CCS Humanitarian Awards

Friday, Nov. 13, 2015

SALT LAKE CITY — Catholic Community Services marked its 70th year as an organization with the largest turnout in the history of the annual Humanitarian Awards Dinner.

The dinner, held Nov. 5, honored community benefactors from across the faith spectrum: Sister Stephanie Mongeon of the Sisters of Saint Benedict, the Rev. Catherine Putnam-Netto of Wasatch Presbyterian Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ Humanitarian Services, Dr. Dominic and Mrs. Virginia Albo, and football coaches LaVell Edwards and Ron McBride.

Throughout the event, those accepting the awards thanked those present at the event for supporting CCS programs. 

In Salt Lake City, CCS’ programs include the Saint Vincent de Paul dining hall, which serves 1,500 meals daily; and the Weigand Day Center, which serves 450 men and women each day. In Ogden, CCS runs the Joyce Hansen Hall Food Bank, which distributes a quarter million tons of food each month.

“Those who have gathered here tonight are evidence that good people, faith and caring hearts can together bless the lives of many thousands of people,” said Steven K. Petersen, managing director of the LDS Church’s Humanitarian Services, echoing the sentiments of the other awardees.

Also at the dinner, Suhad Khudhair was named the CCS Employee of the Year.

Khudhair “is one of our hardest-working employees at Catholic Community Services in refugee resettlement,” said Adan Batar, CCS’ director of immigration and refugee resettlement. “Every day, tirelessly, she welcomes and helps the refugees.”

Sr. Stephanie and the Rev. Putnam-Netto received Humanitarian Awards.

Sr. Stephanie represented the Sisters of St. Benedict, who arrived in Ogden in the 1940s to open St. Benedict’s Hospital, now Ogden Regional Medical Center. From then until 2013, when the Benedictines left Utah for their motherhouse in Minnesota, more than 400 sisters served the Ogden community.

In a video tribute, Mark Adams, CEO of Ogden Regional Medical Center, said his first impression of the Sisters of St. Benedict was that they are special people who have a love and compassion for others “that you don’t see in many people.” He also thanked the sisters for “all you do, for who you are, for the care and compassion you have shown each of us over the years. You are amazing women, and more important, you are a perfect example of the life of Jesus Christ.”

In her acceptance remarks, Sr. Stephanie said all her Benedictine sisters were present in spirit at the dinner. She thanked the people of Ogden for their support and collaboration, and quoted the late Sr. Danile Knight, who had served as the monastery’s prioress: “It has been a love affair between the sisters and the people of Utah since the sisters arrived in 1943.” 

The Rev. Putnam-Netto, who was instrumental in garnering community support for the Dinner at Vinny’s program, which for three years served evening meals at the St. Vincent de Paul dining hall, has compassion for everyone but especially the homeless, said community advocate Pamela J. Atkinson during the video tribute.

“She really lives her religion,” agreed Karen McCreary, executive director of the ACLU of Utah, on the video.

During her comments, the Rev. Putnam-Netto recognized the members of the Dinner for Vinny’s community advisory committee for their help, and thanked all present at the dinner, ending with, “Tonight, all of us have enjoyed a wonderful night. Thank you. You know, we are more fortunate than 144,000 Utahns, 40 percent of whom are children, who do not really know where their next meal is coming from. ... We are indeed a very blessed community. I am privileged tonight to be with all of you because I know that you know the reason God has given us gifts and blessings to share with others, and I thank you, all of you. You must be wonderful humanitarians in your own right.”

The LDS Church’s Humanitarian Services has worked hand in hand with CCS for many decades, said Presiding Bishop Gérald Caussé during the video segment, adding, “We have been impressed with how [CCS has] developed services for people in need in the community.”

Without the support of the LDS Church’s Humanitarian Services, the work that CCS’ refugee resettlement program does “would not be possible,” Batar said.  

Accepting the Community Partner of the Year Award on behalf of the LDS Church, Petersen said, “Whatever small success we have had is due in large part to the many partners with whom we have worked in every nation and among every people. … By ourselves we can accomplish a little, but with each other we can accomplish so much more.” 

The Albos were presented with the Lifetime of Giving and Service Award; they were instrumental in starting the Humanitarian Awards Dinner 30 years ago and have been and continue to be involved with many community charitable organizations.

“They have really been responsible in many ways for bringing many people to the table to support the great mission of Catholic Community Services,” said Monsignor J. Terrence Fitzgerald, Diocese of Salt Lake City vicar general emeritus during the video.  

Accepting the award, Virginia Albo thanked CCS’ partners, board of directors, staff, donors and volunteers “who work very hard to provide the programs and the services to help … thousands of people each year. So this award really belongs to all of you who are doing wonderful work and who are making a great difference in everyone’s life.”

Dominic Albo gave a brief history of the first CCS Humanitarian Awards Dinner, describing how he approached Frank Granato for his support, and Granato asked then-Apostle Thomas Monson to attend. President Monson agreed, and “thus we began a very nice, wonderful, fruitful association with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We’re happy that that has occurred,” Dominic Albo said. 

During the video tribute for Coach LaVell Edwards, who was head football coach at Brigham Young University for 29 years, and McBride, who headed the football programs at the University of Utah and Weber State University, sports broadcaster David James said the two men were great examples as coaches to assistant coaches and players. 

The most outstanding thing about Edwards and McBride, who were named the Humanitarians of the Year, “is the way they treat people,” James said, adding, “You’ve done a lot of good things for people over the years, and a lot of it has been done very quietly.”

While making their remarks, each of the coaches joked about the other, but also showed their respect and affection. 

“In this football world, which I’ve been a part of for 54 years, there’s no man more respected and more renown than [Edwards] for what he’s done, not only as a football coach but also as a member of his church,” McBride said.

In return, Edwards said about McBride, “You can’t help but like the guy, even when he was the head coach at the U. … There isn’t anybody that I’ve had a greater respect for than Ron, and what he’s done, not only with his life but with the people that he’s coached and the people that he’s worked with.”