It takes a village to ring in the New Year

Charisse Sebastian needed a place to wear her Rum Tum Tugger costume; eighteen years later she is still volunteering at First Night, this year as a house manager. People start volunteering at First Night for all kinds of reasons and many of them come back year after year, like Shawn Hatch. Shawn thinks he’s been volunteering at First Night for eleven years, but he’ll have to go back and count the vests to be sure. Florence Cooperstein who has been volunteering at First Night for longer than she cares to admit says, “Those were good days and these are good days too.”
Kenn Douglas volunteers at First Night every year because it’s a nice transition between the fall and spring semesters at Boston University where he is an associate something or other. Kenn always enjoys watching the magician B.J. Hickman although he said, “maybe this year I’ll have a new favorite, I’ll have to see how well Nonia’s group performs.” Nonia Burroughs has run the phone bank for the last few years. Every year she looks forward to answering the tough questions, like “When is First Night?” Nonia is usually the official night of the event go-for girl, but this year she’ll be getting in on the act as a part of the A Major Dance Group.

First Night volunteers wear many hats and not just New Year’s party hats either. Talisha Gilliard was really excited when Joyce Bishop called her to help in the office this year. “It’s nice to contribute behind the scenes,” she said. But her favorite part about First Night is working with her brother and the two of them will be puppet captains in the parade this year. A lot of volunteers come as a package. Tom Aprille had so much fun as an usher his first year at First Night that he invited a two friends to join him the next year, and five more the year after that. This year Tom will be volunteering with a group of about 20 friends and friends of friends.

Working for a good cause can be a fun way to ring in the New Year. Ruth volunteers for the Boston Marathon, the Jimmy Fund and the Red Cross among many others. But she says First Night is one of the highlights of her year. “It’s always exciting and fast moving,” she says “and it was always wonderful to see when the little children used to come in their jammies.” Emily Murphy has been volunteering at First Night for the last three years and is happy to help out however she can even to the extent of writing about herself in the third person. Everyone’s happy to help because as Tom Ciulla, a volunteer of thirteen years, says, “It’s important to help the arts in Boston, to provide a platform for both new acts and old professionals. First Night is a great way to keep the culture flowing through our city.”