Using surpluses to combat hunger

When Iseult Ward and Aoibheann O’Brien started FoodCloud in Dublin 10 years ago the pitch was to environmentalism, frugality, and eliminating waste. But in today’s Ireland, with steep cost of living increases and many still struggling to get on their feet post-Covid, the appeal of FoodCloud has become its use of surplus food to eliminate hunger among the working class and the poor.

The South Boston-born orthopedic surgeon Dr. Dennis Burke was honored by Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital-Milton (BID Milton) in October at a fundraising dinner at the JFK Library in Dorchester. The event raised $550,000 for capital projects at the hospital.

In his remarks, Dr. Burke said, “I look out into this room tonight and see so many patients who have become my friends and so many friends who have become my patients. For all those who have trusted their care to me, I thank you for that honor and privilege.

Jon Cronin is universally described as a calming presence, as generous financially as he is unflappable in temperament and not afraid to “show up” and work in the trenches for the many causes he supports.

A Cork man who came to Boston in the late1980s, Cronin, 56, saw the opportunity here very quickly and catapulted hard work and acumen into a successful restaurant and real estate career. Now living in South Boston with his wife, Nicole, and three children, Vivienne, Alanna and Stone, he talked about his success in life with humility.

When she was growing up in Ireland, the first thing Mary Swanton remembered hearing about from American tourists was something called a three-decker. “My Dad was a tour driver and Dad and Mom often had us play our musical instruments for the Americans when they were there,” she said. “I remember that I was six years old listening to Americans who were talking about Boston, and they said they lived in a three-decker. It’s one of my first memories, and I wondered, ‘What in the name of God is a three-decker?’”