Kelly Grant Is Newest Member of Bellingham Selectboard

   

“One of the ways I got to know our seniors,” explains Grant, “was through the Zooming activities provided by the Senior Center, like Bingo and Happy Hour. I got a sense of who they are and their concerns,” Grant explained.

Grant is the mother of two, Lorelai, 12, and David, 10, married to Frank, and her two parents are living in nearby Medfield. Her mother-in-law, 76, is confined to a wheelchair and living at a nursing home in Medfield where her main care giver is Grant.

   

For 14 years, Grant was managing home and elder care for a company. And before that, she graduated from Framingham State University with a degree in sociology and a focus on aging populations.

       

“I know seniors are concerned about being stuck at home,” she says. “There’s no contact. They just want to hug a friend or relative. We helped that with the recent drive-in-dinner where they physically got to see friends and that made a big difference.”

   

“Seniors are also concerned about finances like the recent tax override and how it will affect them. I think many feel that they need to invest in the next generation.” She described the senior community as “active and saavy.”

   

Grant observed, “As a town-wide community, we have done a good job in supporting our businesses during the shut-down. There is construction going on which will create new tax revenue and the residential real estate market is incredibly hot, which will help, too.”

   

“I’m also proud of our town departments that have continued to serve through this pandemic.”

   

Before being elected to the Select Board, Grant served five years on the town’s Finance Committee, four years on the Capital Planning Committee, and a year and a half on the Master Plan Committee.