ASHFIELD — Patricia “Pat” Thayer never imagined she would be named the Recorder’s 2025 Citizen of the Year — after all, she does what she believes needs to be done to keep her community fed and healthy.
“For the first time in my life, I was speechless,” Thayer said on being notified she was selected. “I’m amazed I got picked. I’ve just been doing things that I love to do, that seem important to me and it just never seemed like a big deal.”
Thayer, 82, of Ashfield, is a longtime volunteer at the Hilltown Churches Food Pantry and has served as the pantry board’s president for the past few years. She also served as president of Highland Ambulance for many years, though she retired from the ambulance service board this past fall.
Thayer will be honored this morning as the 43rd Citizen of the Year at the annual Franklin County Chamber of Commerce breakfast at Deerfield Academy.
Thayer was born in Kinnelon, New Jersey, and moved to Ashfield when she was 12. She attended Sanderson Academy and then raised her nine children in the town. Her first interaction with the food pantry was as a client in the 1980s, when she was going through what she described as a difficult divorce and could not afford groceries.
“I still had six kids at home at that point, and I just couldn’t make ends meet very well,” Thayer said. “A neighbor brought a basket of food over … and she said, ‘Well, this is a new thing starting in Ashfield to help. We heard there were parents who couldn’t quite feed their kids.'”
Thayer said the Hilltown Churches Food Pantry began in 1986 at St. John’s Episcopal Church, and began with a member of the congregation wanting to do something to support residents who did not have enough food. They used the pantry in the church kitchen and filled it with donations, making it free for anyone to come and take the food they needed.
“There’s no income requirements. There’s no requirements whatsoever. If you need food, you come and get food,” Thayer said. “It’s hard enough to come in and do that, which I know from experience. It is not an easy thing to admit you can’t feed your kids.”
Thayer said the support from the food pantry made it possible for her to go back to school and study nursing. She had previously earned a degree in English and psychology, and struggled to find a job that could pay all her bills. She believed a science-based degree would help with her job search. After graduating, she spent 20 years as a pediatric intensive care unit (ICU) nurse and retired as the managing nurse.
A few months into her retirement, though, she felt stir crazy, and went back to work teaching nursing while planning what she wanted to do to keep busy.
“I was going crazy and I was going to make my husband crazy as well,” Thayer said of retirement. “I just had too much energy to stop.”
In retirement, Thayer returned to the pantry, this time as a volunteer.
“When I first got involved with the food pantry, I was a client, and I always said, ‘As soon as I can give back, this is what I want to support,’ because it made such a difference in my life,” Thayer said. “I started as a packer … and then I was invited to join the board.”
Thayer has served as the pantry’s secretary, and for the last few years, as president. She said over the years, the pantry grew in size, with more donors and users. St. John’s joined forces with the First Congregational Church of Ashfield, and the Hilltown Churches Food Pantry moved into the congregational church’s basement.
She added that the pantry has also changed how it operates over the years, and shifted from having volunteers pack up food for patrons to allowing pantry customers to come in and “shop for themselves.”
“I feel so blessed to be in a position where I could do these things after I retired,” Thayer said. “It just felt like the right thing to do.”
Thayer also served on the Ashfield Park Commission, served on the Highland Ambulance board of directors for 20 years, is a longtime member of the Ashfield Rod & Gun Club and is a Sanderson Academy trustee. Trustees assist with maintaining the fields.
She said that, with her experience as a nurse, she understood how important ambulance services are. Highland Ambulance is based in Goshen and serves Ashfield, Chesterfield, Cummington, Goshen, Plainfield and Williamsburg, averaging 1,200 calls a year.
“Town Hall called me and asked me if I would be Ashfield’s representative on the board,” Thayer recounted. “I said, ‘I don’t know a whole lot about this, but sure, I’ll give it a whirl.’ And I just fell in love with it.”
Thayer said during her two decades on the board, including the last few years as president, she has seen the service grow and change in many ways. While Thayer attributes much of Highland Ambulance’s success to the work of the board members, the staff and Service Director Mike Rock, who “strives for excellence,” Thayer has been credited as the driving force behind expanding the board to add associate members. The change has allowed for smoother transitions when members leave or retire. She also played a key role in raising money that allowed Highland Ambulance to purchase a second ambulance.
“We’ve seen it through all kinds of rule changes and insurance payment changes and state unfunded mandates, but we have grown and we have thrived,” Thayer said. “It’s been a wonderful experience.”
Thayer retired from Highland Ambulance this past fall. After falling and breaking her back in September, she had to give up one of her activities.
“It was hard to give up the Highland, but I couldn’t give up the food pantry,” Thayer said.
With help from Hilltown Churches Food Pantry volunteers and her daughter, who drove up from Belchertown every distribution day to help run the pantry, Thayer was able to stay involved and keep the pantry running. She added that she was still able to work with the pantry and manage calls with vendors and donors.
The pantry gets food from the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts and purchases produce and dairy from local farms, in addition to getting donations from businesses and individuals.
She’s now started returning to the pantry for distribution days. She said her team of volunteers has done an excellent job keeping the pantry running.
The pantry feeds approximately 120 families at each distribution, held every other Tuesday at the First Congregational Church. Thayer added that the pantry also welcomes Franklin Regional Council of Governments nurse Meg Ryan for one distribution each month to let people know about health care resources, ask questions and check their blood pressure.
Thayer said the pantry added delivery services for approximately 60 families through a partnership with the Mary Lyon Foundation a few years ago. Pantry volunteers pack up food that is then picked up and delivered across the hilltowns by Mary Lyon volunteer drivers.
She said the pantry distributes approximately 158,000 pounds of food each year, and she believes the pantry will only continue to grow in the coming years.
“It’s going to do nothing but grow,” Thayer said.
She said she’s greatly enjoyed her time with the Hilltown Churches Food Pantry, and will continue as long as she can.
“I’ve loved every bit of it,” Thayer said. “It’s just been so fun.”
Thayer said she sometimes feels selfish for how good she feels working with the pantry, since it’s so fun and it’s nice to help people.
“Going through life like you made a difference, it’s a good feeling,” Thayer said.
She added that she believes everyone should try to find their own ways to give back to their community, and through working together, we can all make the world a better place and support people so they can become their best selves.
“I just feel really strongly that we need to keep our little corner of the world blooming and supportive so people feel safe here,” Thayer said. “Everyone’s got something to offer if they have the environment to bloom in. It’s too important to not do it.”