'She did plenty for this city': Remembering Barbara Travis, a champion for those in need

FALL RIVER — She was known as the “Queen of Operation Christmas” for at least 40 years and her co-workers at Citizens for Citizens Inc. affectionately called her “Bubbles.”

But don’t let the endearing nicknames fool you.

Barbara Travis, who passed away on June 10 at the age of 88, was a force to be reckoned with when it came to her impassioned and unwavering fight for impoverished children and adults, assisting thousands of people in need over decades.

“She didn’t judge people and you knew she never judged because people kept coming back,” said Liz Berube, executive director of Citizens for Citizens Inc.

Berube recounts a single mother struggling to make ends meet that Barbara helped, urging the woman to keep going. The mother eventually went back to school and got a good-paying job. Berube said that mother comes back every year with her own daughter to volunteer in the annual “Operation Christmas” event that provides gifts to children in need in Fall River and Taunton, serving about 6,000 kids every year.

Berube, who knew Barbara for decades, said there are hundreds of stories like that of people Barbara touched over her more than 40 years at Citizens for Citizens. She worked in a host of capacities at the agency, first working in the Crisis Intervention Program and for years in the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, running the food pantry and the rental assistance program that helped families on the verge of eviction.

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A single mother herself, Barbara raised eight children on her own — seven daughters and one son. The family lived in public housing and relied on public assistance to get by.

“There were always a lot of hand-me-downs in our house, but she always made sure there was food on the table and we always sat as a family at dinnertime. I think because of her own struggles with eight children it was easy for her to do. She couldn’t give her own money to help the people, but she loved helping the poor,” said Barbara’s daughter, Andrea Travis.

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But despite the hardships, Barbara was an active community organizer for issues affecting the poor even before she started working at the agency in the 1970s, where she first sat on the board of directors.

In the early years, she helped organize a local movement to open a community health clinic for families on welfare and was active in the fight against homelessness.

Berube said when a person was in need, Barbara had no problem reaching out to those who could lend a hand and those in power, joking it was rare that anyone told her "no."

Barbara retired from CFC five years ago in 2017, at the age of 83.

Travis said it was the people she served that motivated her for years.

“I think it was the people that needed her, she always enjoyed helping anybody that needed it,” said Travis. “That was her thing, she was one of them, so she knew what it was like to struggle and never mind having eight kids.”

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"Barbara was the most passionate, caring individual person I’ve ever met,” said longtime friend, Ray Arruda.

Sometime back in the late 1970s, when “Operation Christmas” was first getting off the ground and Arruda was working for a congresswoman, Barbara came calling to see if he could help arrange for the agency to use the lobby at city hall under then-Mayor Wilfred Driscoll.

“I said ‘sure,” so from that year on I’ve spoken with Barbara numerous times,” said Arruda. “She never said no. She never gave a reason why she would or she wouldn’t, she just did it.”

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Arruda said if you didn’t know Barbara, famous for her sometimes saucy language, she could come across as “gruff” sometimes.

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“That’s just how she was. But she did plenty for this city, there’s no doubt in my mind,” said Arruda.

Fall River Welfare Advisory Board

Tom Pasternak, owner of Walsh Pharmacy on Rock Street, said he has a lot of fond thoughts about Barbara.

Above the pharmacy, he runs a rooming house, which he said probably keeps many people out of shelters. He’d worked closely with Barbra to help people on the brink of homelessness through the years.

“I started with Barbara, probably 1971, and we were on what they called in those days, the Fall River Welfare Advisory Board. Each city and town, at that point, was responsible for their own people. There was no such thing as Medicaid,” said Pasternak.

Back then, the board had to create their own programs to help people in need.

“Barbara was one of the leaders of the board. We had a phenomenal team on that board,” said Pasternak.

When Barbara started working for CFC, “it allowed her to continue her mission,” said Pasternak.

Fall River attorney Greg Brilhante said he’s known Barbara since he was a teenager, and is the partner of one of her daughters.

“She was just really a selfless person and always willing to give of herself to the less fortunate. That’s just the way she was,” said Brilhante.

Barbara, he said, was always humble, and what drove her were some of the tough times she experienced.

“Because of that, she made it her life’s mission to help others, because she had been there with her children and she knew the struggles of life. It came naturally to her to help the people who walked into CFC because they were one of her own.”

Jo C. Goode may be reached at jgoode@heraldnews.com. Support local journalism and subscribe to The Herald News today!

This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Citizens for Citizen's Barbara Travis died on June 10 at age 88.