Home Instead Senior Care co-owner Donna Smith, left, poses with Anna Farnum and Caregiver of the Year recipient Ginger Shugrue.

CHESHIRE, Mass. — Home Instead Senior Care honored 85-year-old Cheshire resident Anna Farnum for her outstanding volunteer contributions to the community.

 

"Anna brings a ray of sunshine to everyone she meets," said Karmen Mitchell, the director of the Cheshire Senior Center, who is one of several people who nominated Farnum for the award. "She organizes and sets up luncheon, parties, social events, and her tireless energy is inspiring to all of us."

 

Farnum has been volunteering for 64 years. She is currently president of the Cheshire Senior Council on Aging and the Cheshire Senior Club, and serves as a Eucharistic Minister at St. Mary's Assumption Church. Farnum also delivers meals to the home-bound for St. Mary's and helps to organize events and Christmas gifts for veterans with the American Legion Auxiliary District 1.

 

The recognition ceremony, which was part of Home Instead Senior Care's Salute to Senior Service program, was held at the Cheshire Council on Aging on June 19. In attendance were Mary McGinnis, director of administrative services for Pittsfield, Mayor Daniel Bianchi, who presented Farnum with a certificate, and Donna Smith, a co-owner of Home Instead Senior Care, who made a $250 donation on her company's behalf to the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation.