Longtime resident volunteers for variety of causes, events

Among her many volunteering activities, Margie Wiggin can be found helping out at the start of the Boston Marathon every April.

Editor’s note: This is a feature in the Independent called “Hopkinton High-Five” where we salute a resident who has made contributions to the community.

For Margaret “Margie” Wiggin, the urge to lend a helping hand can strike at any moment.

Even while doing something as mundane as standing in line at the supermarket.

“I’m just the kind of person who loves to help people,” Wiggin said. “If there’s someone in front of me at the grocery store and they drop something, I pick it up.”

Wiggin’s volunteer work extends far beyond the local food marts. The longtime Hopkinton resident has been involved in a number of community-oriented programs over the years.

As a mother of three children, Wiggin’s initial volunteering was centered around her kids. Wiggin helped out with many a school event, including as a room mother and regular chaperone, and even dressed up as “Swoops,” the eagle mascot at Elmwood Elementary School, while working there for 10 years as a teaching assistant. She also was a leader for her two daughters’ and son’s Scouts troops, and coached in the Hopkinton Youth Soccer Association.

Wiggin is a regular Boston Marathon volunteer, working at the information tent at the Town Common, and previously served on the town’s Cultural Council and Youth Commission.

“I’m the oldest of four kids, so I was always helping my mom, always helping my siblings. It brings me joy to help others,” Wiggin said.

Currently, Wiggin is focusing her time on a few particular efforts. She serves on the Library Board of Trustees, is a greeter at her church, Faith Community Church of Hopkinton, and sings with the Hopkinton Center for Arts’ Treblemakers chorus.

Additionally, she hosts the HCAM-TV show “What’s Out There?” featuring the trails and natural resources in town, as well as “Character Matters,” a show targeted towards kids ages 5 to 15 to highlight positive role models and values.

Wiggin insists that the love of her fellow townsfolk is reason enough for her tireless service.

“I feel like the people in Hopkinton care about each other,” Wiggin said. “I think it’s that ‘It takes a village to raise a child’ kind of place.

“When I walk down the street in Hopkinton, people look at each other and they say ‘Good morning’ or ‘Hello.’ In other places where I have lived, such as Newton or Boston or anywhere else, people look at the ground when they walk past another person.”

That inherent helpful nature was so apparent throughout town that Wiggin was asked to run for a spot on the Select Board in 2016. She came in third place, but said she would consider running again in the future.

“People know that I like to help and that I have a pretty good brain and I speak pretty well and I really care,” Wiggin said. “Had I gotten that position, I would have worked very hard to do my best for the town of Hopkinton.”

Naturally, her helping spirit translates to her professional life as well. Wiggin, who has a teaching degree and a master’s in education, worked for 11 years as a teaching assistant in Hopkinton before shifting to the same position in Hudson last year and now Upton.

“I kind of got slotted into the teaching assistant role because my kids were my priority, so I didn’t want to be full-time intense focused on a job,” Wiggin said. “I wanted to be available for my children.”

When she isn’t working, Wiggin enjoys singing, dancing, attending live music shows, skiing and being out in nature.

She even has taken up writing children’s books, her most recent being a book released this fall titled “Changes for Cynthia, Hopkinton Library’s Squirrel” celebrating the upcoming 125th anniversary of the library.

While Wiggin isn’t a native Hopkintonian, having grown up in Newton, she said it didn’t take long for her and her family to learn what makes the town tick.

“We loved the nature and the water and the feel of the town, the wonderful small-town warmth of the town,” she said. “People help each other in Hopkinton. It’s not just a beautiful place to live.”

If you know of a volunteer in town worthy of recognition in a High-Five feature, email editor@HopkintonIndependent.com.