Angie Raneo Chilaka: Spirited Community Supporter

Harwich Neighbors Magazine

 You can’t be around Angie Chilaka for long before you notice her frequent use of the word fun, and share in her equally frequent laughter. With her refreshing attitude, she always finds fun, and something to laugh about in all the many things she does.

An only child, whose father was police chief, John Raneo, Angie says there were lots of cousins in her North Harwich neighborhood so there was always someone to talk and play with. She still lives in the house she grew up in which was built by her grandfather, Frank Raneo, Sr., in 1922.

“I grew up with animals. My father raised 500 turkeys. Deer, coyotes, rabbits come through; my neighbors have horses and goats; and my kids had hamsters, canaries. It’s been a Noah’s ark!”

Following graduation from Northeastern University where she majored in health education and physical education, with a minor in general science, Angie headed off to New York City to graduate school and marriage. She earned a master’s degree in health education at Columbia University.

After graduate school, Angie and her husband, a math professor, raised their family and worked in New York. They lived in Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn. Angie taught for ten years at St.Ignatius Loyola in Manhattan, and is still in touch with one of her favorite nuns who just turned 100. After 14 years in New York, Angie came back to Harwich and taught health education and peer leadership courses for 30 years at Harwich High School and then Monomoy High School.

Angie has three children, all of whom graduated from Harwich High School, as did Angie. Andrea, 44, an attorney in New York City, was Assistant District Attorney for New York and is now a senior counsel for the hospital system of New York. Her son, Justin, Angie’s much-loved grandson, is 21 and attends City College in New York. James, 43, works for the parole department in Fall River. Amanda, 35, lives in Brookline, and works at Whitehead Institute doing DNA sequencing. Always interested in genealogy, she wrote a book, "Early Cape Verdean & Portuguese Genealogy of Harwich, MA" and is at work on a second book.

It’s not giving away any secrets to say that Angie loves to support the community. She serves on the board of the Council on Aging, the Facilities committee for the Harwich Community Center, and belongs to the Cape Verdean Multicultural Club of Harwich, the MLK committee, and the Barnstable County Human Rights Academy. Last year she brought Monomoy high school students to the Academy to get the kids involved and learn about issues. She is also a volunteer with the Red Cross and the American Heart Association where she has also taught CPR classes. She is the producer of the Cape Verdean Heritage Oral History Project, a video documentary series. Her first interview was with her cousin, Albert Raneo, who is well-known for his own efforts to help support the community.

But closest to her heart is finding ways to support local children. Harwich is blessed with many helping organizations, many of which are for children, but Angie, wondering how she could help out after her retirement in 2017, saw a need. She gathered 15 retired teachers and community members and formed the Harwich Children’s Fund. “We knew a lot of kids in the school district needed help.” Through their fundraising they have been able to give teachers supplies the schools don’t provide, gift cards for families for food, clothing, and other necessities. This year they are presenting a local student, Emma Santoni, with a scholarship in honor of Anne Leete, a beloved teacher at Harwich/Monomoy High School. “We do fundraising all the time – selling bracelets, having raffles, anything to raise money.” As in everything Angie does, she says “we have a lot of fun.”

Angie loves all sports, but especially basketball and played for Northeastern. She has also coached basketball and softball at Harwich/Monomoy High Schools.

Not having the money for big trips, Angie took her kids on mini-vacations to places like Salem and Washington, D.C., and says, “They always had to have an educational component.” On her bucket list is a trip to California to visit her college roommate.

Angie, who says she’s not a city person, likes being outside and loves working on projects. “I like to be able to see my accomplishment when I’m done." It is certain that if you ask around Harwich, you will learn of the many accomplishments of Angie Chilaka.