Awards handed out at annual dinner

A record number of people gathered in the O’Shaughnessy Dining Hall on Saturday, June 6, for the annual Saint Mother Theodore Guerin Dinner at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods.

More than 270 donors joined the Sisters of Providence for a dinner and award presentations. The dinner takes place annually to honor donors, while also presenting the Queen Amelia and Sarah and Joseph Thralls awards. In addition, the sisters offered a new award this year, the Saint Mother Theodore Guerin Companions award.

The Queen Amelia award honors those who have significantly contributed financially to the Congregation and who have been influential in informing others of its life and mission. The award is named for Queen Amelia of France, wife of King Louis Philippe, who was a major donor for the Congregation in the mid-1800s. She also encouraged her husband and family to contribute to the Congregation, which at the time, was struggling financially.

This year, Terre Haute Convention and Visitors Bureau Executive Director David A. Patterson received the Queen Amelia award. Patterson was recognized for his relentless work on promoting the Sisters of Providence through the Convention and Visitors Bureau.

The Sarah and Joseph Thralls award honors individuals, family or a group that has made significant contributions of time, talent and treasure to the Congregation. It is named in honor of the family that offered hospitality by way of a cabin in a dense forest to Mother Theodore and her five companions after they arrived at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods in 1840.

Saint Mary-of-the-Woods residents Stacy Pierce and Penny Frederick were the recipients of the Sarah and Joseph Thralls award. Pierce and Frederick received the award because of their tireless efforts with volunteering for the sisters and others at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods and at Providence Food Pantry in West Terre Haute.

The Saint Mother Theodore Guerin Companions award was established to honor Sisters of Providence, Providence Health Care or any Sisters of Providence ministry or sponsored institution staff members or people aged 42 and younger who exhibit the best qualities of the five companions who traveled with Mother Theodore to Saint Mary-of-the-Woods – Sister St. Vincent Ferrer Gage, Sister Basilide Seneschal, Sister Olympiade Boyer, Sister Mary Xavier Leree and Sister Mary Liguori Tiercin.

The Saint Mother Theodore Guerin Companions award was given to Keith and Jamie Richey, both of West Terre Haute. They have provided space for Providence Food Pantry at its present location on National Avenue in West Terre Haute rent-free. Jamie is also one of the organizers of the annual Hunger Bust Run/Walk for Saint Mary’s Village Church. The proceeds from the event go to the pantry.