Loretta LaCentra of Revere was named to the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women’s 2020 class of Commonwealth Heroines. LaCentra was honored for outstanding contributions to her community. The Commonwealth Heroines are women who “don’t make the news, but make the difference.”
LaCentra works tirelessly to make her neighborhood and her city a healthier and safer place for all to live, work and recreate. As a longtime advocate for her neighbors in the Riverside section of Revere, and a founding member of the Alliance for Health and Environment, she has been the leading neighborhood voice in dealings with the company that operates the incinerator and the unlined ash landfill directly across the river from her family’s home.
For her advocacy for the environment, she was recently honored by the Saugus River Watershed Council as a River Stewardship hero for working to protect the natural resources in Rumney Marsh and Pines River.
In addition to her environmental advocacy, LaCentra is a volunteer at North Shore Elder Services, where she works as a money manager helping seniors with their finances and bill paying. She also volunteers at My Brother’s Table in Lynn, helping to serve free meals to the most vulnerable of populations.
LaCentra and her husband Ricci have two adult children, Ricci and Erica, and Loretta is caretaker of her elderly parents, Louis and Lucille San Miguel.
“Having worked with Loretta on the Alliance for Health and Environment and on issues impacting the City of Revere, Loretta’s tenacity and courage to stand by her convictions inspire and amaze me,” said state Rep. RoseLee Vincent (D-Revere). “Loretta is always ready to roll up her sleeves to get the job done — whether it’s canvassing her neighborhood to turn her neighbors out to a public meeting or volunteering her time to the underserved members of our community, she quietly makes a positive difference in Revere.”
“Loretta LaCentra is a strong and effective advocate for her neighborhood and her community. Her recognition as an Unsung Heroine is well-deserved and truly appropriate, for Loretta goes about her work without fanfare and never in search of plaudits,” said Revere Mayor Brian Arrigo. “Her scrutiny of the issues that impact the environmental conditions of the Saugus-Pines River area, and her concern for those who lack a voice in the community, are powerful reminders of the benefits that resident advocacy can provide to an entire community.”
The Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women is an independent state agency that was legislatively created in 1998 to advance women of the commonwealth to full equality in all areas of life and to promote their rights and opportunities.