Before I introduce our V.I.P. for the month of August, I will have to admit that to this point our VIP's have been people that I have known and worked with in various ministries for much of the time since I came as a pastor of Sacred Heart Church in June of 2010. Some were active parishioners for a time or even a fairly long time before I came here.
This month's Very Important Parishioner is fairly new to me and perhaps to some of you, however her impact has been felt knowingly or unknownly by many of our parishioners especially in the many months we were dealing with COVID and restrictions that we had never faced before!
Her name is Liz Edwards and she was someone who had anything but an "easy" year as the president of the Lady's of the Sacred Heart, as she worked "behind the scenes" for the benefit of many. She spent innumerable hours making and providing face coverings for first responders. She then spearheaded crews to make masks to raise funds for Jackson House and a local scholarship fund before turning her efforts to make over 400 masks for her fellow parishioners at Sacred Heart Church. Proceeds from donations for these masks went to LOSH's charitable endeavors. Her creativity in making designs of masks often made it a challenge for people to decide which one to get and use. All of these efforts contributed to keeping our parishioners and others safe during the pandemic.
While many groups and organizations in the parish and community did not meet for months during COVID, Liz came up with "out of the box" ways for LOSH members to meet (ie. Balboa Pavilion) and initiated some creative fundraisers that by the end of her term had, (with the help and generosity of many) resulted in the most money being made for LOSH charities EVER in a year's time. What an accomplishment when so many organizations saw drops (and some significant drops) in amounts of money made for the year because of COVID restrictions. Once again at her initiative LOSH started a new tradition of members placing flowers in a vase below the Blessed Mother's statue before the funerals of their members during COVID with measures taken to keep everyone safe while enjoying good food and time spent with loved ones after the funeral was over.
After relinquishing her position as LOSH president, Liz agreed to stay active this coming LOSH year in two committees and in heading up their first benefit golf tournament in the Spring of 2021. I and all of us need to give a big "Shout Out" to Liz and thanks to God for all her efforts and the inspiration and motivation she provided especially during the long, difficult months of COVID. I look forward to Liz being active in other ways in our wonderful parish in the future and being a blessing to many, including me!
This month's Very Important Parishioner is fairly new to me and perhaps to some of you, however her impact has been felt knowingly or unknownly by many of our parishioners especially in the many months we were dealing with COVID and restrictions that we had never faced before!
Her name is Liz Edwards and she was someone who had anything but an "easy" year as the president of the Lady's of the Sacred Heart, as she worked "behind the scenes" for the benefit of many. She spent innumerable hours making and providing face coverings for first responders. She then spearheaded crews to make masks to raise funds for Jackson House and a local scholarship fund before turning her efforts to make over 400 masks for her fellow parishioners at Sacred Heart Church. Proceeds from donations for these masks went to LOSH's charitable endeavors. Her creativity in making designs of masks often made it a challenge for people to decide which one to get and use. All of these efforts contributed to keeping our parishioners and others safe during the pandemic.
While many groups and organizations in the parish and community did not meet for months during COVID, Liz came up with "out of the box" ways for LOSH members to meet (ie. Balboa Pavilion) and initiated some creative fundraisers that by the end of her term had, (with the help and generosity of many) resulted in the most money being made for LOSH charities EVER in a year's time. What an accomplishment when so many organizations saw drops (and some significant drops) in amounts of money made for the year because of COVID restrictions. Once again at her initiative LOSH started a new tradition of members placing flowers in a vase below the Blessed Mother's statue before the funerals of their members during COVID with measures taken to keep everyone safe while enjoying good food and time spent with loved ones after the funeral was over.
After relinquishing her position as LOSH president, Liz agreed to stay active this coming LOSH year in two committees and in heading up their first benefit golf tournament in the Spring of 2021. I and all of us need to give a big "Shout Out" to Liz and thanks to God for all her efforts and the inspiration and motivation she provided especially during the long, difficult months of COVID. I look forward to Liz being active in other ways in our wonderful parish in the future and being a blessing to many, including me!