Swim25: Joy McNulty Can’t Say No

 “I’m just a girl who can’t say no,” from the musical Oklahoma, could be Joy McNulty’s mantra - not to be confused with Nancy Reagan’s Just Say No. No. “Yes” is what she got when she moved here 40 years ago, and yes is what she says when the community comes beckoning.It was 1972, as a corrections officer in New York state, that she said no to the conditions that spawned the infamous Attica prison riots, and moved to Provincetown with her four children and her partner’s three. Stan Sorrentino heard she could cook and asked her to run the Port-O Call Restaurant at the Crown & Anchor. Arthur Blake, beloved impersonator, was maitre d’. When the Lobster Pot went up for sale, Pat Shultz declared, “You’ve got to buy it, it’s got the view.”Sitting in her inauspicious office above the restaurant entrance with staff and family coming in and out, Joy talks about her extended family, which includes many longtime employees from Jamaica, and the community.“No where else could I have done this,” she exclaims in her signature expressive enthusiasm, and she is grateful. The fruits of the economic engine she built benefit an unending list of individuals and organizations, throwing benefits for numerous groups and causes. She has rightfully earned the title of Treasurer Extraordinaire, handling finances on the boards of Helping Our Women. Provincetown Art Association & Museum, Provincetown Theater and the Gay Roundup, which she helped organize 25 years ago.Joy is a longtime supporter of the Swim for Life, both as a volunteer and business sponsor, and will be presented with the David Asher Volunteer Award at the 25^th Swim for Life this Saturday. The awards ceremony is set for 1:00pm on the Boatslip deck. Her son Shawn, organizer of Team McNulty and a consistent top fundraiser, will also be on deck after his ninth consecutive Swim.The Swim for Life & Paddler Flotilla weekend schedule also includes the Celebration of Life Concert, produced by John Thomas, at the Meeting House on Friday at 8:00pm; the Swim, which begins at Long Point at 10:30am; the public is invited to greet the swimmers and kayakers at the Boatslip beach finish line from 11:00am to 1:00pm, and partake of the Mermaid Brunch, with entertainment by Zoe Lewis. All events are free and open to the public.Sponsors of the event include: the Provincetown Banner, Boatslip Resort, Far Land Provisions, Fanazzi’s Restaurant, Seamen’s Bank, Lobster Pot Restaurant, Crown & Anchor, Mussel Beach Health Club, Harbor Hotel and Marc Jacobs. The Swim is also funded in part by the Provincetown Tourism Fund.