Sister Mary Johnice may be best known for her work helping the poor on Buffalo’s east side.
As founder and director of St. Adalbert’s Response to Love Center, the Catholic nun has provided food, shelter and counseling services to thousands of Buffalo residents who need help after losing jobs, friends and family.
What is not as well known, however, is Sister Johnice’s work on behalf of military veterans, many of whom have extraordinary difficulties making the transition to back to civilian life after completing their service. She estimates that as many as 30 percent of the poor and downtrodden she encounters at St. Adalberts Response to Love Center are military veterans.
“When they come back, they are so lost, she said. You see them walking around aimlessly. They often feel rejected and they don’t know where to turn. But here we try to make them feel valuable. We tell them, Thank you for being there for us. Thank you for fighting for our country and our freedom.”
AMVETS, for its part, is thanking Sister Johnice for her service to veterans by providing her with the organization’s Silver Helmet Award, its highest honor, in the rehabilitation category of the 49th annual awards competition. “Many people are not aware of what Sister Johnice does on a daily basis to help veterans.”, said Edward Kemp, AMVETS national commander. “We think she’s a role model who is deserving of national recognition. She is an inspiration to all of us.”
Sister Johnice will receive the Silver Helmet Award at an April 1st awards banquet at the Hilton Mark Center Hotel in Alexandria, Va., where she will join three other 2006 Silver Helmet honorees in four categories of service. They include Rep. Robert Filner (D-Calif.), a senior member of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs (Congressional Category); Richard A. Behrenhausen, former president and CEO of the McCormick Tribune Foundation, one of the nation’s largest charitable trusts (Americanism Category); and Leo P. Morgan, a longtime AMVETS volunteer from Lancaster, Pa. (AMVETS Member of the Year). Past recipients of Silver Helmet Awards include President Harry S. Truman, Sen. Bob Dole (R-Kan.), Secretary of State Colin Powell and Pope John Paul II.
