DORCHESTER — More than 200 guests packed the parish hall in the basement of St. Margaret’s Church to support the Mary Ann Brett Food Pantry, which helps thousands of people make ends meet each year.
Last year’s breakfast raised more than $100,000 in donations for the Food Pantry, which is located in the basement of this church, part of St. Teresa of Calcutta’s Parish, right next to where the event is held each year on the Saturday nearest to St. Patrick’s Day.
The 13th annual breakfast, hosted by New England Council CEO and President James T. Brett and his family, is not solely a fundraising event, it is an induction ceremony into the Dorchester’s Hall of Fame and a chance for Dorchester residents and those who were born or formerly lived and worked in the city’s largest neighborhood to gather.
Inducted into the Hall of Fame this year were Boston City Councilor Annissa Essaibi George and Dr. Jim O’Connell, and, in a surprise announcement, Harry Brett, who serves as the event’s photographer, and sister, Peg McCobb, who both have worked tirelessly to support the food pantry that is named for their late mother, Mary Ann, who settled in Dorchester after emigrated from Co. Sligo, Ireland.
Among the special guests in attendance were US Representatives Steve Lynch and Ayanna Pressley, Governor Charlie Baker, Mayor Marty Walsh, Boston Police Commissioner Willie Gross, Boston Fire Department Commissioner Joe Finn, fresh off a 9-alarm fire in East Boston that destroyed a casket making company, actor Kevin Chapman, and singer Pauline Wells.
Photos by Bill Brett and Harry Brett
