TOP to BOTTOM: Fr. Sylvester Peterka, pastor at St. Vincent de Paul Church in Germantown, and Evelyn worked together on many parish and community programs. Fr. Thomas McKenna, CM (left), and Br. Al Smith, CM, presented Evelyn with an official proclamation with the Congregation of the Mission. Evelyn at her desk at St. Vincent’s. worked with the St. Vincent Senior Community Center. But her greatest accomplishment at St. Vincent’s was the Food Cupboard. While Br. Al started the program, Evelyn eventually took over in the 1980s. Along with a team of volunteers, she helped organize and provide daily food assistance to the community. For more than 40 years, she distributed turkey breasts at Thanksgiving and Christmas in addition to distributing more than 200 turkey baskets annually. She also organized a network where local schools adopted families in need, which required collecting and distributing toys and clothing every Christmas. She coordinated food donations and financial support from several prominent Philadelphia organizations. For more than 35 years, Evelyn was the force behind this very successful program, and as Fr. Peterka notes, “She ran it until her last breath.” Her generous spirit and dedication to service are true to the Vincentian mission of service to others. Fr. Peterka sums it up best: “She is a living example of St. Vincent.”
Our house was always the playhouse,” says her daughter, Kimberly. “Mom would make popcorn, and we would watch movies. It was always obvious to us that our family was her greatest joy. 44 | MIRACULOUS MEDAL MESSAGE
Her daughter, Kimberly, views her as a true entrepreneur whose favorite quote was “There is nothing I can’t do.” She loved to read, had a keen interest in keeping current on politics, believed in promoting holistic natural remedies, and swore by vitamin C. She was a great Christmas card correspondent, and Kimberly remembers their home was decorated floor to ceiling with holiday cards from all over. “She may have been a tiny little thing, but she was a tough character,” Fr. Peterka smiles as he describes her. “You always knew she was in charge.”
