Jim Hennigan, president of the The West Roxbury Business Professional Association (WRBPA), emphasized the importance of members efforts at a monthly meeting at the Corrib Pub in West Roxbury, on Nov. 18. This was the second meeting of the 2025/2026 cycle and Hennigan wanted to feature owners of new businesses. However, only one of the owners made an appearance Karen Jones, head of the new arts organization Arts on Centre. She provided a brief highlight of the success of her business in terms of sales and interest in budding local artists.

Jones has been working in the arts in West Roxbury for almost a decade now and readers may already be familiar with the name, as she hosted several events The Bulletin has covered in the past. She began the meeting sharing examples of her stores artwork and said that her location was a place for artists to do their work, display and sell it.

Artists range from age 7 to 82, and she held up pictures from each artist on opposite ends of the age spectrum. The art space itself is part funky art store, part gallery.

We have had major sales every weekend, she said. Arts on Centre is open Thursday to Sunday from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. Beginning with four artists, they now have 24, from jewelers, potters, and painters. However, Arts on Centre will likely change location as the landlord plans to build condos in the future. One would be smart to take advantage of the convenient current location, on Centre Street, near Roche Brothers. For those interested in dabbling in the arts, workshops from flower pressing to unusual art forms like encaustic art to children's Christmas decoration will take place on weekends.

For more information, visit artsoncentre.org.

Much of the meeting involved Hennigan praising the members good works and encouraging them to keep it up during the holiday season, where volunteerism opportunities are aplenty. While the typical WRBPA meeting runs like clockwork with guest speakers and city officials making short speeches, this iteration felt more family style and since only one featured speaker showed up, Hennigan threw up his hands and said, and then there was Jim Hennigan, which delighted the crowd as they sipped their hot coffees and enjoyed the bounty of pastries from Roche Brothers.

Roche Brothers collaborates with Hennigan every year toward the Mary Mulvey Jacobson Families in Need Program. Mulvey-Jacobson was, by everyones account, an all-around great person who used to run the WRBPA until she passed away in 2017. She ran Families in Need for almost 30 years before that, delivering thousands of Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners along with help from volunteers over the years to Parkway families in need.

Hennigan has since taken over and continued her spirit of helping neighbors. He said they are doing their annual deliveries of turkeys and groceries on November 25 and also on December 23. To either volunteer or donate to the cause, send an email to jim@jimhennigan.com.

He said contributions have been extraordinary this year and then gave a shout out to one of their sponsors, The Cooperative Bank, and introduced a new manager of the Roslindale location.

Midway through the meeting he offered a second chance for featured speakers to address the crowd. Since one of the featured speakers was the manager of Trader Joes, on member joked they must be stuck in traffic. Trader Joes is located almost across the street from the Corrib. Also expected to attend was the owner of the soon to open smoothie/juice bar, featuring foods like acai bowls. Hennigan said they would be there for the December meetings and shifted focus to business owners/members in attendance: Matt White of Matt White Realtors, Myles Duffey of West Roxbury and Joe Donnelly of Vogt Realty, across from St. Theresas, and the 50 or so other members.

Donnelly said he has been there since 1989. And as Hennigan said, yes you have, White, likely a competitor, jokingly shook his fists. A representative for State Senator Mike Rush thanked Hennigan for everything he does, to which Hennigan replied, I get a lot of credit for what everyone here does.

Someone from the back of the room announced Hennigan would be receiving an award by the Salvation Army. Hennigan demurred by saying that this felt like a set up and confirmed his award Dec. 4 at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. Hennigan then reminded everyone, the Salvation Army fundraising outside of Roche Brothers will start Dec. 5 and while the bitter cold winds might give way to hesitation, volunteering lasts only one hour.

You can survive an hour, he said with a laugh.

The money that is raised by the Salvation Army goes to people who might well be a neighbor too ashamed to ask for help. This program is successful because of people right here in this room who have rung the bell. Shifts run from 9a.m. to 6 p.m.

As an incentive to attend the next meeting in December, Hennigan promised Christmas goodie bags as well as an appearance by the Trader Joes manager. While Trader Joes has excited many residents in search of lower prices, it has also created some issues in terms of parking. District 6 City Councilor Ben Weber assured the crowd that many of the issues regarding parking and sidewalk use could be easily resolved.

Stephen Smith of the West Roxbury Neighborhood Council promoted volunteering for Roses Bounty, especially now that the White House has made clear its priorities which do not include feeding the poor. Smith said even a half hour of time was valuable as food pantry lines are longer than normal. The activities director from the German Centre promoted the annual tree lighting ceremony December 5. People are already in Christmas mode it appears as many holiday markets and tree lighting opportunities emerge across the nearby neighborhoods.

Lindsay Chase, of West Roxbury Main Streets, and Weber both gave credit to Smith for helping to get the Welcome to West Roxbury sign moved to a more prominent spot near Joes 320 at the corner of Spring St. and Providence Highway/Route 1, a notable restaurant, which has been featured on Phantom Gourmet. Chase also said that the veterans banners along Centre Street will be replaced for the winter by holiday banners as well as wreaths, a volunteer effort by the Boy Scouts. She asked for help on finding an electrician to assist attaching lights to the poles for the Christmas season.