In my close to 50 years as a resident of Hopkinton, most has been spent in a career in real estate development and construction, both residential and commercial. This makes me a nuts-and-bolts guy, both literally and figuratively, in a licensed industry requiring skills navigating complex contracts with infrastructure components, code compliance and the foresight to envision a project and its place in a community.

Loring Barnes brings these skills from that very sector, and having met her and heard her speak on several occasions, I believe electing her as our next state representative would be an exceptional opportunity for our town. Hopkinton has become “construction central,” for which she brings advantageous knowledge that is both relevant and current. Some of the projects and developers with which she has worked are nationally known.

Beyond this, in my role as trustee and chair of the Building Committee for Milford Regional Medical Center, I noted with interest her role as a board member of Hospitality Homes for more than decade. This is a Greater Boston nonprofit that provides patient access to world-class medical care by creating a network of donated host homes and apartments at which patients and their caregivers can stay, at no cost, during their treatment. For more than a decade, Loring grew awareness and donor support of Hospitality Homes, which became national model that has solved this major problem for incoming patients: accommodations affordability with normalcy, especially for pediatric patients and their families during extended stays.

I later found out that when she had her own unscheduled trip to our Emergency Department in Milford, that not too soon thereafter, personal notes followed to thank her lead physician and nurses for their care. I think this says a lot about her character and attention to detail.

If you meet Loring, which I encourage, you will find her to be engaging, dedicated to service, and very much wanting to help people. She’s doing this for all the right reasons, and I believe we have a unique opportunity to gain a very special liaison in Beacon Hill if we make it happen as voters. If you’re tired of politics as usual, which I think all are, I hope you will vote Loring Barnes as our next state representative.

— Vascen J. Bogigian, Hopkinton

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