Tierney, Murray meet with Lynn organization

NAHANT – Members of Neighbor to Neighbor Lynn met with Congressman John Tierney and Lt. Gov. Tim Murray in Nahant on Thursday evening.The event was at the Winter Street home of George and Becky Richardson, who have held a fundraiser for the organization once a year for the last decade.”It’s a wonderful organization,” Becky said. “This is always a nice event and everyone is excited about being here. We have people come from Nahant, Marblehead, Swampscott, Peabody and other North Shore communities.”Becky said there was a larger turnout than usual this year.”We had more than 50 people this year,” she said. “Turnout is always better in an election year. We raise between $3,000 and $5,000 a year for Neighbor to Neighbor because we really believe in the work they are doing. Neighbor to Neighbor is about providing job opportunities for low income people, registering low income people to vote and finding ways to engage low income people in the political process.”According to the organizers, the Lynn chapter of N2N is striving to “empower low-income people in Massachusetts to vote to protect programs at stake and turn the tide this election.”Lynn School Committee member Maria Carrasco, who has been on the board of N2N for four years, credited work by the organization for her election to a seat on the Lynn School Committee. She said the organization is about education, affordable childcare, a welfare safety net and progressive taxation.”Most of our members are people that have not been involved,” she said. “They are very low income people that didn’t believe their voices could be heard and with N2N realize they have a voice. We go to the State House and lobby for our people and our communities. What we do is so great. We were fighting for CORI reform and were able to get it. We look for issues we can fight for and things we can change in our communities.”