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Sister Carol Weber, OP, speaks from the heart as she thanks the Flint Jewish Federation on behalf of the people she serves for the Don Riegle Award.

September 27, 2024, Flint, Michigan – Sister Carol Weber, OP, Co-founder and Executive Director of St. Luke N.E.W. Life Center, was one of three recipients of the 33rd Annual Donald Riegle Community Service Award in recognition of her “outstanding leadership in improving the well-being of the Greater Flint Community.” The award was presented by the Flint Jewish Federation during a special program on September 12, 2024, at the Flint Institute of Arts.

The award is named for Donald W. Riegle, Jr., a former senior United States Senator representing Michigan. Known as a “champion of Soviet Jewry,” he retired after serving in the Senate for three terms and 10 years in the U.S. House of Representatives. Also recognized during the evening were David Gibson and Carol Hurand. 

Proceeds from the annual event have been donated to Jewish Community Services to resettle 415 people from the former Soviet Union and Russian-speaking Muslim families from Uzbekistan.

“It was a beautiful experience,” Sister Carol said, noting the program was open to all. The program included talks by a rabbi and a Protestant minister, a performance by a harpist, hors d’oeuvres, and the award presentation. Sister Carol and the other two award recipients received a certificate of special Congressional recognition from U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee (D-MI) and paintings.

Sister Carol was accompanied that night by family members and by Sisters Mary Priniski, OP, her Chapter Prioress, and Theresa Mayrand, OP, who also is in ministry at St. Luke N.E.W. Life Center. 

“I accepted the award on behalf of the people who trust us with their lives,” Sister Carol said during an interview after the program. “I’m just an instrument. The award was for people who change their lives – for those who do extraordinary things in the community.” She said she thanked her family and her religious community “for being there and for their support – not just that night but always.”

Sister Carol founded N.E.W. Life Center with the late Sister Judy Blake, CSJ, with whom she served for years as Co-director. The N.E.W. Life Center has had a tremendous impact on the lives of the people in Flint, Sister Carol said. Its 2023 impact report stated that the food pantry served 300 families per month; eight literacy learners earned GEDs; 854 people visited the eye clinic; nearly 1,000 people received Christmas gifts and food; and 122 pregnant women or mothers of children six months and younger attended the Center’s baby showers. 

In addition, through the Resilient Communities initiative of the Adrian Dominican Sisters, the Center works with other organizations in the Resilient Women program, which offers “unwavering support” to women who have been in abusive relationships or difficult situations. The program offers counseling, employment preparation, on-the-job training, and services such as childcare that could eliminate barriers to employment for the women.

“Many of them have gotten jobs,” she said. “Many have been able to get housing. But most important is they’ve grown in their own person and their own self-esteem, that they don’t have to take [the abuse] they’ve been receiving. They’re able to go beyond the hurt and the abuse.”

Sister Carol was quick to point out that the Center relies on its partnership with other organizations and individuals to offer its many programs. “We do a lot of partnering,” she said. “We don’t do any of this on our own.” The Center receives about 12 large grants from foundations but also has a “really good, substantial donor base.”    

Whatever programs or services people receive from the Center, they come into a place that offers respect and a sense of welcome. “We train our employees [so] that anyone who walks through that door is received without judgment,” Sister Carol said. “We’re a center of second and sometimes third chances.”

Sister Carol not only respects the people who come from the Center but values the lessons they bring. “I’ve learned from them what it’s like not to have what I have, even family support,” she said. “Everyone’s story is critical to them and I need to listen, not only to what they’re saying but what they’re not saying. I’ve learned that everyone really wants to be heard and they want someone to just spend time with them. Personally, I’ve learned to trust God a lot more.”

 

Left: Sister Carol Weber, OP, displays Shepherdess, a painting she received from the Flint Jewish Federation. Right: From left are Sister Carol Weber, OP, David Gibson, and Carol Hurand, 2024 recipients of the Donald Riegle Community Service Award.

September 8, 2021, New Orleans, Louisiana – While many Americans watched the furor and aftermath of Hurricane Ida from their television sets or computers, Sister Judith Zynda, OP, experienced it firsthand – from the home in New Orleans that she shares with Dominican Sister of Peace Jeanne Moore, OP. But Sisters Judy and Jeanne experienced not only the fury of Ida but the care and concern of neighbors and the people they encountered in the aftermath. 

Hurricane Ida hit New Orleans and areas of Louisiana on August 29, 2021, and went on to wreak havoc on the Northwestern part of the United States. Sister Judy shared her experience in an email to Adrian Dominican Sisters and Associates and during a September 3, 2021, telephone interview.

Sister Judith Zynda, OP

Sisters Judy and Jeanne decided to ride out the storm after hearing earlier predictions that Ida would be relatively mild. At the last minute, however, forecasts changed: Ida was predicted as a Category 4 hurricane, edging on a Category 5. In the end, Sister Judy said, Ida was probably a Category 3 edging 4.

“The winds started about 8 Sunday morning, and the worst was overnight [into Monday],” Sister Judy recalled. “I woke up at 4 in the morning and what woke me up was the silence. [Ida] was moving so slowly that it had a lot of chance to do a lot of damage because it sat on us.” She said the winds were high, but their house was sturdy and on high ground, only sustaining damage to the roof, a leak through one of the ceiling receptacles in the kitchen, and several downed branches. Areas to the west of New Orleans suffered worse damage, she added.

Although they lost power – and it isn’t expected to be restored for two to three weeks – Sisters Judy and Jeanne at first did fairly well at home. With their gas stove and water heater, they were able to cook and take hot showers. They worked for two days, clearing the yard and emptying the refrigerator and the freezer. 

In the end, however, the heat became too much. “If the temperature had been 20 degrees lower, it would have been okay,” Sister Judy said. But the heat index reached 108. “People can get by, but they have to be able to take the heat.”

At the invitation of a friend, Sisters Judy and Jeanne left their home to stay at Sacred Heart Monastery, the home of the Benedictine Sisters of Cullman, Alabama. They share one of the monastery’s three guest houses – an 11-bedroom house normally used by retreatants – with three other Dominican Sisters of Peace. Four Sisters of Notre Dame share a second guest house. She said they will stay there as long as they need to – at least until their power is restored. “Once they tell us it’s safe to go home, we’ll go home,” she said. 

Although she feels she is still in some form of shock from the experience of the hurricane, Sister Judy is inspired by the care and concern shown by the Benedictine Sisters at Sacred Heart Monastery. “We could not have asked for a better place to come,” she said. “The Sisters seem to know that we kind of need to be left alone to process things,” but they also invited their guests to Mass and opened their laundry to them. “It’s total hospitality.” 

Sister Judy also feels that hospitality and kindness from the people in the surrounding community – from the people she encountered when she was running some errands in town. One woman at the pharmacy told her that they took in 1,200 people from New Orleans at the time of Katrina. “All you have to say is you’re from New Orleans and they can’t do enough for you,” Sister Judy said.

That same sense of concern and care for people in need was evident during their drive to Cullman, Sister Judy said. “The parade of linemen coming down I-59 was so moving,” she recalled. “We saw trucks with generators and trucks with telephone poles; 25,000 electrical workers are on their way to New Orleans.” Each time they passed a truck with electrical workers, she said a prayer for them. “I think God wants us to know that community and watching out for one another is really important,” she said. “God took care of us.”

Asked what people could do to help and support those affected by Hurricane Ida, Sister Judy said, “First of all, pray for everybody.” She also suggested donating to organizations that offer relief efforts for those affected by the hurricane:

• Catholic Charities USA, headed by Adrian Dominican Sister Donna Markham, OP, is the official domestic relief agency of the U.S. Catholic Church.

• The Hurricane Ida Relief Recovery Fund, was established by the Archdiocese of New Orleans to aid in the area’s recovery.

• The Saint Bernard Project offers relief services and community resiliency training in communities throughout the nation and beyond. Originally established in New Orleans six months after Hurricane Katrina, the organization started a response fund for those affected by Hurricane Ida.

A native of Dearborn Heights, Michigan, Sister Judy first ministered in New Orleans in 2011 as an AmeriCorps volunteer at Saint Bernard Project and was moved by the experience of the people trying to rebuild their homes and their lives. She currently ministers on the pastoral team for Christopher Homes, a senior housing ministry of the Archdiocese of New Orleans. After her personal experience of Hurricane Ida, Sister Judy said she feels a kinship with the people who suffered from Hurricane Katrina.  

Feature photo: Hurricane Ida is pictured as a category 2 storm from the International Space Station as it orbited 263 miles above the Gulf of Mexico. (NASA Johnson – CC BY-NC-NC 2.0)