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Date: 4/13/2021
CHICOPEE – For Women’s History Month, one Chicopee resident gifted 100 roses to various women in the community. Johnny Miranda Alomar is a Chicopee native who works to highlight local businesses, artists, services and positive community stories on his YouTube channel. Alomar said he wanted to do something special for Women’s History Month, which led to him distributing the roses and filming it for his channel.
“I was looking for a way that I could honor the women of our city in the best way that I could and I just thought that giving a rose was a noble gesture and was something that they would like, so I went with that,” said Alomar.
Various women were honored during the day, but Alomar said he specifically made sure to hand out roses to the women in City Hall and to the women workers and business owners in Chicopee Center. Some passersby also received roses from Alomar.
He said the reaction was positive and cheerful from everyone who received the flowers. Some laughed, some cheered and they were all joyful.
“None of them expected it and it kind of made their day because it’s pretty rare for people to be gifting roses. In my childhood giving flowers and roses was something that carried a lot of love in it and I’ve always been a guy to give roses or any flower for that matter, so it was something I identified with and thought they would enjoy,” said Alomar. “It was nice to see their reactions.”
The video of Alomar handing out the roses has over 200 views on Youtube. He said he plans to do something like this again in the future and that he already has a new video to post on his channel soon. The next video will feature Chicopee Center Food Force, which is an initiative started to deliver food boxes every weekend to community members in need.
After that video, Alomar said he will post a feature on Beer Bros of Western Massachusetts, an organization who gifts monthly boxes of beer and helps raise money for different causes in the area.
“Through my blog I just want to highlight the good things that are happening in the community, the good people, the good artists. We have a lot in our community and I think that we need to highlight it a little bit more,” said Alomar.
Alomar himself is a local resident and artist who has painted many murals throughout the city. One of his most well-known murals would be the painting of Bunny, a beloved figure in the city.
Alomar is Chairman of the Chicopee Cultural Council, previously ran for Ward 2 City Councilor and is a part of the Chicopee Center TDI Initiative and the Chicopee Envision 2040 Plan. He considers himself a local activist for the city and said he is grateful he gets to highlight positivity in the city.
"In the YouTube world, we were missing. Chicopee was missing. We needed someone in Chicopee to highlight the good things that are happening and the people and so that’s why the blog started and so I just hope that I can continue to put up a new video every week,” he said.
Those interested in staying up to date with Alomar’s videos are encouraged to visit his YouTube channel under the name Johnny Miranda. He can also be found at Facebook under Johnny Miranda Alomar and on Instagram with the username ‘iamjoito.’