By Carol Britton Meyer

The Nantasket Beach Salt Water Club hosted 15 children and young adults from Pappas Rehabilitation Hospital for Children last Saturday for a special event featuring lobster boat rides around the harbor, a view of a Boston fire boat and a state police boat offshore, and a cookout.

A highlight of the adventure was a state police motorcycle escort from the hospital to the club.

**ON THE WATER.** The Nantasket Beach Salt Water Club hosted children and young adults from Pappas Rehabilitation Hospital for Children last Saturday for a special event featuring lobster boat rides around the harbor and a cookout at the club. [Jennifer Whelan photo]

NBSWC member Ray Jackman, who has worked at Pappas for the past 30 years – before he retired and now part-time – arranged for cookouts in the past in cooperation with the club. They were so successful that offering an expanded event in 2023 and this year was the natural outcome.

Click here for a full gallery of images by Jennifer Lynne Photography

“Club members wanted to do something bigger and better, so now we plan to do it every year,” he said.

The Canton-based hospital, formerly the Massachusetts Hospital School, provides medical, rehabilitative, educational, recreational, transitional, and complementary alternative medical services to children and young adults ages 7 to 21-plus with multiple disabilities. PRHC, an accredited pediatric chronic care hospital, helps patients achieve their optimal level of independence in all aspects of life.

Friendships formed

“It’s a great event hosted through the club, with local lobstermen donating their time,” Jackman said. “There’s a nice relationship between club members and Pappas, where friendships are formed and families are welcome to attend, with everyone just hanging out together.“

Participating lobster boat captains were Tim Walsh, Sean McMullen, Chad Mahoney, Ron Patuto, and Eric Meschino.

It’s a nice experience when families attend these events together, “because due to some of their medical needs, it’s sometimes difficult for parents to take their kids out into the community,” he explained. “To me, it’s about kids being kids. It’s nice that the Salt Water Club has been so giving and welcoming and that the kids and club members have such a connection and know each other by name. They truly care about each other.”

‘It’s quite a partnership’

Jackman has arranged “for the Pappas kids to come to our club over the past few years,” NBSWC Director Jim Reichardt told The Hull Times. “It’s quite a partnership.”

The NBSWC also sponsors birthday and Christmas parties and other events for Pappas children and young adults, and is hosting cookouts every Tuesday throughout the summer.

The Nantasket Beach Salt Water Club, with a membership of about 250, started out as a boating club and evolved over the years into a boating and social club that supports many local causes, from the schools to families in the community in need of assistance to Pappas events, Jackman said.

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