UNICO national and local chapters donate to Gardenia House

At a UNICO meeting held Sept. 10, Joan Boraski, on behalf of UNICO National, and Jason Falcone, on behalf of the local UNICO - Rehoboth Area Chapter, presented checks to help support Gardenia House and the wonderful, charitable work done there by Sister Rosa Alvarez.

Sister Rosa Alvarez, a Carmelite sister originally from Spain, spent 18 years in Washington, D.C., working with the poor and homeless before coming to Georgetown in September 1994. Since arriving in this area, Alvarez has been instrumental in helping establish La Esperanza community center in 1996, La Red health center in 2001 and Gardenia House shelter for abused, abandoned and battered women and their children in 2006.

Alvarez served on the board of La Esperanza for many years, and now heads the outreach program for pre- and postnatal care, and serves as a director of Gardenia House. She has been called a mother to the women and grandmother to their children.

Alvarez has received several awards for her work including the Washington Award  and two Delaware Jefferson Awards. In 2011 she and other sisters who assist her received the Delaware Governors Outstanding Volunteer Award.

In addition to Gardenia House, local UNICO chapters donated during the fiscal year 2014‐15 to cancer research programs, Cooley’s Anemia research, scholarships, Italian studies, local food kitchens, Sussex County high school athletic programs (Brian Piccolo Award) and a community service program at Harbor Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center in Lewes.

UNICO's motto is service above self. For more information, contact Maria Teresa Morrison, UNICO Delaware district governor, at mtmbeach@comcast.net.