Congresswoman talks one-on-one with local residents
News staff photo by Andrew Mansfield Congresswoman Niki Tsongas meets with Nancy Belliveau as part of her Congress on Your Corner Program. The event took place at the Gardner Police Station.
News staff photo by Andrew Mansfield Congresswoman Niki Tsongas meets with Jonathan Dudley as part of her Congress on Your Corner Program at the Gardner Police Station.‘Ultimately, the job is about the people you represent.’ — Niki Tsongas, U.S. representative
Andrew Mansfield
News Correspondent
GARDNER Congresswoman Niki Tsongas believes that in order to do her job in Washington, D.C., she needs to come back to Massachusetts and speak directly to her constituents.
On Saturday morning, Rep. Tsongas, D-3rd, held an intimate question-and-answer session open to the public in one of the Gardner Police Station’s community rooms.
As part of Ms. Tsongas’s Congress on Your Corner program, citizens were able to sit across the table from her and speak one-on-one with her about their concerns.
“We have a staff devoted to constituent services that focuses on individual issues. Ultimately, the job is about the people you represent,” Ms. Tsongas said.
Ms. Tsongas said that in her eight years in office she and her staff have conducted about 70 Congress on Your Corner events. She last visited Gardner in 2013.
Gardner resident Nancy Belliveau spoke with Ms. Tsongas about the problems she has faced trying to receive unemployment benefits after she had to leave her accounting job this past June due to a hostile work environment that led to her having a panic attack.
“It’s so humbling, you feel like you’re a loser and a failure, it’s awful,” Ms. Belliveau said. When Ms. Belliveau applied for unemployment benefits, she was rejected by the Massachusetts Department of Unemployment Assistance, and now is in the process of appealing.
Ms. Belliveau has previously spoken with state representatives about her problem, but still hasn’t found a solution.
She has been to 10 interviews for a new job and has yet to gain employment.
“I don’t know where to go from here, I’ve worked my whole life. I just want to be able to pay my bills,” she said.
Ms. Tsongas spoke to Ms. Belliveau about how her family has been impacted by job loss before. She recalled that in 2009 when the country’s economy was in a deep recession she met an engineer who was living out of his car.
“I know it’s tough. We’d like to follow up with you after today,” Ms. Tsongas said.
Gardner resident Anne Hurst spoke with Ms. Tsongas about the issues of immigration and mental health.
Her brother committed suicide in March 2014. He left behind his husband, who is from Mexico, which has caused Ms. Hurst hardship in trying to keep her brother-in-law in the United States.
Her brother-in-law has been denied a work permit to legally stay in the country on three different occasions.
“It takes so long to get anything done, anything accomplished,” said Ms. Hurst.
Ms. Tsongas spoke to her about the need for immigration reform, which she has supported, but legislative efforts to provide a pathway to citizenship for undocumented workers has stalled in Congress over the past several years.
Ms. Tsongas said there is “work to be done” on the issue.
“They need to be looked at as someone’s loved one, not just an illegal person,” Ms. Hurst said.
Ms. Hurst talked about the impact her brother’s suicide has had on her. Since her brother’s passing, she has learned much more about the issue of mental health, telling Ms. Tsongas that five times as many men commit suicide as women.
“Until you have someone in your life who commits suicide, you don’t realize the statistics. There’s still so much stigma about mental health,” Ms. Hurst said.
Ms. Tsongas spoke about the increased focus legislators are placing on opioid addiction, but indicated there is a need for more comprehensive attention to be placed on mental health.
“Things are coming to a head. Mental health is on par with physical health, and the resources have to follow that,” she said.
Ms. Hurst said she believes the resources allotted to people suffering from mental health issues is insufficient and tragedies such as this past week’s mass shooting in Roseburg, Oregon, highlight the negative effects mental health problems create in society.
“These people need help. You have this population not being taken care of,” she said.
“I know it’s not easy for you to tell me your story, but by making it personal those statistics become human,” Ms. Tsongas said.
Gardner resident Jonathan Dudley wanted to let Ms. Tsongas know more about Gardner.
He shared with her the history of Nichols & Stone and the Chair City Community Art Center project of making handmade books from interviews of former employees of the furniture factory.
Mr. Dudley mentioned the book release party held on Friday evening at the art center to recognize Dale Lucier’s book. Ms. Lucier worked at Nichols & Stone for 33 years as a white sander until the factory’s closing in 2008.
“We wanted to honor the time she put into the products that made this city,” he said.
Mr. Dudley handed Ms. Tsongas a copy of Ms. Lucier’s book. “This is beautiful. The history of these communities are all pretty remarkable, rooted in the industrial revolution in one way or another,” Ms. Tsongas said.
Ms. Tsongas said that arts play an important role in the communities of her district.
“It’s about two things at once, to preserve the past but also create a future,” she said.
The Third Congressional District of Massachusetts includes 37 cities and towns. Besides Gardner, Ashburnham, Westminster and parts of Winchendon are also part of the district. Gardner is on the western edge of the district, which extends east to cities such as Concord and Lowell.
Ms. Tsongas said meeting with constituents is a primary function of being a representative.
“It helps me think about what we need to be doing in Washington. The stories make it real for me,” she said.
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