"Mary played a special part in my early recovery when I was young at the Cushing house. You and your mom were always such a light I looked forward to and helped me through one of the hardest times" anonymous

In her long life Mary Dowling was a strong advocate for women of all ages. She worked for nearly 40 years employing thousands of young men and women In her job at the Recreation Department of the City of Quincy. She so saw the need to help young men and women have opportunities, especially those in need of support.

She became a beacon, mentor, mother and grandmother figure to generations of youth. When she retired she came to work for SPOKE, then Medicine Wheel. Her impact on hundreds of young women in early recovery from addiction is legendary.

With the cuts in funding for year round youth employment from the City of Boston, our YOUTHSpeak program is in jeopardy.

Please help us continue her invaluable work with a donation today.

As Mary would say: "Don't Hesitate Recreate". In other words don't wait help us re-create a world where we all belong .

read more about her here

SPOKE is an artist founded and artist run organization. Supporting and collaborating with artists of all disciplines and maintaining the role of artists as facilitators in culture, is central to our work. We use the power of making art to triage critical needs of the communities we serve that are confronting addiction, immigration, systemic racism, police youth relationships, stewardship of our natural world, HIV/AIDS and/or human trafficking. Our work is to seek focus, fairness, and balance. Our goal is to continue to use art and the act of creating together to define a brave new normal and shape a shared future history where each of us has a voice, where each of us is included, where each of us is listened to, where each of us is loved

In Memory of Mary Dowling's Call to Action

"It is a strange world we live in, How do we heal it?" Mary Dowling

Team Members