Matthews, later in the week, reflect back on this special event and the end of of its 15-year-old tradition.

But today, thanks to local videographer Justinian Innit, we share with the Spy community Sue’s remarkable closing number as she “touches” her family of fellow women and her community.

This video is approximately for minutes in length. For more information about Justinian Innit’s videography services please go here.

Women Helping Women for Women by Women (and Men) Closes a Chapter

Women Helping Women Finale: Sue Matthews

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