October 23, 2009
Big Night helps Little Sisters
Sister Rose Marie Mayock speaks at the “Big Night for the Little Sisters” on Oct. 17 at the Centre in Evansville. Click for a larger version.
By PAUL R. LEINGANG (Message editor)
Dinner, dancing, a live auction and a silent auction — all were parts of the “Big Night for the Little Sisters” Oct. 17 at the Centre in Evansville.
The annual fundraiser, chaired this year by Jerry Ziemer of Evansville, brought in about $178,000 and will net the Little Sisters of the Poor about $143,000. Ziemer is the chairman of the advisory board; Dennis Lamey, past chairman of that board, was instrumental in getting the advisory board together, to begin the “Big Night” six years ago.
The theme for this year was “Sing, Sing, Sing!” and the evening included music by Bob Schaffstein and the Temple Aires. Mike Blake from WFIE 14 News was the emcee for the gala, introducing speakers and assisting John Jenkins for the live auction.
Sister Rose Marie Mayock, superior at the Evansville home, thanked the gala participants for their generosity.
Among the features of the evening was the showing of a video depicting the life of St. Jeanne Jugan, the foundress of the religious community who was canonized Oct. 11.
The video, produced by Julie Welch, featured interviews from the Evansville area and also from St. Louis, along with archival footage from a movie made in the 1940s.
Welch is development director for the Evansville home; her video has been distributed to all 30 of the Little Sisters’ facilities in the United States. She said the other homes will use the video to assist in their own fund raising efforts.
While the Little Sisters in Evansville still have a debt for renovations in recent years, “we have definitely made huge strides, improvements, getting closer to meeting our operating goals,” Welch said.
“The sisters could not exist without the help of the public,” Welch said. They get “teary-eyed” when they see people “so joyful about wanting to give and to help them.”