Farewell to an unsung hero
Charmaine Kathmann, who is a deacon candidate and a full-time occupational therapist at the VA Medical Center Outpatient clinic in New Orleans, came to us from Grace Church in New Orleans. She spent 9 months at All Saints' Church helping with outreach ministries and performing liturgical roles during services, including preparing and delivering sermons a few times. Since completing the School for Ministry two years ago she has been attending Deacon Formation training once a month. She is trained in Clinical Pastoral Training and is a certified Critical Incident Stress Management, which involves administering emotional first aid for trauma victims.
Charmaine has quietly inspired many people at All Saints’ to help with the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana’s mobile respite van in the lower 9th ward and in St. Bernard Parish. She took the van out on Saturdays since March/April 2006. She also helped some of our parishioners get involved in serving meals to the homeless population at the Dragon Cafe at St. George's Church in New Orleans. Charmaine was instrumental in raising funds for the Episcopal Relief and Development campaign to purchase farm animals for poor villages throughout the world. She and Deacon Debbie Scalia spearheaded the youth group’s involvement in the ERD project and also introduced them to the newly formed All Souls' Episcopal Church in the lower 9th ward.
What’s in the future for Charmaine? She will be returning to Grace Church in New Orleans to help with outreach ministries there, especially the Grace Child Center which is to re-open the day after Labor Day. Our youth group plans to help paint a room for the center. The child center, which has been in existence for over 30 years was put out of operation temporarily when Katrina destroyed the building. The bi-lingual child center serves children from poor families.
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Left: Mother Davidson presents |
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Below: Charmaine with her friend, Ethel
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Updated 1/4/2008 |
Above: The ECW provided punch, ice cream, and a delicious cake made by Kathy Werhan for Charmaine and for the Church School teachers. |
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Right: Charmaine cuts the first |
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