The NFCA Proudly Recognizes "Fraternalists-in-Action"
Fraternal MVPs—Week of July 16, 2007
The National Fraternal Congress of America (NFCA) is proud to recognize the following individuals as Fraternal MVPs (Most Valuable Participants) for the week of July 16, 2007. Fraternal MVPs are “Fraternalists-in-Action” who volunteer their time, energy and compassion to strengthen their communities through participation in local lodge activities and other charitable endeavors.
Victoria Lombardo
Ladies Pennsylvania Slovak Catholic Union (LPSCU)
Branch #6
Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
Victoria, a member of LPSCU Branch #6, has been named the recipient of this year’s LPSCU Youth Achievement Award. Victoria is a senior at Wyoming Area High School in Exeter, Pennsylvania, where she is ranked 3rd in her class of 208 students.
Having been in the gifted program since elementary school, Victoria has always been involved in academic competitions. She maintains a cumulative grade-point average (GPA) of 3.975. She has been a three-year member of the Science Olympiad team, a member of the Science Iditarod team, and a member of the Science Envirothon team. She also has been recognized at “Awards Day” for the past three years for having the highest average in certain classes. She has completed college courses through Wilkes College.
Victoria is highly involved in extra-curricular activities as well. She is a three-year member of the National Honor Society, captain of the cheerleading team, a member of the Future Business Leaders of America, a member of the Executive Board and board secretary of the Student Council (an elected position), and a member of the chess club, serving as its treasurer in 11th grade. This year, she was elected to the Homecoming Court.
Jennifer Hannon, who has been Victoria’s school guidance counselor for the past two years, expressed high praise of Victoria and described her as “ambitious, outgoing, highly intelligent, well rounded, insightful, well-liked, a natural leader, and role model.” Vito S. Quaglia, administrator of the Wyoming Area School District, also acknowledged Victoria as a “young lady who is diligent, polite, and stands out among the crowd with her high academic ranking.” In March 2007, Victoria was named to the 2007 Times-Tribune Scholastic Superstar Team.
Ria, as Victoria is known to family and friends, is active in her community. She was recognized locally by the Youth Salute Program. In the summer of 2005, she was elected to attend the Rotary Leadership Camp. She is an altar server and is active in her church youth group at St. Cecilia’s Church in Exeter, and she volunteers for all church functions. She participates in Relay for Life, American Cancer Society walks and prepares meals for the homeless sponsored by VISION. She also works part-time at a local pharmacy.
In the fall, Ria will be attending the University of Scranton as a biology major. She was awarded a full four-year scholarship by the University’s Scholarship Committee in recognition of her academic achievements. She plans to pursue a career as an orthodontist.
Ria has been a member since birth of LPSCU Branch #6 in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. She is the daughter of Lora and Brian Lombardo and has two sisters, Danielle and Melanie, all of whom are members of the LPSCU.
Bruno Navarro
Knights of Columbus
Council #9550
Birmingham, Alabama
Bruno has proven a tremendous asset to Council #9550 in many ways. Bruno serves the council in the office of chancellor, and also serves as membership director. St. Thomas parish has a large Hispanic presence. Being bilingual, Bruno serves as a vital bridge between the Hispanic and Anglo communities. Through his efforts, a growing number of Hispanic men have joined the Knights of Columbus. They, in turn, are reaching out to others.
Bruno is a member of the Spanish first degree team, and has served as translator for members at second and third degree ceremonies. At council meetings, bilingual members sit with those who only speak Spanish to keep them apprised of what is being discussed at the meetings, and encourage their participation. As a result Council #9550 is a truly integrated council, of which both the Hispanic and Anglo members are proud. Bruno has been invaluable in fostering this feeling of unity and fraternity within the council.
In terms of special projects, Bruno is unrivaled in his commitment. He has played a significant role in his council’s major fundraising projects, including a concessions stand at Brierfield State Park and a butt and rib sale, when he typically stays with the smoker all night. At the rosary sales, he not only sets up and takes down, but also serves as translator during the sale. Being in the construction trade, he has access to extraordinary equipment, the use of which is donated to the cause. For example, he used his equipment to pick up and deliver a pool table for a campus ministry, to remove a large tree that fell across an elderly knight’s driveway, and to clean an area that the council was reclaiming for a church. At a planned workday to restore the parish picnic area, damaged and overgrown during the construction of a new church building, Bruno arranged, at his own expense, for one of his work crews to come out on a Saturday and landscape the area.
A perfect example of how Bruno lives his faith is when, at a regular business meeting, it was brought to the council’s attention the sad condition of a widow in the parish. Her house fell into disrepair and had a leaking roof. Bruno adopted the project as his own. He explained the situation to suppliers, who donated the material to fix the roof. Another example of his selflessness is his annual commitment to build one or two houses for Habitat for Humanity. Finally, Bruno and his family shine during his council’s drive for people with intellectual disabilities. They typically volunteer for multiple shifts, and collect donations together.
Brother Bruno was Alabama’s Knight of the Year for 2006. He and his wife, Theresa, have four children, Bruno (15), Maribel (13), Josefina (10) and Gerardo (2). Bruno and Theresa are natives of Mexico, having immigrated to the U.S. a little over 17 years ago. Through hard work and a true Christian ethic, Bruno has successfully built, with his brother, a respected construction and painting company. Bruno and Theresa serve as Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion at their church, St. Thomas, and Bruno is in his first term as parish council representative.
Patsy Koslovsky
SPJST
Lodge #47
Seaton, Texas
Patsy has been an SPJST member for 53 years. She served her lodge as secretary of the board, where she volunteers in many areas such as kitchen duty, set up/clean up, soliciting donations, ticket sales, planning and advertising and following up with thank you notes after the occasion. She is District Youth counselor where she volunteers many hours of her time working with Beseda Dance Groups organizing practices, fundraisers, performances and assisting in designing Beseda dance costumes. She also supervised the dance group and scheduled performances at numerous community events this past year. Patsy works with 10 local lodge youth groups coordinating socials, fundraisers, Eggstravaganza Easter Egg Hunt, Core Challenge (physical fitness program for students of all ages), spring and fall meeting contests, youth camp, District and State Youth Achievement Day and volunteers her time each year with the Youth Leaders and camp volunteers appreciation banquet.
Patsy is married and has worked in the same dental office for the past 18 years as office manager. She takes her work to heart, where patients have become a part of her family. Patsy has been an active member of SPJST all her life following in the footsteps of her grandparents and parents. She visits older members, nursing homes and members in the hospital as often as possible. At funerals, she is always there with food, phone calls, visits or cards.
As an SPJST sales agent, Patsy also has achieved the distinction of being recognized as a Million Dollar Producer in recent years. She mentors to the youth of the organization and the community so they will some day be able to pass on the importance of volunteerism and lending a helping hand in the community.
Eugene (Gene) Lewis
Thrivent Financial for Lutherans
DeKalb County Chapter #31238
Stone Mountain, Georgia
Gene has helped shepherd countless chapter projects not only from the 14 churches in the DeKalb Chapter, but many other worthy projects in Metro Atlanta that have received chapter support. Gene is a master at uniting many chapters for major service projects. He calls it “Lutherans speaking with one voice for service in Atlanta.”
One of Gene’s major accomplishments is his organization of the annual “Lutheran Night at the Braves” event, which unites Lutherans with Major League Baseball’s Atlanta Braves to benefit charity in what has become the largest gathering of Lutherans in Atlanta and the largest means of Lutheran visibility in metro Atlanta. The event benefits Lutheran Services of Georgia (LSG).
In conjunction with the Lutheran Night at the Braves event, Gene also organizes the “Jersey Off Our Backs” promotion, in which a Braves player takes the shirt off his back for charity. This event also benefits LSG. Between the two Atlanta Braves events, more than $16,000 was raised for charity, including $4,000 for LSG which grew to $8,000 through Thrivent Financial for Lutherans supplemental funding. The events utilized more than 175 Lutheran volunteers.
Gene also was a key participant in another major Thrivent Financial event in 2006— the Thrivent Builds Mobile (TBM) tour to Atlanta, Georgia. As a member of the TBM Visit Team, Gene managed the DeKalb/Metro Atlanta portion of the TBM visit and worked with two other metro chapters, Gwinnett and North Fulton. This major event required incredible organization and communication between the chapters and corporate personnel to bring the TBM to several locations in Atlanta over a three-day period. The relationships that Gene helped build for the January TBM event resulted in a combined effort later in 2006 to submit an application to Thrivent Builds along with the DeKalb Habitat Affiliate. In December 2006, the efforts were rewarded as DeKalb was awarded a Thrivent Build, which broke ground in February 2007.
Gene’s community and congregational service life is varied and full. Gene served his church for four years as President of the congregation at St. John’s, which is the oldest Lutheran church in Atlanta. He has served on the Long Range Planning Team and has been the Chair of Finance Ministry since 1996. Gene also has been a member since 1995 of the Bishops Leadership Sexual Abuse Prevention Team (LSAP). In 2006, he ended his four-year term as Chair of the Senate Assembly Committee for the ELCA Southeastern Synod. He also serves his congregation as a Sunday School Teacher and Summer Program Coordinator of the Stonehenge Retreat Center located at St. John’s. St. John’s is known as the peanut butter church because weekly the congregation collects peanut butter and other food for InTown Community Assistance. For at least five years, Gene has packaged the food up after church and delivers it to InTown. He is also the communications coordinator for that ministry. Gene also serves as volunteer staff for the Faith and the City Program at the Interdenominational Theological Center (ITC) as a grant writer.
Angel Tree Prison Ministry project is a program that Gene was pivotal in planning. For the past three Christmas seasons, eight congregations from the DeKalb Chapter have come together and hosted a Christmas Party for children whose parents are in prison. In each of the congregations, members have chosen the names of children and purchased gifts for them in the name of their imprisoned parent. The children come to the party for food, games, Christmas cheer and to receive gifts from their imprisoned parent. This project is a family labor of love that touched the hearts of not only church families but also the recipient children and their incarcerated parents as well.
Gene is Director of the iCare2 Youth Leadership program which is made possible by supplemental funding from Thrivent Financial. This program teaches youth how to provide community service using the Micah 6 model of Study, Service and Reflections. Over the past two years, more than 9,000 hours of service have been provided in metro Atlanta.
JOIN HANDS DAY also demonstrated an outstanding effort by the DeKalb Chapter of youth and adults working together to serve InTown Community Assistance, a program that serves the homeless that is supported by an ecumenical group of 25 Atlanta churches. The JOIN HANDS DAY project was to remove carpet and refinish flooring at the facility. Gene was the organizer of this major chapter project.
Perhaps Gene’s greatest contribution is his role as a parent and a father. He is a Foster Parent for the DeKalb County Department of Family and Children Services (DFCS) and opens his home for “emergency placements” of children. He started as a “Big Brother” at the United Methodist Children’s Home. Gene has been blessed by this in a personal way when, as a single parent, he adopted his son Joshua, now 18, from the foster care system. He also is father to two grown children, Shawn, age 26, and Kara age, 29.
The NFCA salutes these outstanding Fraternalists-in-Action for their dedication, kindness and generosity. They embody the heart of fraternalism through their volunteer efforts and commitment to their communities.
To view previous week's MVPs, click here.
|
