A community comes together for a great cause

On March 25, 2010, in Latest News, by The News Staff

By William Tauro

Hundreds of people gathered Thursday evening to attend the eighth annual "Brian Higgins Trivia!" This years sold out packed event was held at Cusens Gym located at Tufts University on College Avenue in Medford. The trivia portion of the event consisted of over 70 teams who discussed answers among themselves and competed against other teams in the areas of literature, entertainment, history,sports, music, commercial mascots and more.

Each year Over 700 people compete in one of Somerville's most successful and enjoyable fund-raising event. The Brian Higgins Foundation knows that events like this are only successful because of the kindness of people like from the local communities who are so willing to help.

The Brian Higgins Foundation (BHF) is in its eighth year. The Foundation was established the BHF as a memorial to the Higgins family's late son/brother Brian and as a means of helping other children with special needs and their families. The most important goal of BHF is to help relieve some stress even if it is for a little while for families with children who are differently-abled.

Over the years continuous support has helped award numerous scholarships, paid for medical equipment that insurance would not cover. The foundation has bought assistive technology equipment to help the children connect with their peers and world around them. The BHF has been able to send numerous children to summer camps. It's also helped Best Buddies of Somerville High School, Somerville Youth Hockey, and the Challenger League Baseball at Malden Little League West. For the first time BHF helped sponsor the Somerville special Olympics swim team with team swimsuits. And on September 10, 2009 the Brian Higgins Tot Lot at the J.F.Kennedy School was dedicated and is a fully accessible playground for all.

Mayor Joseph Curtatone also had his own team entered in the trivia competition as well. On the Mayor's team was: Mayor Joseph Curtatone, Matt Buckley, Jackie Rossetti, Janis Delory, Cindy Hickey Carla and George Landers and Keith Gregg.