New moms take classes at Visitation House

By Christina Galeone | CFP Correspondent

WORCESTER – More than 500 people attended the 14th Annual Visitation House Benefit Dinner May 1 at the St. George Orthodox Cathedral hall. With the theme of “Rise and Shine: Empowerment through Education,” Visitation House supporters and residents celebrated the amazing work that the nonprofit has accomplished since it opened on the feast of the Visitation, May 31, 2005.
It also kicked off its campaign to raise $230,000 by July 31 to continue that life-changing work which has helped more than 300 pregnant and new single moms and their babies have hope for a better future.
Visitation House’s most recent program that helps its residents to “rise and shine” is its “Higher Me” Learning Center. Launched in September 2018, the program provides residents with classes that prepare them for success in their personal lives, family lives and careers. The professionally staffed learning center was praised by supporters and residents throughout the night.
One of those supporters is Catherine (Hardy) Pakaluk. She was a founding board member of Visitation House and was the keynote speaker at the dinner. She is married to Michael Pakaluk, whose late wife, Ruth V.K. Pakaluk, was a passionate, pro-life advocate who inspired the creation of Visitation House. There is an annual award named after her. Louise and Lawrence (posthumously) Cournoyer of Paxton were honored this year with the Ruth V.K. Pakaluk award for their legacy of giving.
Catherine Pakaluk, who helped raise Michael and Ruth’s six children, and their own eight, earned her doctorate in economics from Harvard University and is an assistant professor of social research and economic thought at the Busch School of Business at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. In her latest research project she is interviewing women about motherhood.
“I was overjoyed,” Mrs. Pakaluk recalled about hearing the news that the learning center had been established. She noted that the founding board’s original vision simply focused on providing a much-needed safe haven where homeless single mothers could stay with their babies after giving birth. She said she was excited and impressed to see the nonprofit’s mission reaching new heights.
In her talk she spoke about how her life was inexplicably intertwined with Ruth’s, a woman she hardly knew, who died of breast cancer leaving six young children. Catherine Pakaluk said she has not spoken publicly about Ruth “out of a natural piety that makes us hold back when we encounter something mysterious.”
Through the years, she said, she felt as if Ruth had “pulled her into this story” and that she was “supposed to take up her purpose.”
In fact, Ruth, speaking to her husband shortly before her death, had mentioned Catherine by name, calmly suggesting she might be the one to raise her children, Catherine Pakaluk said.
After Catherine and Michael got married, their goal was to “cultivate a domestic sanctuary where the children could heal.”
Mrs. Pakaluk said that one of Ruth’s girls, recently wrote in a blog: “After dad remarried … we had a home again.” The young woman continued that now she was “more aware of the miracle of the whole thing,” Mrs. Pakaluk recounted.
As a mother to “the unplanned children in my life,” Mrs. Pakaluk said she “had a modest hope there would be healing” for the children. She said their lives together have been both “holy and mysterious.”
She calls Ruth the heroine of their story. “She bravely placed her children in the hands of God,” Mrs. Pakaluk said.
She told the young women from Visitation House, many of who attended the dinner, to cherish their role as mother and teacher.
“The work of every mother is redemptive,” she said,
“because God willed that healing and salvation of the world will come from an infant.” She said mothers help to redeem the world.
Even though she and her family no longer live in Massachusetts, she wants to do whatever she can to support Visitation House. Mrs. Pakaluk said was overwhelmed and touched by the many enthusiastic guests supporting the nonprofit, and she hopes to see the learning center expand.  And she said that she hopes to see it continue to provide a “bridge from the learning center to community college or other programs.”  
Evelyn Lindquist, who has been the executive director of Visitation House since 2007, couldn’t agree more. She created and directs the learning center, which provides 30 “Healthy Babies, Healthy Moms” classes – covering topics such as substance abuse prevention, parenting and nutrition – and 37 financial and career-focused “Bridging Back to the Community” classes. 
Although Mrs. Lindquist was thrilled that many of the 16 residents who participated in the inaugural learning center classes earned certifications in Microsoft Word, Outlook, Excel and PowerPoint, she hopes that the center can offer higher level computer training classes in the future.
“We want to present the best programs to the women,” she said. She later added, “The more qualified they become, the more we can work with outside agencies to try to get them placed.”
Providing the educational center in addition to the safe housing, mentorships and multi-layered support that Visitation House offers at no charge to the women is something that Mrs. Lindquist had always aspired to.
“When they come to us, they’re confused, afraid and don’t know their future. But when they leave, they have some sort of direction to go in,” Mrs. Lindquist said. She later noted, “Education is crucial. All of our programs and mentorships are geared toward empowering women and making them stronger when they leave and able to take care of their babies.”
Mrs. Lindquist is proud of the 2018-2019 class of learning center participants who were awarded certificates at the dinner. And she’s excited to see many Visitation House residents giving back to their communities.
A learning center participant named Maggie – who Mrs. Lindquist referred to as a kind-hearted, devoted mother – spoke at the dinner about her gratitude for Visitation House and her promise to be a loving mother to her baby, Emmanuel. Sober for more than two years, Maggie wants to use the skills she has learned to possibly pursue a career as a drug recovery therapist.  
And that empowerment that she and the other residents received is a gift that changes their beliefs along with their abilities.
“We want them to feel that self-worth that we feel for them,” Mrs. Lindquist shared. “We know that they’re smart, brave women that just need a break.”

– Margaret M. Russell contributed to this story.  Visit www.visitationhouse.org for more information.

See photo album of the evening.