O’Connell Lends Support to HHS Gay-Straight Alliance

HOLYOKE — O’Connell Care at Home, a leading home-healthcare provider in the Pioneer Valley, provided uniforms for the Holyoke High School Gay-Straight Alliance to wear at the 64th annual Holyoke St. Patrick’s Day Parade on March 22. It marked the second consecutive year that O’Connell Care at Home has provided assistance for the alliance to march in the parade.

“A commitment to humanity is an integral part of our identity at O’Connell Care at Home, and fostering a culture of inclusion within our community is something I am most passionate about,” said Fran O’Connell, the company’s founder and president. “Everyone deserves respect, and sponsoring the Holyoke High School Gay-Straight Alliance demonstrates our core values of respect, dignity, and inclusion.”

Last year, in response to disagreements between the Boston St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee and MassEquality, a Boston-based LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) group about the latter’s participation in the Boston parade, Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse extended an invitation to MassEquality to march in the popular Holyoke St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

In response, the Gay-Straight Alliance at Holyoke High School expressed an interest in marching in Holyoke, but was unable to raise the required sponsorship fee. O’Connell Care at Home stepped in to help and sponsored the organization. This year, O’Connell donated the cost of uniforms for the Gay-Straight Alliance, which marched under the Holyoke High School banner.

“My father, Francis Patrick O’Connell, helped found the parade over 60 years ago,” said O’Connell. “The sense of tradition and pride in our city is as strong today as it was then, which is why we have offered to pay the sponsorship fee for the Alliance.”

A regional event that attracts more than 400,000 civic spectators annually, the Holyoke St. Patrick’s Day Parade has been a cherished institution in the Pioneer Valley since 1952. Each March, the city’s streets swell with people celebrating Irish heritage, civic pride, family, friendship, and tradition.

For more information about O’Connell Care at Home, visit opns.com.