Signs Of Support From 'Plymouth Strong' Freshman Brenna Guiliani

PLYMOUTH, MA – Brenna Guiliani's first high school softball practice was supposed to be that next Monday.

The Plymouth North freshman had completed her volleyball and basketball seasons on the Eagles’ freshmen teams and was looking forward to softball starting on March 16. Only, within days of when she was set to hit the diamond, that first practice was delayed for two weeks due to emerging fears around the coronavirus.

Two weeks became a month. A month became two months. Two months became a season lost to the health crisis.

Fields were empty. Students were home from school. Most of society stayed inside.

Guiliani decided she wanted to find some way to do something as time stood still in so many aspects of a typical high school freshman’s life.

"A lot of people felt helpless," she told Patch. "But we were doing food deliveries to people in town that needed it, and I saw the amount of food was getting less as the amount of people needing it was getting more. I knew that I could do more."

So Guiliani looked around for ways to help increase donations to the Plymouth Council on Aging and South Shore Community Action Council, and found one in Whitman. That's where she learned of Clare LaMattina of Whitman, a Thayer Academy eighth-grader, who was selling "Whitman Strong" signs to benefit the local food pantry.

Guiliani reached out to LaMattina to find out how she organized it, and how she could use the idea to help bolster the food supplies in Plymouth to meet the growing needs of the emergency.

"I saw there was a big need right now and that our community needed to do more," she said. "Right now is the time that we need to come together."

Using the same Printing Unlimited company that the Whitman teen used for her signs, Guiliani began selling "Plymouth Strong" signs to show support for Plymouth EMS, fire, police and health care workers. As of Wednesday, she said she has sold 150 signs — raising about $1,500 for Plymouth families in need.

"I wanted to do a sign that was relevant for everyone in Plymouth and that raised money and showed support for front-line workers at the same time," she said.

Guiliani said she came up with the design, and softball coach Susan Harrison helped recreate the design digitally for printing.

"All the doctors, and people in the hospitals, and police officers are working so hard right now that I think it's nice for them to drive around the town and see reminders that we are all behind them," said Guiliani, adding that she is thankful to the family, friends and neighbors who have supported her in the project.

While Guiliani said she has misses her classmates and teammates during the stay-at-home order and social distancing — she said they stay in touch by phone to try to help each other get through the isolation — her siblings have helped turn the "Plymouth Strong" project into a bit of a family affair.

Her older sister, Ellie, who attended the University of Rhode Island, has helped organize the orders through a spreadsheet with her sister, while her twin brother, Cole, helps assemble the signs and load them for deliveries around the expansive town.

"Everyone is pitching in," said Cathleen Guiliani, Brenna's mother, who is the driver for most of the deliveries. "It's nice to see when we drop them off to see people who may have been shut in so happy to see somebody. So it's nice for them to see us, and nice for us to see them."

On Saturday, the family plans to have a "Plymouth Strong" pop-up up store in the Plymouth North parking lot selling signs from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Those who want a sign or two can pay in advance through Brenna Guiliani's Venmo account at Plymouth-Strong, or through a check at the time of pickup made out to the South Shore Community Action Council.

Those who pay in advance can have the signs put directly in their car trunks for contactless delivery.

"We want to raise as much money as we can and hopefully see a sign in every lawn in Plymouth," Brenna Guiliani said.

(If you have a story of a local business, organization or individual lending a hand to those in need during the new coronavirus pandemic, or lift spirits amid social distancing and isolation, Patch
wants to let people in your community know about it. Contact Scott Souza at Scott.Souza@patch.com to help us spread the positives during this uncertain time.)

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This article originally appeared on the Plymouth Patch