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Longtime Sudbury volunteer Tania Vitvitsky was recognized by State Representative Carmine Gentile at the Commonwealth Heroine Awards ceremony on June 24, an annual event celebrating women across Massachusetts for their service and leadership.
Gentile (D-Middlesex 13th), whose district includes Sudbury, praised Vitvitsky as a volunteer leader who has spent years working to improve her community both close to home and around the world.
“Ms. Vitvitsky clearly represents the New England ideal of an engaged citizen-advocate,” Gentile said in announcing the recognition.
In Sudbury, Vitvitsky’s civic contributions span housing, local politics, and direct service. She has served as a member of the Sudbury Housing Authority, has chaired the Sudbury Democratic Town Committee, volunteers with the Sudbury Food Pantry, and has been a key organizer with Sudbury Stands for Democracy.
Her work also reaches well beyond town lines. Vitvitsky has made annual humanitarian visits to Ukraine and helped raise hundreds of thousands of dollars in aid for the country. She also serves as a trustee with Donations for Education in Liberia, supporting educational efforts there according to an announcement issued by Representative Gentile’s office.
Gentile framed her dual commitment, both local and global, as the through-line of her service. “In an interconnected world beset by poly-crises, advocating and standing up for what is right requires us to act both globally and locally,” he said, adding that Vitvitsky “meets and exceeds this measure” through her organizing at home and abroad.
According to the program book for the awards, Vitvitsky was born in a Displaced Persons camp in post-World War II Austria. She immigrated to the United States as a child, arriving in Boston in 1949. She spent more than twenty years at the Sabre Foundation in Cambridge, eventually serving as its Executive Director and President, where she built and expanded international book-donation programs across Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East. That work took her to 61 countries. (Page 33 below)
The Commonwealth Heroine Awards, presented through the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women, honor women nominated by their state legislators for the work they perform in their communities. Each year, representatives and senators select honorees from across their districts to be recognized at the State House.
[Feature image: Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women]