Luncheon Supports Hawthorne Sisters’ Caring Work

GRETCHEN KEISER, Staff Writer

Published: November 4, 2004

ATLANTA—An annual event that gathers together longtime members of the Atlanta Archdiocese, and also welcomes and embraces newcomers, was held for the 48th time Oct. 7.

The luncheon and auction to support Our Lady of Perpetual Help Home was held at the Renaissance Waverly Hotel’s grand ballroom, as parish groups, priests and sisters, members of the OLPH Auxiliary, and other supporters and friends browsed through a banquet room where over 125 donated items were on display in a silent auction prior to the luncheon. Everything from autographed sports memorabilia to baskets of gourmet food and custom-made jewelry were up for bid at this annual event that raises funds for the home.

Our Lady of Perpetual Help Home at 760 Pollard Boulevard in Atlanta, in the shadow of Turner Field, was established in 1939 by the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne, who provide free care to those terminally ill with cancer. The sisters accept no payment from patients or their families or from private or public insurance and help anyone in need. Founded in 1900, the order relies on the providence of God and the support of volunteers and benefactors to continue its ministry.

In 1940 the Auxiliary of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Home was established to assist the sisters in their work. Members of the Auxiliary serve as needed at the home in a volunteer capacity and also coordinate groups in parishes who help the sisters, some by sewing pads that are used at the home.

The Auxiliary also sponsors the annual luncheon and auction and a medical supply fund drawing that together are major fund-raisers for the sisters and their work. The luncheon committee this year was chaired by Molly Mobley. Over 60 parishes had representatives who chaired the medical supply fund drive at their parish.

Yvette Ravry, president of the Auxiliary, noted at the luncheon, “All the money we make will go to the home.”

A member of Holy Spirit Church, Atlanta, Ravry said she became active in the Auxiliary about 10 years ago and has been president for two years. Her heart is in this work because as a very young girl she lost her mother to cancer. “We have a lot of members who are cancer survivors,” she added.

Out of about 300 members, there are 50 or 60 who actively participate in quarterly meetings, Ravry told the luncheon audience, as she invited everyone interested, both men and women, to consider getting involved.

“We need members,” she said. “It will be an experience that will touch your hearts and keep alive the dream of those who gathered 60 years ago (to establish the Auxiliary).”

The environment of the home is one of “much love and compassion,” Ravry said. “It is such a peaceful place. It really touches your heart when you are there.”

Ken Cook, chief meteorologist at FOX5, served as master of ceremonies. He and his wife Susie, who also came to the luncheon, have been longtime supporters of OLPH Home.

From their first visit, Cook said, “we found out … it is a home for the living, it is a home full of love, it is a home full of dignity.”

“I did not see the dying,” he concluded. “I saw the living.”

Also speaking were Msgr. Paul Reynolds, vicar general in curia, who introduced the archbishop, and Archbishop John F. Donoghue, who called OLPH Home “a haven grounded in the truth of Our Lady’s perpetual care.”

A number of the seven sisters who serve at the home came to the luncheon including Sister Miriam, OP, superior and the chaplain, Father Dung Nguyen.

After enjoying a luncheon of sautéed chicken breast, tomatoes in cream sauce, fresh vegetables and salad and key lime pie, the guests were serenaded by the young men’s and the young women’s a capella choirs from The Westminster School, Atlanta.