By Rita McInerney

Eleanor O'Connor has been a friend of the poor and the mentally ill for many years, serving them as an expression of her Christian love. Now, her example of faith an action has gained her national recognition.

Mrs. O'Connor, a member of Immaculate Heart of Mary parish in Atlanta since 1963, has been selected as the 1987 recipient of the Rosa Parks Award. This citation is given annually by Women in Community Service (WICS), a coalition of women's groups which works to improve the quality of life for women struggling in poverty.

According to Donna Bennett, Spokesperson for WICS, Mrs. O'Connor was selected from nominees submitted by member groups, the National Council of Catholic Women, Church Women United, American GI Forum Women, the National Council of Jewish Women and the National Council of Negro Women.

In nominating her, the Atlanta Archdiocesan Council of Catholic Women said that "She saw the importance of helping the poor even before it was popular…"

The engraved plaque to be presented to her by WICS on Sept. 19 at a ceremony in Atlanta, will recognize her "faithful, unselfish and invaluable services" to the community and for "using her God-given talents to improve the quality of life for the aged, poor, the handicapped and the homeless." Her concern "has helped alleviate human suffering in the true tradition of this award."

The award was named for Rosa Parks, Mrs. Bennett said, because it was the feeling that her courage in refusing to move to the back of the bus in segregated Montgomery was an act that spurred action for overdue civil rights.

Mrs. O'Connor's commitment to helping the poor through the Saint Vincent de Paul Society began when Msgr. Michael J. Regan started a parish conference at IHM. She was the only woman member for many years. Anything she could do to aid people in rebuilding their lives was in her range of helping. She worked to provide the homeless with food, shelter and clothing, and assisted in resettlement programs for refugees. She also became adept in enlisting the help of other parishioners and friends.

"She is probably the most generous person as far as the needy are concerned," one old friend said. "Just say you need it and she'll get it for you."

Her work at Central State Hospital in Milledgeville began in the late 1960s after members of her parish circle began sending cakes for patients' parties. She and another circle member went to Milledgeville one day to make sure the cakes were getting to the patients. It was then she learned of the need to brighten the lives of the men, women and children confined there.

What she began doing was organizing parties to take to them. Twenty years later, she's still at it. When the seasonal parties started, before the nationwide move to reduce the number of people in mental hospitals, there were 13,000 patients in Central State Hospital.

For that first party, she recalled the four women from IHM were led through locked doors to a small, sterile-looking room where 35 patients had been brought to be fed cakes and entertained. Last September, she said, 600 patients came to the party in a large recreation room at the facility. For several years the number of patients entertained has averaged between three and four hundred.

Mrs. O'Connor and her group of volunteers, now under the auspices of the AACCW, take parties to the patients three times a year and provide the funds to buy gifts and food for the annual Christmas party. The parties don't just happen. A lot of work goes into organizing volunteers to bake cakes and collect small gifts for each patient. Mrs. O'Connor said she used to send out 1,000 letters asking for donations of money and gifts. Sometimes she gets bonanzas. Last year, Avon called and 800 gifts were taken to a party.

Then there was the time someone gave SVDP a bolt containing 900 yards of fabric. This matched a need, Mrs. O'Connor said, to curtain the windows of a new building at Central State Hospital.

There is always the need, she said, for more people to make the two-hour motor trip to Milledgeville for the parties. Sometimes she has made the trip with just six volunteers to serve as hosts and hostesses and to run the bingo games and see that everyone receives a gift.

Mrs. O'Connor’s responsibilities as family affairs and community affairs chairman for AACCW has led her to work for such groups as Better Infant Births, Birthright, Georgia Right to Life, and numerous other organization s dedicated to improving the quality of people's lives.

She and her husband Frank are the parents of six children: Chris, Mary Ellen Van Horne, Patrick, Tom, and Mary Elizabeth. Their son Bill died in 1976 from injuries received when he was struck down by a car being driven at high speed on the wrong side of the street. A beloved member of the IHM family and an altar boy, he is remembered by the parish each year with an award given to an outstanding altar boy in his name.

WICS, founded in 1963, is based in Alexandria, VA. It is a private, non-profit coalition of volunteers from member groups. Another of its functions is the management of the Job Corps program for the U.S. Department of Labor. Since 1964 it has trained 300,000 young people in trades and placed them in jobs, according to Ms. Bennett.