Lisa Masucci, ball chair, presented the Heart of Mercy Award to Carolyn Noonan Parmer, thanking her for two decades of support. Parmer, along with her late husband, John, became involved with Misericordia in 1999 when her niece Mary came for residential care.
The Tom and Ann Higgins family was the recipient of the Sister Rosemary Service Medallion Award. Son Peter Higgins accepted the award on the family’s behalf and spoke about his sister Mary, who has been a resident since 1998. “When Mary was born, we learned that she had Down syndrome, which at the time was unknown and a little scary. But my mom and dad were thrilled and always told us, ‘God gives special people to special people.’ She’s a gift in our family,” he said.
The Pillars of the Community Award was presented to The Lock Up Self Storage, a family-owned and -operated company founded by Bob Soudan. When daughter Carolyn became a Misericordia resident in 1974, the family became actively involved. Lock Up’s Soudan and Hielscher families were honored for their longtime support and service that includes serving as sponsors of Misericordia’s Family Fest, Artist in All and many other fundraising events for the organization.
The Misericordia Heartbreakers, along with David Sherman and Ken Arlen’s Front of House Band, sang and danced to “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” in honor of Connelly. A video, set to Celine Dion’s “Because You Loved Me,” highlighted Connelly’s long history with the home.
Connelly said, “I’m certain few people have ever received, on a daily basis, the greetings of love that are mine every day and have been for so many years. What a gift I’ve had. … The 600 children and adults who call Misericordia home can’t create a good world for themselves, but we all know, once that world is theirs, they become the gift-givers. They are happy people and intuitively seem to know how much God loves them.”
She added, “Even though all of our residents are developmentally disabled and some physically challenged as well, they surely know how to love and be loved.”