The meeting on January 13, 2026, was a special recognition event held in Fall River, Massachusetts, to honor Mary Jo Martin as a "Fall River Icon." Martin was celebrated for her strong work ethic, kind heart, and selfless acts, specifically an incident where she welcomed back a family with an autistic child to her restaurant after they felt unwelcome by other patrons. She received a commemorative bat from Lulu Leoo, who initiated the recognition program through Lovely Access Bats, and a citation from the Massachusetts House of Representatives. The citation, presented by Carly on behalf of State Representative Carol Fiola and signed by Speaker Ronald Mariano, acknowledged Martin's "selfless act of standing up for others with kindness and compassion." State Representative Alan Sylvia also spoke, thanking Martin for her contributions. Martin humbly accepted the award, stating it was also for the "good people" who work for her at her restaurant on Wilson Road. The event concluded with a second recognition: a memorial bat presented to State Representative Allan Sylvia in honor of his grandson, Adam Ahmed Khan, a Marine who had recently passed away. Sylvia expressed his surprise and gratitude for the tribute.
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Today we're here for something very special. We're gonna uh honor Mary Joe.
0:04She came to the United States when she was 18 with a strong work ethic and a good heart. And she built a life for herself in the United States and she continues to be a shining light today.
0:16She's the kind of woman that would give you the shirt off her back.
0:20And she's always been a voice for those who want to be heard.
0:24One day, not too long ago, a family came into the restaurant with an autistic child and it the child was being a child and um some people started muttering about what they should do in the restaurant and what they shouldn't do and the family wanted to leave and they did leave and Mary Joe went out to the parking lot and said, "No, no, come back in. You're welcome here. We want you in
0:49our restaurant." And she reached out to make sure they felt comfortable and knew they could come to is whenever they want. That's why we're here today to honor her because that's the kind of special person she is and it's a great restaurant. We'll give it a plug for business. We'd love to see you come out.
1:04And with Blue Leoo's help at Lovely Access Bats, we go around acknowledging citizens that do great things. And so this bat is for Mary Joe Martin, a voice for the voiceless.
1:20I don't know what to say, but thank you, Mary. which is I don't know I guess the right thing to do.
1:26It was the right thing to do and we really uh appreciate you. Representative Alan Sylvia from the south end may want to say a few words.
1:33I just want to uh thank Mary for their contributions to our community. Uh it's people like this that make a difference.
1:41And also want to thank Lulu Leoo.
1:43He always wants to stay in the background but Lulu Leoo is really uh the brainchild of of this program. Of course, it's his bat. And uh we're happy to be here today to have and and um we want to make sure Mary Joe knows she's not going to use this bat on customers she's not happy with.
2:03This is not for that. It's for baseball.
2:05So when you go play out field, you can come on in.
2:08Also joining us today is Carly from Representative Fiola's office.
2:12Sorry, I'll I'll scoot in here. I'm not not much for the camera. I'm here on behalf of State Representative Carol Fiola, who unfortunately couldn't be here. She was called away to meetings in Boston, but presenting a citation from the Massachusetts House of Representatives for Mary Joe. It reads, "Be it hereby known to all that the Massachusetts House of Representatives offers its sincerest congratulations to
2:34Mary Joe Martin in recognition of receiving the Fall River Icon Award for your selfless act of standing up for others with kindness and compassion. The entire membership extends its very best wishes and expresses the hope for future good fortune and continued success in all endeavors given this day 13th of January 2026 and signed by the speaker of the house Ronald Mariano and offered
2:56by state representative Carol Fiola. So, congratulations.
3:03And I want to say something.
3:05I'm too nervous. This award is not just for me, but also for the girls that work for me because they all good people every single goes for all of us. Okay. Thank you.
3:21That's the family right there.
3:25Thank you.
3:26Now, this is very special. is a very special place up here on Wilson Road.
3:31Come on up, try the breakfast, try the lunch. They'd love to see you and you'll be in the company of good people that do a lot of good things for the community.
3:39So again, thank you very much.
3:41Thank you. Appreciate it.
3:42Congratulations. Very nice to meet you.
3:44Thank you guys. Thank you again.
3:49And we have one other person we want to acknowledge today.
3:54um through a tragedy. Um my good friend, State Representative Allan Sylvia lost his grandson and Louie also wanted to commemorate that so that Allan and the family would have um a memorial fitting for someone that was a Marine, devoted his life to the country and regretfully passed away. So for Adam Ahmed Khan, we're going to ask Representative Sylvia to accept this bat as a token of Louis acknowledgement.
4:30I I had no [cheering] idea that this was happening, but uh it's an honor. Of course, terrible tragedy to the family over the holidays and uh we're still recovering, but uh um I know his parents will uh look forward to seeing this.
4:47Thank you all very much.