Jeannine Randolph, a Chestnut Street resident, through her social marketing agency, Infinite Ideas Inc., and its client Shaw’s Supermarkets, has created a project that will result in 10,000 underserved children receiving fully stocked backpacks for the coming academic year.

Infinite Ideas is an innovative boutique agency that creates programs that benefit the community. Randolph launched the agency two years ago.

“Shaw’s asked us to design a program that benefits the communities in which they serve,” said the 41-year-old Randolph, who has 15 years of experience in the radio, television, and newspaper industry.

Randolph’s idea was to create a pack-a-thon, and the program she developed is called Shaw’s Back to School Pack-A-Thon.

“Our agency was able to secure 10,000 backpacks plus all the school supplies that go into them, along with 40,000 books,” said Randolph. “The backpacks will include anything that you could possibly need for a child to go back to school.”

Randolph has been working with Mayor Thomas Menino’s Office, celebrity spokesman Marc Brown, creator of the six-time Emmy award-winning “Arthur” series on PBS Television, and the office Depot Foundation in partnership with Feed the Children to host a kickoff event for the Pack-A-Thon project on Friday, Aug. 17, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at City Hall Plaza.”

“In my opinion, to have in attendance Marc Brown, whose “Arthur” character is a symbol for education, is a great honor,” said Randolph.

At City Hall Plaza, Randolph and scores of volunteers will stuff the backpacks for distribution to needy children. The stuffed backpacks will then be distributed to needy children throughout Boston and Massachusetts by the local non-profit Cradles to Crayons.

Randolph said the project is a perfect fit to what her agency is known for: bringing people together that normally wouldn’t work together on a project.

Randolph, who is married to Dr. Carl Marci, a psychiatrist at the Massachusetts General Hospital, previously worked for Boston Business Journal, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s organization, Greater Media, and Infinity Broadcasting.

Randolph is encouraging Beacon Hill parents to bring their children to the Aug. 17 event to help them learn about giving to the community. Comcast, Children’s Hospital, Neighborhood Health Plan, and Gentle Dental will be holding children’s activities at City Hall Plaza in addition to the Pack-A-Thon. WODS Radio will be broadcasting and MIX-98.5 will bring their ice cream truck to the event.

The Pack-A-Thon project is another high exposure event for Randolph’s thriving agency and she’s enjoying every minute of the hustle and bustle of the Boston media relations scene.

“I’ve been very lucky because when you do something this exciting and you’re on the phone with a particular client, they’re excited, because they know their efforts will actually make a difference,” said Randolph. “I have the best clients in the world. There is a need for corporations to help their community and they’re looking for creative ways to do that, and that’s what I offer. If you want to have your child help another less fortunate child, register to volunteer at www.packathon.com or email us at packathon@comcast.net.”

The Beacon Hill Civic Association recently hired Lisa Horton, 22, as the organization’s administrative assistant.

She will be responsible primarily for supporting some of the BHCA committees and will help Executive Director Suzanne Besser with general office work.

Horton graduated in May from Northeastern University with a degree in public communication and a minor in history. She worked at Hill House as one of her co-op jobs, a Northeastern program combining work and study, from January through June, 2006. The year before she was at the State House as a tour guide. These two jobs gave her a good start at familiarizing herself with Beacon Hill.

Those experiences caught the eye of Becky DeLaune, the BHCA’s former executive director, when she checked out the Northeastern web site that was filled with resumés of graduating seniors. Hill House gave her a good recommendation, so Delaune called Horton to ask if she wanted to apply.

“It was very convenient for a girl looking for a job,” said Horton.

Horton grew up in upstate New York, in a small town called Cobleskill. She spent part of her college years studying in Greece and at the University of Edinburgh. Horton lives on Columbus Avenue, but is moving to Jamaica Plain in September.

The Beacon Hill Times follows the progress, or lack thereof, on Cambridge Street through direct observation and interviews with the project’s supervisor John Lepore.

Progress during the week of Aug. 6 - 10

Traffic signals: Pedestrians reported problems all week with flashing yellow lights instead of red and green and no police officers at such intersections. It has been hard to see any progress this week on the traffic signal front. The problems could have been aggravated because John Lepore was on vacation.

Street paving: Two people have reported a sinkhole as big as a head and about four feet deep in the middle lane between the fire station and Joy Street.

CAPTION: Sinkhole

Street lights: Still not working properly.

Around 30 residents and local business owners filled the gym at 74 Joy Street for a public safety meeting this past Wednesday. The meeting, headed by City Councilor Mike Ross, A-1 Area Commander Captain Bernard O’Rourke, and A-1 Sergeant Tom Lema, had been in the works for some time. It was made clear from the outset with the reading of crime statistics for the surrounding area by Captain O’Rourke that the meeting was not intended to counteract an endemic of crime, but to inform citizens of appropriate preventative measures. It was equally evident that the onus of crime prevention and reporting rests squarely on the shoulders of residents and witnesses.

The most frequent response from Captain O’Rourke and Sergeant Lema to the questions posed by the collected concerned citizenry was that people need to call 911 to report the incidents they witness. An officer patrolling a neighborhood for a few hours a day, several days a week is not privy to the same insights as residents. There has to be a fairly consistent flow of information from residents to police. Appropriate situations for calls to 911 run the gamut from people smoking marijuana and loitering, to incidents of shoplifting and attempted burglary. Residents witnessing such offenses, especially A-1 priority crimes such as assaults, burglaries and crimes in progress, need to contact 911 immediately. Response time, according to Captain O’Rourke, is six to seven minutes on average for A-1 priority crimes.

Officers offered suggestions on how to prevent burglaries and loitering. Sergeant Lema advocated deadbolts and window locks that prevent windows from being fully opened since criminals usually test homes for the easiest target. Merchants were also encouraged to use call trees to alert nearby store owners and managers of a recent theft as a way to minimize immediate repeat “quick grabs.” In terms of preventing loitering and panhandlers, residents were encouraged not to give money to beggars, as this rewards their efforts and is a token of consent for them to continue begging. Instead sympathetic individuals should donate directly to charitable organizations. Also, residents should use public spaces such as parks and gardens in order to “reclaim them.” Drug dealers and the homeless are less likely to visit areas known for alert locals who are willing to call 911 at the sign of illegal activity.

The homeless, like good executives or professionals, know the value of networking with their peers, according to O’Rourke. Specifically, they know what areas are lax and easy to use and which ones are closely monitored. Of course, there is a difficult happy-medium to strike since safe neighborhoods attract the homeless who, like all of us, appreciate the security of a quiet neighborhood.

As Captain O’Rourke affirmed, the problems discussed “are not unique to Beacon Hill.” Similarly, the solutions proffered could easily be applied to basically any area of Boston. The goal is to avoid fostering behaviors that invite crime to the area; locking doors and windows, reporting incidents, and taking back public spaces are all essential to preventing crime.

What it takes to contain human behavior

Sometimes it takes almost an act of the legislature to get something done.

On West Cedar Street near Charles Circle there was a little patch of asphalt — perhaps 8 inches wide. It had been left there when MBTA bricklayers bricked the Charles Circle sidewalks. Apparently the bricklayer decided that his contract ended at a certain point and he had no responsibility to blend his bricks with those of the city’s sidewalks.

Several times it was pointed out to Charles Circle supervisors that laying a patch of asphalt on the sidewalk was no way to finish the project. More than a year went by.

Finally, the neighborhood’s state representative got involved. Marty Walz pointed out the problem to the MBTA. Remarkably, finally, they fixed it. The asphalt is gone. Bricks now blend in perfectly with the bumpy city sidewalk.

At another location, it might take a police officer — or at least a sign — to stop people from doing what they shouldn’t.

The median on Cambridge Street has been completely planted and the flowers and trees are getting perkier and fuller by the week.

But pedestrians, especially those commuters getting on and off the T at the Bowdoin station and heading for the offices at 100 Cambridge Street, are crossing the street on the narrow median and trampling the plants. One of the residents of the complex around 100 Cambridge Street has asked them to stop, and you can imagine the kinds of words exchanged.

The Boston Transportation Department has agreed that the first step in stopping the trampling might be a sign. Since BTD has no authority to tell people not to step on flowers, the sign will read something like “Please cross at the crosswalk.”

We wonder about those who live outside the city. Do they see Boston as a work place and a theme park, but not a place where people live and care about their neighborhoods?

Human behavior has improved on one front. Drivers who never moved their cars on street cleaning day when the punishment was a ticket, have become model citizens. All it took was a bright red Stadium Auto Body flatbed truck scooping up their car and taking it away. Now whole streets are empty when the street cleaner comes chugging up or down along the curb.

The streets may not be pristine, but they are cleaner than they’ve been for decades. Thanks, Dennis and BTD.