WESTFIELD – To honor loved ones and thank those that have worked the front lines during the pandemic, the Friends of the Westfield Athenaeum are running a luminaria fundraiser and will display the luminarias in December.

Each luminaria costs $6 and will be personalized to include the name of the person it is in honor of, along with the name of the donor.

Joan Machacek, a member of the Friends of the Westfield Athenaeum, said the idea to hold this luminaria fundraiser came from one of her friends at the First Congregational Church.

“A good friend of mine has done luminaria on a smaller scale at the First Congregational Church across the green. We just talked about how nice it would be to spread that throughout Westfield. She was the force that pushed me to think that this was something the Friends of the Library could do,” she said.

She said that initially the idea for the fundraiser was to light the luminarias in honor of somebody, but because of the pandemic added the option to thank people as well.

“We started out with just in memory of and in on honor of, and then decided that we needed to be able to say thank you to all of the people who have worked through everything, so that’s where the in gratitude of came from. It’s just something to feel positive about,” she said.

Joanne Picard, the secretary with the Friends of the Athenaeum, said that they had sold over 200 luminarias a week before the fundraiser was supposed to end.

“Our committee had a meeting last night and we currently are at about 200, which we think is really wonderful and it will enable us to put out a really nice display. We’re grateful that the vast majority of people have given a donation beyond the cost of the luminaria itself,” she said.

One of the ways the pandemic has made the fundraiser more difficult is the production of the luminarias.

“We’ve set up a kind of virtual assembly line, so that one person is punching the star designs into the bag, another person is picking them up and treating the bags with coating that will protect them from dampness, and another couple of people are handling labeling. It’s worked out okay,” Picard said.

She added that donations from the fundraiser will go directly into helping the Athenaeum with its programs.

“The Friends has a board of directors who review requests from the Athenaeum for funding and make those donations as the requests come in. And typically, we have funded things like the summer reading program, the movie nights, the museum pass program that allows residents to museums in other cities at reduced costs, and things like that,” Picard said.
Once all the luminarias are sold, they will be displayed around the green on three Saturdays in December.

“What we’re planning to do is deliver luminarias to businesses around the green so that there will be a ring of light around the green. Depending on how many orders we end up with, the majority will be displayed at the front of the Athenaeum, but we might have some displayed on the door on Court Street,” she said.

On the last night of the luminaria showings, people will be able to pick up and bring home their luminarias.

With so little for people to do right now because of the pandemic, Machacek said that she hopes it gives everyone something to do.

“We’re giving people an opportunity to do something positive and there’s so little we can do right now, and this just seemed like a good way for people to express themselves. Giving something to the community was the biggest part of it,” she said.

Picard said she hopes the displays give people a chance to safely get involved in the community.

“We think the event itself will be a way for people to drive by or walk around the display. It will be outdoors and there should be plenty of space for people to keep their distance,” she said.

In an email after the interview, Picard said Westfield Bank will sponsor the event.

The deadline to order a luminaria is Nov. 7 and they will be displayed on three Saturdays in December on Dec. 5, Dec. 12, and Dec. 19.