Boston Senior Home Care will honor former state representative Brian Dempsey and Dr. Michael Curry, president and CEO of the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers, at its Legacy of Leading Gala on Thursday, October 1, from noon to 2 p.m. at the Four Seasons Hotel Boston. The nonprofit's signature annual fundraiser is expected to draw nearly 300 business and community leaders and advocates, with proceeds supporting in-home services, home-delivered meals, behavioral health programs, caregiver support, and efforts to reduce social isolation for older residents across Boston.
The gala is described as BSHC's annual signature sellout event, according to Charlestown Bridge, and this year's proceeds are set to help the organization connect 13,000 older adults, people with disabilities, and family caregivers each year to needed services and supports. Boston Senior Home Care is a private nonprofit human services agency based in Boston that was founded in 1974, and it functions as one of 24 state-designated Aging Services Access Points contracted under the Massachusetts Executive Office of Aging and Independence, coordinating care across 10 Boston neighborhoods including Charlestown, Dorchester, Chinatown, and East Boston, according to Mass.gov. That statewide ASAP network traces back to the Massachusetts Home Care Program established in 1972, one of the nation's earliest state initiatives designed to offer alternatives to nursing home institutionalization, per ETHOS.
Two Honorees With Deep Beacon Hill Roots
BSHC Chief Executive Officer Meg Hogan said the organization is honored to recognize Dempsey and Curry for their commitment to service, per the gala announcement carried by Charlestown Bridge. Hogan has led Boston Senior Home Care since 2017 and previously held senior executive roles at Home Health Foundation, the National Patient Safety Foundation, and the Massachusetts Hospital Association, according to PLAN of MA and RI. She has focused BSHC's work on supporting economically vulnerable seniors and expanding resources for family caregivers, the same source notes.
Dempsey served 26 years in the Massachusetts House of Representatives representing Haverhill, from 1991 to 2017, including four terms as chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means, the chamber's chief budget-writing post, before founding the consulting firm Dempsey Associates in 2018, per CommonWealth Beacon. Since then, Dempsey Associates has grown into a major Beacon Hill lobbying practice, earning $4.4 million in client payments in 2025 while representing major healthcare organizations and industry coalitions, including clients such as Beth Israel Lahey and Blue Cross Blue Shield, according to the same outlet.
Curry brings a parallel track record in public health and civil rights advocacy. He leads a network of 52 community health centers operating across more than 285 practice sites that treat over one million patients statewide, according to the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce. Curry served as president of the Boston Branch of the NAACP from 2011 to 2016, co-chaired the Massachusetts Legislature's COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force, and was named a 2021 Bostonian of the Year by The Boston Globe, per the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute. Curry has also previously spoken with Hoodline on Boston health equity issues and on immigrant families' access to care in the region.
Emcee, Sponsors, and What the Money Funds
Janet Wu, a former Bloomberg News anchor and reporter, will emcee the event, per Charlestown Bridge. The gala's Diamond Sponsor is Planned Lifetime Assistance Network of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, known as PLAN of MA & RI, and BSHC announced the second year of its strategic partnership with the organization. PLAN of MA & RI, incorporated in 1971, is a nonprofit special needs trust administrator that pairs each beneficiary with a licensed social worker as a service coordinator, according to Northeast Arc.
Emily's Foods of Chelsea, a door-to-door food delivery service for elders and family childcare programs in Greater Boston, has supported the Legacy of Leading Gala for over a decade and will continue as a platinum sponsor this year, per Charlestown Bridge. Corporate sponsorship opportunities remain available, and tickets for the luncheon are currently on sale.
A Broader Mission Beyond One Event
Boston Senior Home Care connects older adults, people with disabilities, and family caregivers to home- and community-based services and supports across Boston, including in-home services, person-centered planning, home-delivered meals, and other essential health and safety services. The organization also provides evidence-based behavioral health and wellness programs, education and resources for family caregivers, and programs specifically designed to reduce social isolation and strengthen wellbeing, all funded in part by events like the gala.
That caregiver-focused mission extended further in November 2025, when Boston Senior Home Care partnered with the platform ARCHANGELS to launch the $90,000 Any Care Counts – Massachusetts initiative, aimed at evaluating and assisting unpaid family caregivers, according to the organization. The initiative reflects a broader push by BSHC to support caregivers who are caring for loved ones while often neglecting their own self-care needs. At last year's Legacy of Leading Gala, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu joined local healthcare leaders to highlight community-based elder services across Boston's neighborhoods, as reported by The Boston Sun, underscoring the civic profile the event has built over the years.
