Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | March 7, 2022 | Worcester Business Journal 25 ARCHITECTURE | PLANNING | DESIGN INNOVATION 50 Speen Street, Ste 300, Framingham, MA 01701 Photo: © Keitaro Yoshioka 617-467-3119 MATZCollaborative.com CREATIVE SPACES FOR LEARNING, GROWING AND SUSTAINING today. fidelitybankonline.com Clarity. Confidence. You deserve a bank that actually cares. With our unique LifeDesign Banking approach, you will get the clarity you need to make informed decisions, so that you'll be able to move forward with confidence. 800.581.5363 | FidelityBankOnline.com H A L L O F F A M E F O C U S as it did during the COVID-19 pandemic, when it began providing a food delivery program to help people social distance, or making and distributing masks to hospitals, first responders, and other frontline workers in the face of massive shortages. "If there were to be a person held up for being the epitome of the Heart of the Commonwealth, Anh Vu Sawyer would be it," said Tim Garvin, president and CEO of the United Way of Central Massachusetts, which works with and operates out of the same building as SEACMA. Under Sawyer, the nonprofit exudes a can-do attitude, with both the executive director and her staff always willing to say yes when confronted with an opportunity to help, Garvin said. He pointed to the organization's COVID response, as well as its ongoing role in helping to resettle Afghanistan refugees. "at doesn't show up on a website, but I think it speaks to Anh's leadership and how the entire Southeast Asian Coalition has followed her style and her passion in the community," Garvin said. It's precisely those staff members, as well as the clients SEACMA works with, Sawyer wants to li up. e region's Southeast Asian population, she said, are underutilized as resources in the community, and she aspires to a cultural shi wherein the people in those groups are no longer considered needy, but needed. SEACMA's operations aim to make that dream a reality. Shrugging off the idea of her leaving her own legacy, she views the organization as an incubator for Southeast Asian leaders. She can easily rattle off names of staff members she views as rising stars in and around the Worcester community, noting they are paid as well as their private sector counterparts, and given the space to both lead and take pride in their work. "I believe with all my heart that these people … are going to change the world for the better," Sawyer said. At the end of the day, she said, it's love driving the energy at SEACMA, although she says she knows that may sound cheap to those on the outside. But it's that love, and a deeply held personal faith, she said, that drives her in her work. "If I don't believe in miracles, I can't do this job," she said. "It's too difficult." W

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