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On a bright Saturday morning, Conant Road resident Marianne DiBlasi is scooting around the farmers market, chatting with vendors and customers alike. As president of the Farmers Market Community Hub, DiBlasi makes it her business to find out how the market is doing, and buying herself some of the goods (she’s enthusiastic about the empanadas).
“Marianne is the premier spokesperson for the market,” says manager Fred Yen. “She finds a need in the community and fulfills it.”
She also helps the community in other ways, both as a paid professional, and as a volunteer, and this Saturday she eagerly talks about a new effort, the Solo Agers Network, a group she founded recently to assist elders without a strong local support system.
DiBlasi approached the Jenks Center and they ran a meeting about the legal issues facing singletons as they age.
“The room was packed — 76 people came,” she says.
And thus it turned into a network, not just a presentation.
Back in 2008, DiBlasi’s mother was diagnosed with a neurodegenerative illness, and DiBlasi became her care manager for the next seven years.
“I earned my ‘Mom Master’s Degree’ — I had to find services that would let her stay in her home, and then find her an assisted living with a memory care unit,” she says. “Finally, she needed skilled nursing and hospice.
“I was born with a physical disability, spina bifida,” she adds. “Along with supporting, living with a disability contributes to my keen awareness of needing to plan for the future.”
Her network plans to have monthly talks in the fall, and DiBlasi sent information to other communities’ councils on aging.
“We believe in widening the welcome,” she says.
On Sept. 17, there is a talk by the founder of “Health Assist,” a business that helps clients navigate the health care system.
In October, a geriatrician will discuss “self-centered care” about taking care of oneself and how to communicate needs and wishes to providers. November brings an elder care attorney to explain health care proxies and powers of attorney.
“Without the Jenks support staff,” says DiBlasi, “we couldn’t do this.”
And she offers a shout-out to the Jenks social worker, Suzanne Norton.
Another volunteer job for DiBlasi has been with the Mystic River Watershed Association’s Path Improvement Project concerned with safety and accessibility.
“We sent our recommendations to the state’s Department of Conservation and Recreation, and now we wait,” she says.
An outspoken advocate of green burials, DiBlasi gives talks as part of the Green Burial Massachusetts group which promotes burials without embalming, metal caskets, or cement vaults. She’s been attending some meetings of the town’s Wildwood Cemetery Advisory Committee, which is in favor of setting aside a portion of the graveyard for green burials.
But DiBlasi’s day jobs are about caring too. Since 2011, she’s been the editor of the quarterly Disabilities Issues Newsletter, a free publication that addresses the challenges facing people who live with disabilities, and she’s an advocate for them as well.
Plus she’s the Winchester Unitarian Church’s summer minister, helping to organize members to run Sunday services, and lending assistance to their pastoral care group.
“Marianne is a joyful woman who has helped us when our pastor was away,” says Donna Reed. “She knows about local services that are available, and she’s good company!”
