Carolyn’s Place, a pregnancy care center serving the local region, will celebrate its 20th year of caring for babies and families at an anniversary dinner on Sunday, November 4 from 4:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at La Bella Vista at Waterbury’s Pontelandolfo Club.
The five-course dinner celebration will be emceed by WATR radio host Ed Flynn and will feature live jazz music by Gomez & Sadlon and a silent auction featuring items including a two-night getaway to Boston, Yankee tickets, wine baskets, a Waterford Crystal basket, and much more. The cost per person is $50. Reservations are required and can be made by contacting Ginny Baudinet at (203) 597-9080 or staff@carolynsplace.net.
All funds raised will help the non-profit 501(c) (3) center continue its work of “empowering individuals through education, comfort, and assistance to make life choices related to their sexuality and child-bearing that are consistent with the sanctity of human life.”
The anniversary celebration will also honor several individuals for their exceptional advocacy for life. Jim Vicevich, WTIC AM1080 radio host, will be honored with the Maureen A. Donohoe Life Award which is given to an individual who represents life affirming values and actively promotes them in the general community.
The Most Reverend Daniel A. Cronin, S.T.D. Archbishop of Hartford from 1992 to 2003, will be presented with the Carolyn’s Place Ministry Award. The award was established to recognize individuals with a religious vocation who exemplify extraordinary commitment to protection of the sanctity of human life.
The Walter J. Williams Service Award will be presented to the original founding members of Carolyn’s Place, including: Fr. Robert Rousseau, Peter and Mary Arduino, Ellen Cavallo, Raymond Donohoe, Marge Fisher, Barbara Fydenkevez, Maria Mancini, Mary Moynihan, and Clare Townsend Keating. This Service Award is given to an individual who has provided outstanding volunteer service to the Carolyn’s Place ministry.
The November 4th event will also commemorate the 21st birthday of Carolyn Marie, for whom Carolyn’s Place is named. On November 4, 1991, Fr. Rousseau, then pastor at St. John the Evangelist Parish in Watertown, discovered a three-hour-old baby girl, left in a box in the entryway of the church. Father Rousseau named the baby “Carolyn” as she was born on the feast of St. Charles Barromeo, and along with a core group of parishioners, formed a committee that in 1992 launched Carolyn’s Place so that “no woman should face pregnancy alone.”
Since then, the center has assisted with the births of more than 1,000 babies; conducted nearly 1,200 education presentations to schools; logged over 166,000 hours on the 24-hour hotline; filled nearly 4,000 personal needs items requests; and taught nearly 200 parents child about birth preparation and parenting skills.
Event sponsors (to-date) include: Diamond level: TD Bank; Gold level: Sullivan Brothers Remodeling; Silver level – Prospect Veterinary Hospital, Watertown Knights of Columbus St. Pius X Council #3594; and Maureen E. Williams in memory of Walter J. Williams; Bronze level: Waterbury Swiss Automatics, Prospect Boarding and Grooming, United Auto Sales and Services and Main Street Financial Group, LLC.