Vinfen Staff Member Participates in Gubernatorial Forum at Faneuil Hall

September 27th, 2010

NEWS RELEASE
Providers Council
Contact: Bill Yelenak
617-428-3637 x122 (office)                                                               
860-919-0369 (cell)

For immediate release: (Click here for the PDF)
September 24, 2010

Employee of Haverhill organization to ask question
of candidates for governor at Faneuil Hall forum

(Boston, MA) – Claire Petrillo, who works for Vinfen in Haverhill, will have the opportunity to ask Charles Baker, Treasurer Timothy Cahill, Governor Deval Patrick and Dr. Jill Stein a question next week at the Human Services Gubernatorial Forum, taking place September 28 at 2 p.m. at Faneuil Hall.

Petrillo is an outreach worker for Vinfen, a human services organization that provides services to individuals with psychiatric and developmental disabilities. She is one of seven individuals chosen from communities in the state to have their story videotaped and told to the gubernatorial candidates. The candidates will watch Petrillo’s two-minute vignette, and at the end of it, Petrillo will ask the candidates a question of importance to her and the human services sector.

“I was excited at the opportunity to ask the candidates running for governor their view on an important human services issue,” Petrillo said. “I hope seeing the vignettes allows the candidates to really find out more about all of the people who work in the sector, receive services from providers and benefit by the work done by more than 185,000 people.”

Petrillo and her husband have four children. He was deployed to Iraq on Tuesday, and unable to make ends meet by herself, she has had to move her family in with her parents. Health care is also an issue for Petrillo; she currently receives health care because of his military service, but when he is finished with active duty, she is unsure of what she will do. While her employer offers healthcare, she simply cannot afford it on her salary.

Petrillo will be present on Tuesday and is excited to see the candidates’ response to her question. For more information about Petrillo or to RSVP for the gubernatorial forum, contact the Providers’ Council or Donna Rheaume at Vinfen at 617-441-1800.

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The Providers’ Council, also known as the Massachusetts Council of Human Service Providers, Inc., is the largest statewide membership association for community-based organizations providing social, rehabilitation, education and health care services.