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FITCHBURG — Cheryl Cucchiara’s passion for keeping her son’s memory alive by giving back to her community has only grown over time.

The city resident has organized many fundraisers throughout the years since launching nonprofit JJ’s Helping Hands Network to help those in the area in need, a tangible way to honor her son Jesse Jarvis, aka JJ, who died on Mother’s Day in 2018 at the age of 36. She’s asking for help doing that by “accepting donations for those less fortunate” and will be at the craft fair at the British American Club located at 1 Simonds Rd. on Sunday, Feb. 1 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

“I’ve been pretty active the last few months as I started doing craft shows to earn money for JJ’s Helping Hands,” Cucchiara recently shared about her efforts to earn money for care packages distributed locally. “I’m not a very crafty person but I have gotten very interested in diamond art painting and to me it’s like therapy.”

She sits in the evenings “plugging away at those little diamonds,” sometimes until well after midnight, and quipped that “my husband can’t understand it.”

In the JJ’s Helping Hands Network Facebook group about section, Cucchiara talks about “the terrible grief that myself and our family has endured” — and how paying it forward has helped her in some ways to manage that pain.

“My son was a very giving man, always wanting to help and protect others from Bullies and Battered Woman victims,” she wrote. “Although, he was never a Dad himself, he would of been a great one if his life wasn’t taken so young.”

Warm winter hats, gloves, scarves, and more are included in the care packages being distributed to local shelters through JJ's Helping Hands Network, the nonprofit organization Fitchburg resident Cheryl Cucchiara founded in her late son's name. (COURTESY CHERYL CUCCHIARA)
Warm winter hats, gloves, scarves, and more are included in the care packages being distributed to local shelters through JJ’s Helping Hands Network, the nonprofit organization Fitchburg resident Cheryl Cucchiara founded in her late son's name. (COURTESY CHERYL CUCCHIARA)

At the end of August, Cucchiara purchased a bunch of clothing for the young students temporarily living at the Barbara Garneau House, the former and renovated Our Father’s House shelter on Lunenburg Street named after the Opportunities For Hope founder.

“The school kids that live there are like any other child,” she said. “They love the start of school and the new clothes their folks had bought for them along with school supplies. So, I used part of the proceeds that was made at the craft shows this past summer for new outfits and undergarments.”

In addition, she has also bought winter coats and accessories including hats, gloves, and scarves as well as “an abundance of personal care items” such as toothbrushes, toothpaste, combs, lotions, body wash, towels, foot warmers, and “many pairs of socks.”

“This has come out of my own pocket, which has been adding up to be quite a lot and making a profit on the crafts isn’t very profitable for a retired woman on a limited income,” Cucchiara disclosed.

A couple of ladies from the British American Club and friends of her recently helped her fill bags with all the useful items, lending a hand “as they have many times in the past.” Most of those care packages will be going to the shelter in Fitchburg and the other Opportunities For Hope family shelter in Leominster, the Neddy Latimer House, which was named after the longtime Spanish American Center executive director last fall.

Fitchburg resident Cheryl Cucchiara, center, had some help from two ladies filling care bags that are being distributed to local shelters through JJ's Helping Hands Network, the nonprofit she founded in her late son's name. (COURTESY CHERYL CUCCHIARA)
Fitchburg resident Cheryl Cucchiara, center, had some help from two ladies filling care bags that are being distributed to local shelters through JJ’s Helping Hands Network, the nonprofit she founded in her late son's name. (COURTESY CHERYL CUCCHIARA)

There will also be some distributed to the Fitchburg Veterans Center and Cucchiara has worked with Coats for Kids and is always collecting hats and other items for homeless in the region. Other efforts include Cucchiara and her dedicated crew doing a teddy bear and blanket fundraiser for three local community focused organizations — Salvation Army Fitchburg Corps, Our Father’s House, and Catholic Charities — which she said, “was a fun one.”

“Seeing so many happy faces tugged at my heart,” she said.

If people want to get involved with what she’s doing and “contribute towards some of these organizations” and her efforts, they can reach out to Cucchiara via email at [email protected] or call or text her at 978-855-1712.

“I would be more than happy to pick up donations as well,” she said.

All items that go to the family shelters must be new and she also gladly accepts local grocery store gift cards for food pantries in the area, including the one at Reingold Elementary School that was revitalized thanks to a $1,000 donation from All One Credit Union last year that was facilitated by Cucchiara through JJ’s Helping Hands Network.

She appreciates all the support from the community and is determined to keep the momentum going.

“If some of our neighbors are willing to help out JJ’s Helping Hands in the coming months that would be wonderful.”

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