Megan Charlop cared.

Everyone who knew her knows that. But her death last March at the age of 57 in a bicycling accident focused the broad community of family, friends, and colleagues she knitted together over 30 years — as a Bronx mom, advocate and activist — on just how much she cared and accomplished in her too-short life.

Megan worked for Montefiore Medical Center for 26 years. She was instrumental in creating the Safe House for Lead Poisoning Prevention o

n Mosholu Parkway. For the last seven years she directed the community health department of Montefiore’s School Health Program, where, in an effort to combat childhood obesity, she was central to citywide efforts to remove high-calorie sweetened milk from school cafeterias and to create more opportunities for healthy eating and exercise. The head of School Health, Dr. David Appel, called Megan “a true genius in community health and advocacy.”

A Long island native, Megan’s Bronx work reached back into the harrowing mid-1970s when she helped found People’s Development Corporation, a grassroots revitalization group. Despite all her responsibilities — at work and at home as the mother of four kids — she opened her home to foster children and to foreign families brought to the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore for special surgeries.

Though she never sought or received the credit she deserved, Megan was a true Bronx hero. But it’s also important to remember that she wasn’t a superhero. No one is. That’s the lesson of Megan’s life. We can each make a choice to work a little harder and a care a little more. We can try to waste less time on the things that don’t matter and spend more time on things that do.

We miss Megan and we can never replace her. But, in a way, she lives in all whose lives she touched.

Rachel Charlop-Powers, Megan’s younger daughter, summed it up at the funeral ceremony: “While we didn’t get everything we wanted from my mom, she gave us everything we need, and the rest is up to us.”

admin

Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.