MARBLEHEAD — Helaine R. Hazlett offers a simple explanation for why she has served on Marblehead town boards, fought discrimination, and helped raise millions of dollars for academic scholarships.
“I have it in my blood to be an activist,” said Essex Media Group’s 2019 Marblehead Person of the Year.
A Marblehead Board of Health member currently serving her third term as chairperson and a former School Committee member, Hazlett co-founded the Citizens’ Scholarship Foundation of Marblehead more than 30 years ago.
Now known as Marblehead Dollars for Scholars, the organization has awarded more than $2 million in scholarships with an endowment of $2 million. The organization’s affiliation with Scholarship America resulted in Hazlett receiving a national award for her work.
A Clinton Avenue resident, Hazlett lived in Saugus as a girl where her father, Dr. Donald Roos, practiced dentistry. The family moved to Swampscott and Hazlett met her husband, James, while attending the University of Pennsylvania.
She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and from Columbia University and went to work as an educator.
In her resume, Hazlett describes “her immersion in volunteer work as an evolutionary process.”
The mother of four with 11 grandchildren and Marblehead resident since 1968, she joined the former Eveleth School parent teachers association and became president.
When people urged her to run for School Committee, Hazlett said she wouldn’t consider the suggestion until she had experienced her children attending all Marblehead public school grades.
“People kept asking me to do it. They found out I cared and that I spoke out,” she said.
Hazlett launched the Friends of Marblehead Public Schools to raise money from private sources to enrich local school programs. The organization celebrated 25 years.
“I find it extremely rewarding to see families and individuals benefit from our community’s service,” she said.
Her passion for speaking her mind and Jewish faith prompted Hazlett to launch two organizations 25 years ago: the Task Force Against Discrimination and Making Ends Meet, with both groups dedicated to helping local residents.
She threw a spotlight on anti-Semitism by ensuring hate-oriented graffiti received attention and sparked conversation.
“People said, ‘We’ll have this all wiped off.’ I said, ‘No, we want everyone to see this,'” she said.
She buttressed her work against discrimination with service, including aiding in the merger of former Temple Beth El and Temple Israel into congregation Shirat Hayam. She serves on the Anti-Defamation League’s North Shore Advisory Committee.
“I put myself out there and I can ruffle feathers,” she said.