Barnstable County human rights commission honors Cape Codders for advocacy, dedication

Anne Brennan, Cape Cod Times
Updated ·2 min read

HYANNIS — More than 200 people gathered Jan. 8 to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and to honor Cape Codders dedicated to preserving and protecting those rights.

Eleanor Roosevelt, as the U.S. representative to the U.N., led the effort to establish the declaration, signed in 1948, after the genocide and ethnic cleansing leading up to and during World War II, said Jeanne Morrison, chair of the Barnstable County Human Rights Advisory Commission, and emcee at the annual event.

The declaration was created to be a "common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations," Morrison said, quoting Roosevelt, who emphasized the importance of people coming together in their communities beyond government to work for human rights.

Barnstable County Human Rights Advisory Commission member George “Leo” Blandford gives award recipient Ngina Lythcott a hug after she accepted the Tim McCarthy Award on Monday in Hyannis. The award was presented to Lythcott by Brian O’Malley, the Provincetown representative to the county assembly of delegates. This award is given to an individual or organization that promotes human rights. Lythcott has been an active voice for children and racial justice in Provincetown for the past 20 years.

"If their work doesn't have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere," Roosevelt said. "Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world."

Those honored Jan. 8 for their work include Ann Burke, a committed advocate for transgender people and Cape Cod Advocate for Fenway Health's Violence recovery program, who received the Cornerstone Award; the Nauset Interfaith Association's Martin Luther King Jr. Action Team and police chiefs from Chatham, Orleans, Brewster and Harwich, who have worked together to improve interactions between police and communities of color, received the Rosenthal Award and Ngina Lythcott, an advocate for children, public health and racial justice in Provincetown, received the Tim McCarthy Award. This award is given to an individual or organization that promotes human rights.

Unsung Hero Awards were presented to Patricia Cawley (Duffy Health Center), Christine Drew (probation officer), Natalia Frois (Covenant Care for Foster Families), James Matthews (Cape Cod Community College), Dan Miville (Faith Family Kitchen), Chris Morin (Independence House), Cecilia Phelan-Stiles (Cape Cod Healthcare), Sheril Smith (Positive Alternative to School Suspension), David Thomas (Barnstable Early Childhood Programs), The Family Pantry of Cape Cod and Health Ministry Inc.

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Barnstable human rights commission honors Cape Codders for their work