Luncheon offers fellowship, benefits nonprofits

Friday, Oct. 28, 2016

SALT LAKE CITY — The annual Fall Tapestry luncheon sponsored by the Catholic Woman’s League drew hundreds of women from throughout the Diocese of Salt Lake City to the Little America Hotel on Oct. 22 for fun, fellowship, charity and prizes.

Honored guests included Monsignor Colin F. Bircumshaw, diocesan director; and Monsignor J. Terrence Fitzgerald, vicar general emeritus. The event began with a color guard presented by members of the Utah Knights of Columbus.

Each year two local nonprofits benefit from the funds raised at the luncheon. This year, the beneficiaries were Catholic Community Services’ Weigand Homeless Resource Center, and the Kearns-St. Ann School reading program.

Dennis Kelsch, director of Homeless Services for CCS, thanked CWL for accepting the Weigand Center as a beneficiary. The funds will help provide services at the center, which is a daytime shelter for homeless people. It is located next to the St. Vincent de Paul dining hall in Salt Lake City.

“We have about 450 people who come through the Weigand door every day for showers, for clothing, for direction, and what we’ve seen in the last few years is a huge increase in the number of women who are coming in and who are homeless,” Kelsch said, adding that the staff helps the homeless “get housing and the support they need.”

The donation from the CWL will benefit Kearns-St. Ann School’s reading program, said Rose Graham, who has been the school accountant for 33 years and a St. Ann parishioner her entire life.

Graham was accompanied to the dais by the school principal, Rox Anne Close.

The building that houses Kearns-St. Ann School was constructed in 1899 as an orphanage. It became a school in 1953 and has been an elementary school ever since. 

“Many children have walked through our doors from many different walks of life,” Graham said. 

Currently refugees comprise a quarter of the student body, which is also 40 percent Hispanic; 70 percent of the students are from low-income families. 

“Because English is a second language now to many of our students, it is imperative that we enhance our reading program,” Graham said.

She thanked the CWL on behalf of the school community for the donation. “When I received a phone call that we were chosen, I could not have been more excited and so very, very grateful,” she said. “This gift will be instrumental in developing our new reading program for our children. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.”