An Act Of Kindness Multiplied: Waltham Patch Hero

WALTHAM, MA — It started around Easter. Liz Dragone and her daughter, who are known to dress as the Easter Bunny to entertain their neighbors, got a request to bring some safely distanced bunny cheer to a family ahead of the holiday.

Dragone has been a postpartum nurse at Mount Auburn Hospital for 16 years but hasn't been able to work since during the pandemic for health reasons.

"Obviously, you feel horrible if you're not working right now and you're a nurse," she said.

The she got an idea — and #LoveWins2020 was hatched. She's using her dancing Easter Bunny shtick to raise money to feed the staff in her department at the hospital.

She posted a picture of herself on Facebook in fully regalia with this note: "Bunny on the run.....if you’d like a visit and help nurses at the same time please IM me. We will make visits and just ask for a donation.....any amount is fine! The money raised will be going towards buying meals from Waltham businesses to support nurses on Labor and Delivery and Postpartum at Mount Auburn! If you can’t donate-that is not a problem-the bunny runs on love!! You can Venmo the bunny @dragone (The Bunny won’t be within 6 feet of anyone)."

Right away 150 requests poured in. They took turns as the bunny, starting at 8 a.m. to drive around Waltham, Sudbury, Belmont, Watertown and Arlington to surprise children, make them laugh and do a little dance.

Her Facebook page, started filling up with the evidence of those visits: photos of grinning children posing with an Easter Bunny on the other side of a window or at a safe six feet in the background.

She took the money she raised to Joe Sent Me in Waltham to order food for the nurses at Mt. Auburn and for Pizzi Farm. Neither would accept her money.

"I was so blown away, I needed to figure out a way to pay it forward," she told Patch. "I was thinking everything is just so negative, and yet there is good coming out of this. It isn't all bad."

She decided to use the money to help the Waltham businesses that always support schools and nonprofits during their fundraisers.

She bought gift cards to start a contest she called "LoveWins2020," in which she for the names of people doing incredible things around the city. The nominees included nurses, grocery store workers, people making masks, city workers and neighbors.

She and her daughter picked names from a hat to send a meal or a gift card to as a way of thanking them.

They delivered sandwiches and pizza to workers too busy to go to the restaurant to buy food: police officers, firefighters, staff at nursing homes, hospitals and City Hall workers standing in the rain hosting food pickups. They've delivered food to the Boys and Girls Club; coffee, water, lunches and snacks to the homeless, provided food and money to families that had nothing, and shopped for people who need it.

And the donations kept coming in.

"Waltham is so generous and so kind and it's great to be able to hear the nominations and see what people are doing these days to make people these days better for everyone," said Dragone, whose daughter and husband are both major parts in this effort.

She brushes aside the suggestion that she, too, is a hero.

"No, no, no way," she said. "The people who are working in the hospital and taking care of the COVID patients, and the police and the fire going to the calls. They are the heroes, the people working at the grocery stores and still showing up for work. We're being asked to just stay home, and they're being asked to put themselves and family at risk."

The nurse said she's looking forward to getting back to delivering babies, a profession that by its nature helps others and ushers joy and hope into the world.

But sharing love and delivering a different kind of hope during a time full of uncertainty is a bit of a dream job right now, too.

"It's really turned into something awesome and it makes me smile every day," she said.

Debra Cacciatore who is a friend of the Dragone family nominated Liz as a Patch Hero. The one thing she wanted everyone to know about her? "Her giving personality," she said.

Do you know a hero? Waltham Heroes: Help Patch Recognize People Making A Difference

Patch reporter Jenna Fisher can be reached at Jenna.Fisher@patch.com or by calling 617-942-0474. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram (@ReporterJenna).