Annual CWL luncheon proves a runway success

Friday, Oct. 17, 2014

SALT LAKE CITY — Food and a fashion show combined at the annual Catholic Woman’s League luncheon to raise funds for this year’s beneficiaries: Race Swami and the Consociates Auxiliary of Assistance League of Salt Lake City, two local nonprofits that aid the less fortunate.

Before blessing the meal, the Most Rev. John C. Wester, Bishop of Salt Lake City, commended the group’s members for their constant, faithful witness to the Gospel and the Church.

“That’s a wonderful, wonderful gift that you have given to our local Church, and I’m very grateful to you and I know my predecessors were as well,” Bishop Wester said. “You live the faith, celebrate the faith, you study the faith; the faith is a part of who you are, and you pass on that faith.” 

Among the other dignitaries at the Oct. 11 luncheon were Monsignor J. Terrence Fitzgerald, vicar general emeritus; Bonnie Siegrist, Diocesan Council of Catholic Women president; Becky Hicks, Wasatch Deanery president; and Becky Colombo, Eastern Deanery president.

Race Swami was founded almost four years ago to provide affordable swimming opportunities to youth in the Rose Park/Glendale area of Salt Lake City, said Mary Chris Finnigan, who with her husband Matt Finnigan founded the organization.

In addition to being the only USA Swimming-affiliated team in the area, the organization offers workshops on health and nutrition, leadership and preparing for college, Finnigan said. 

Some of the swimmers attended the banquet; they received applause from the CWL members, as did some of the parents, whom Finnigan called “unsung heroes. Many of them work two or three jobs to support the family. Many of them are single moms or dads who would do anything to make sure their children succeed,” she said, choking with emotion and giving the example of a single father who drove his daughter to Cedar City for a swim meet on a Friday night, then drove her back to Salt Lake City so she could receive her First Communion the next morning.

“This is how all of our parents are – so committed to their kids and so grateful for the opportunity that Race Swami provides,” Finnigan said.

Each month, the Assistance League assembles 90 baby bundles and 25 assault survivor kits, said Cynthia Sulprizio, a member of the league. The baby bundles are comprised of a layette, diapers and other items that are distributed to hospitals across Salt Lake County for low-income mothers, she said, while the assault survivor kits consist of clothes, toiletries and “everything they need to take a shower and have clean clothes to go home in.” 

The league’s thrift store in Salt Lake City helps fund projects, Sulprizio said, explaining that the consociates is a group of about 30 women from the league who do much of the work for the projects. In addition to the baby bundles and assault survivor kits, throughout the year they help with other projects; for example, last year they assembled 900 toiletry kits for the Fourth Street Clinic, she said.