Wakefield Human Rights Commission

Come on out and meet your neighbors!

The WHRC and Girl Scouts of Wakefield invite you to celebrate International Women’s Day Saturday, March 14th. We are hosting an informal social gathering for the women of Wakefield and see this as an opportunity to network, come together and get to know your neighbor. We’ll hand out Icebreaker Bingo cards to get people talking.

Our event will be hosted at the Galvin Middle School cafeteria, and will run from 4-6pm. The Girl Scouts will be making tie blankets which will be donated to the Mystic Valley Elder Services and all are welcome to participate! Girl Scout cookies will be available as refreshments.

When: Saturday, March 14th
Time: 4-6pm
Where: Galvin Middle School Cafeteria

***Last Chance to Donate***
The final day to donate to the WHRC warm clothing drive will be this Friday February 6th.
Donations are being accepted at the locations below.
Thank you on behalf of the WHRC!

City Hall
1 Lafayette St, Wakefield, MA 01880

Wakefield Memorial High School
60 Farm St, Wakefield, MA 01880

Galvin Middle School
525 Main St, Wakefield, MA 01880

Senior Center
30 Converse Street, Wakefield, MA 01880

Americal Civic Center
467 Main St, Wakefield, MA 01880

WHRC wanted to let everyone know that our MLK celebration at Galvin will commence as scheduled. For those concerned about the weather, the event will be broadcast live by WCAT.

The WHRC is pleased to announce Boston Poet Laureate Porsha Olayiwola will be joining our celebration of MLK Day at the Galvin Middle School Wakefield Public Schools on Monday January 19, 2026 as our keynote poet.

Our celebration is open to all and we invite you to attend. For more information on Porsha, visit her site at https://www.porshaolayiwola.com/

Porsha Olayiwola is a native of Chicago who writes, lives and loves in Boston. Olayiwola is a writer, performer, educator and curator who uses afro-futurism and surrealism to examine historical and current issues in the Black, woman, and q***r diasporas. She is an Individual World Poetry Slam Champion and the founder of the Roxbury Poetry Festival. Olayiwola is Brown University's 2019 Heimark Artist -In -Residence as well as the 2021 Artist-in-Residence at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. She is a 2020 poet laureate fellow with the Academy of American poets. Olayiwola earned her MFA in poetry from Emerson College and is the author of i shimmer sometimes, too. Olayiwola is the current poet laureate for the city of Boston. Her work can be found in or forthcoming from with TriQuarterly Magazine, Black Warrior Review, The Boston Globe, Essence Magazine, Redivider, The Academy of American Poets, Netflix, Wildness Press, The Museum of Fine Arts and elsewhere.

The Wakefield Human Rights Commission and the Wakefield Youth Council invite you to participate in the 2026 Martin Luther King Jr. Community Service Project by donating warm winter clothing- including hats, gloves and socks.

Donation collection will launch Monday, January 19, 2026
at the Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Event at Galvin Middle School Wakefield Public Schools and will continue through February 6.

Additional donation collection will continue at drop off locations around Wakefield, locations pending.

Volunteer Sorting Packaging & Delivery of Donations will occur
Saturday, February, 7, 2026

For more information, visit us at www.wakefieldma.gov/mlk2026

Training Active Bystanders (TAB) teaches how bystanders can interrupt harmful situations and generate positive responses. This 2.5 hour workshop helps participants know when they are bystanders, to analyze situations, and evaluate consequences.

For more information, go to https://www.trainingactivebystanders.org

***Diversity in the Community Event***

Galapagos puppets & the Jimmy Zhao Chinese Music Ensemble presents "The Ice River: a Journey to the West”.

When: Sunday, January 11, 2026 at 2 pm. Doors open at 1:30pm

Where: Temple Emmanuel of Wakefield at 120 Chestnut St. Wakefield, MA 01880

Tickets: $15 for 5 & up.
Reservations: call or text Liz at 781 521 3564.

Cash or checks will be accepted at the door.
The performance will be handicapped accessible on the first floor.

"Journeying to India, Monk Tang and his disciples Monkey, Pig, and Sha-jing have just found a quiet temple to rest in when they learn that a powerful river monster has been demanding all the food in the area, year after year. .Searching for the surprising secret of the monster’s formidable power takes the disciples over the Ice River, down to the bottom, and up to the heavens."

Since 1987 Madeline Beresford and Margaret Moody have performed folk, history and fantasy stories through Puppets. Margaret met Madeleine, a dynamic theater and visual artist, while they were students at Oberlin College. In the 1980s they studied Chang Chung Hsi puppetry in Taiwan with Master Li Tien-lu and the I Wan Jan Traditional Hand Puppet Troupe in Taiwan. They have performed two episodes of the Chinese epic Journey to the West with lively Taiwanese puppets, and now premiere a third, “The Ice River.” They use traditional Bu Dal Xi puppets and choreography in their lively presentation of this episode from the classic Chinese Tale, Journey to the West. Jimmy Zhao and his daughter will improvise music to accompany the show with Chinese percussion, erhu, bamboo flute, and guzheng.

After the 45-minute show we will lead a hands-on puppet demonstration.

https://galapagospuppets.com/

Sponsored by Temple Emmanuel of Wakefield and Linden Tree Concerts.

For more information: https://wakefieldtemple.org/

Please join the Wakefield HRC at the Galvin Middle School January 19th to celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Day.

Doors will open at 9:45am and the event will run until noon. Special guests include State Senator Jason Lewis, State Representative Kate Lipper-Garabedian and Keynote Poet Porsha Olayiwola. There will be several readings by students and the Community Service Award will be presented around 11am.

After closing remarks refreshments will be available in the cafeteria with the event wrapping at noon.

We look forward to you joining our celebration!

The event will feature a performance of Galvin student Kiana Angulo.
https://www.threads.com/.angulo