The Catholic Foundation announces Work of Heart Award winners

by PegNews wire

DALLAS — The Catholic Foundation announced today that they have presented 15 education professionals from Dallas-area Catholic Schools with Work of Heart Awards. Winners received a $500 grant for personal use as a thank you for their hard work and dedication to serving students, colleagues, families and their communities.

The Work of Heart Award program was established in 2005 and funded solely by an anonymous Dallas family through the Catholic Foundation. To this day the program has given 486 grants totaling $442,000 to educators and staff of Catholic lower, middle and high schools located in the Dallas area. This year, The Catholic Foundation has matched the family’s contribution to the program.

“The act of charity and generosity of the anonymous family paints a true picture of what the Catholic educational communities try to instill in our children,” said Edwin M. Schaffler, president of the Catholic Foundation. “The Catholic Foundation encourages other individuals to make donations so that we may continue to reward those teachers and staff members who strive to exemplify and teach these Catholic values every day.”

Work of Heart Award recipients are nominated by students, teachers, parents, administrators and community members. This year, the Foundation has formed a committee, with members of its Advisory Council, to read the nomination letters received each month and decide which teachers and staff members will receive a Work of Heart Award. The nominations are judged based on traditional merit criteria including tenure and leadership, acts of kindness or charity, Christian example, mentoring and simply going the extra mile for an individual student, family or the community.

The following recipients each received a $500 Work of Heart Award in recognition of their outstanding service.

All Saints Catholic School - Joan Simler, 2nd Grade Teacher

Bishop Dunne Catholic School - Diane Horton, Administrative Assistant and Joanne Noller, Early Childhood Development

Bishop Lynch High School - Jeffrey Morrow, Calculus Teacher and Jaynie Poff, Director of Finance

Good Shepherd Catholic School - Heather Harrill, Kindergarten Teacher

Holy Trinity Catholic School - Vicki Neverdousky, School Secretary

St. Augustine Catholic School - Carol Catalano, Vice Principal/5th Grade Teacher

St. Joseph Catholic School - Amy Burton, Administrative Assistant

St. Mark Catholic School - Janet Gerwer, 7th and 8th Grade Math Teacher

St. Monica Catholic School - Patricia Saunders, Art Teacher

St. Paul the Apostle - Mary Egan, 6th-8th Grade English Teacher

St. Philip the Apostle Catholic School - Linda Laudadio, Librarian/6th Grade Language Arts Teacher