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Chapter History

The Holliston MA Chapter of “The Compassionate Friends” (TCF) was founded in October 1981 by Dorothy Pisapia, then a resident of Holliston, MA. Dorothy was given space in St Mary’s Catholic Church for the chapter to hold its meetings - on the third Tuesday of each month. Dorothy organized and ran the chapter, single-handed, until October 1985, when her plea for help was heeded by a small group of members and the various tasks associated with the needs of the chapter were divided amongst seven volunteers. The chapter then continued on a regular basis with principle leadership provided by Rick & Peg Dugan, through December 1992.

The next evolution of the chapter occurred in December 1992 when a new group of volunteers organized under the co-leadership of Aaron White and Merv Allen. The chapter name was subsequently changed to Metrowest to more accurately define the area of east-central MA that most of the members come from. Aaron White began the first serious efforts to create and maintain a chapter newsletter, and was its editor until mid-1995. Ed Motuzas took over the editing and distribution of the newsletter and continues with it to the present time.
In January of 1999 the chapter felt there was a need to conduct meetings on a monthly basis during the daylight hours for bereaved parents that could not attend meetings at night. These meetings are held on the last Tuesday of the month in Milford. (see time / dates link for directions)

Over the years there have been volunteers to perform the tasks necessary to keep this chapter viable, such as: meeting facilitators, newsletter editor, steering committee, member address administrator, telephone friends, performance of outreach functions, treasurer, fundraising functions, librarian, and the opening & closing of the meeting place. The number of volunteers has fluctuated over time – but the chapter has performed its primary mission of providing peer-support at regular monthly meetings since October 1981.