Woman of many colors wins award for efforts

That service was recently recognized in an unusual way when she received the Harriet Tubman humanitarian achievement award from a statewide committee assembled to celebrate the life of Harriet Tubman, a heroine of the Underground Railroad.

Sister Anne's office at the diocesan Pastoral Center in Albany is already home to a host of awards, including the Sisters of St. Joseph's Carondelet medal, an award of excellence from the New York State Hispanic Heritage Committee and a "women of achievement" award from the Schenectady YWCA.

Shocked

As a Caucasian woman who works with the Spanish-speaking community, she called being honored by the African-American community "an honor and a humbling experience."

In her reply to the awards committee, she called Harriet Tubman "a giant amongst all women -- someone who saw a need and responded to that need, no matter what the cost and perhaps most of all not for any recognition it would give her."

Resource center

HOS also acts as a resource for other organizations that want to better serve the Spanish-speaking community and helps clients who don't speak English to work with the Department of Social Services. Often, employees of HOS' four outreach offices -- in Albany, Amsterdam, Schenectady and Troy -- double as translators.

Sister Anne noted that the Spanish-speaking culture can't really be lumped into "Hispanic" or "Latino," since the people HOS serves come from Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Argentina and many other countries.

She added that Spanish-speakers have much in common with her own Italian culture: love for art and music, making family values a priority and valuing traditional roles for family members.

Priorities

Feeding the hungry of all ages is a big part of Sister Anne's ministry. A spark of anger touched her voice as she described an HOS-sponsored food pantry in Amsterdam that has seen an upsurge in requests for emergency food since the advent of welfare reform.

"Obviously, there's more of a need there," she said. "People have gotten jobs, but they're very low-paying. The money they take home isn't enough to support a family."

Successes

"It's the American dream for all those who come to our shores," she remarked.

Receiving yet another award won't change Sister Anne's work. She explained that it's part of her religious order's charism to be peacemakers and help unite people.

However, she called the Tubman award "a challenge to continue to do all that I can possibly do to provide services."

(Contact Hispanic Outreach Services at 453-6655.)

(04-25-02) [[In-content Ad]]