Seeking community, making connections; Weston’s volunteers keep town running

On any given week in Weston, residents gather around meeting tables and Zoom screens to weigh in on everything from wetlands protection to programming for older adults. They are not elected officials or town employees. They are volunteers, community members who donate their time and professional expertise to help run the town.

Town officials say those volunteers are not just helpful; they are essential.

“We couldn’t perform our functions in town government without the group of volunteers that we have,” said Weston Town Manager Leon Gaumond Jr., noting that many Massachusetts municipalities rely on resident-run boards and committees to guide key policy decisions.

The town keeps the positions filled through online applications and outreach by committee members.

“By and large, we get most of the people from the community to step forward when we put out a solicitation,” Gaumond said, adding that many applicants are recent retirees looking to become more involved in their community.

Still, maintaining that level of civic engagement, especially among younger residents, remains a challenge for local leaders who say the town’s government depends on it. Currently, 16 committee seats remain open across Weston’s boards and commissions.

For some residents, volunteering has become a way to connect more deeply with the community.

Nick Christman, a software engineer and father of two, arrived in Weston in early 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic upended daily life, seeking both refuge and a career change. He expected a quiet escape from the uncertainty. Instead, he found something he hadn’t anticipated: community.

“I wanted to make an impact for the world my kids will inhabit,” Christman said. “So, I started looking at ways to do that professionally, and I thought that I should find ways to help out locally as well.”

Exploring town programming eventually led Christman to an opening on Weston’s Sustainability Committee. He joined the committee in 2021 and within two years became its chair.

During Christman’s tenure, the Sustainability Committee helped Weston earn the state’s Climate Leader Community designation. The accomplishment placed Weston among 19 Massachusetts communities eligible to apply for grants of up to $1.15 million from the Department of Energy Resources.

“I think my primary reason for doing it was not about the certainty of success,” he said. “It was more that I wanted to learn what it really takes to make a difference locally and make the town a little bit more sustainable. I wasn’t sure whether or not I’d be able to have an impact, but I wanted to give it a try.”

For Christman, the experience was also about putting his values into practice and “putting some of my time and effort where I claim to care,” he said.

After years spent commuting into Boston for demanding careers, Linda Johnson and her husband, residents since 1998, mostly “slept in Weston,” as she puts it. Like many couples without children in the school system, they didn’t feel connected to the town’s community life.

That changed after her husband was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Johnson retired to care for him full time, a role that introduced her to the quiet network of support operating behind the scenes in town government. When frequent falls meant calling 911, Weston’s first responders became familiar faces. She began to dread those calls but found reassurance in a dispatcher saying, “No, no — that’s what we’re here for. Don’t hesitate to call.”

In search of more community, Johnson volunteered for the Weston Art and Innovation Center in 2019. The experience connected her with people who encouraged her to attend a Council on Aging (COA) event. Soon she was volunteering once a week and meeting neighbors she had never met before, including some who lived just down the hill from her house. She joined the COA board in 2020, served as chair in 2023, and earned a renewed term in 2024.

“I think the major thing I would like people to know is how rewarding it is to volunteer for the town — whether it’s an organization like the Council on Aging, or the Art and Innovation Center, or the library,” she said. “There are so many ways to get involved and serve and meet great people.”

This story was written by a journalism student in BU’s Newsroom program, a partnership between the university, the Weston Observer and other news organizations in the Boston area.

Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly reported that Nick Christman had stepped down as chair of the Sustainability Committee. He is still chair of that committee.