Rita Muller: providing a helping hand

Rita Muller (left) poses for a photo with her companion, Sister Joanna Brown.

Every month you can count on seeing Rita Muller around the motherhouse grounds. Rita, a Providence Associate since 2007, comes to the Woods once a month to volunteer in a variety of ways with and for the sisters. A resident of Vincennes, Ind., Rita spends her week at the Woods volunteering in the Congregation’s health care, at Helping Hands at 960 West National Avenue in West Terre Haute, Ind., and at Providence Food Pantry, a sponsored ministry of the Sisters of Providence, located in the former St. Leonard School at 110 North Eighth Street, also in West Terre Haute. Rita also serves as a docent in the Church of the Immaculate Conception.

After 26 years of teaching, Rita enjoys volunteering. Thirteen of those years she taught at Flaget Catholic Elementary School, Vincennes, before spending her last 13 years teaching seventh-grade language arts at Clark Middle School, also in Vincennes.

Rita has known the Sisters of Providence since her school days at Old Cathedral Grade School and St. Rose Academy, both in Vincennes. She still has fond memories of her seventh- and eighth-grade teacher, Sister Eileen Rose Bonner.

When not volunteering, Rita likes to support the women’s and men’s basketball teams at Vincennes University. She also enjoys cheering for the Vincennes Rivet Patriot basketball teams.

Rita brings a breath of fresh air to the Woods when she makes her monthly trek north. She is always quick with a beaming smile and kind words to all who cross her path. Yes, she is fulfilling some of her commitments that she made as an associate, but she is also giving life to everyone she meets.

And what does she receive in return?

“I’m welcomed home as part of the family,” said Rita.

If you would like to volunteer with the sisters, please contact Volunteer Services Coordinator Sister Rebecca “Becky” Keller at rkeller@spsmw.org or 812-535-2878.