ORDER OF MALTA MOMENT

Former Rep. Lindy Boggs, DM, a member of the Federal Association since 1988 died at her home in Chevy Chase, MD on July 28. She was 97. Mrs. Boggs, who served nearly 18 years in Congress after succeeding her late husband, also served as ambassador to the Vatican from 1997-2001.

Mrs. Boggs, who was born on a plantation near New Orleans, announced her retirement from Congress in 1990 to help her daughter Barbara Boggs Sigmund, the Princeton mayor, deal with eye cancer. Mrs. Sigmund died that year.

In 1997, President Bill Clinton appointed Mrs. Boggs ambassador to the Vatican. While ambassador, Mrs. Boggs organized a visit by a US Congressional delegation to Fra' Andrew Bertie, then Grand Master of the Order of Malta, to discuss recognition of the Order's sovereignty.

Pauline Olsen, M.D., Dame of Malta, Hospitaller and a co-founder of the Malta House of Care mobile medical clinic and founder of the Malta Food Pantry in Hartford CT, will be honored on Thursday, October 24 with an evening of Irish music referencing her heritage. Proceeds from the event will benefit the Malta Clinic and Food Pantry.

Dr. Olsen has provided care to women in the Greater Hartford area since 1977, first as director of maternal fetal medicine at Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center, and later in a private practice of obstetrics and gynecology. During those years, she saw the consequences of poverty in the incidents of perinatal mortality and morbidity and the lack of access to preventative care. Dr. Olsen wanted to give back something to the community so in 2006 she co-founded the Malta House Mobile Clinic and in 2012 the Food Pantry.

Recently a group of Triad NC Region members gathered to serve the poor at Pathways Center, a housing program of Greensboro Urban Ministry. Pathways provides 16 homeless families a safe, temporary environment to live while they are searching for other housing. The Order of Malta regularly prepares and serves dinner at Pathways, but this most recent project was more ambitious. The Pathways facility is 11 years old, and two playgrounds on the property were in desperate need of cleaning and mulching. The vinyl siding on the building itself had never been cleaned. A white picket fence was in need of a new coat of paint.

Jeanne Murtaugh, Gary Fly, Bill Lawler, Bob Scheppegrell, candidate Derek Ritzel, along with Teresa and Patrick Scheppegrell spent seven hours tackling those three projects. Twenty-six cubic yards of mulch was laid, several thousand square feet of vinyl siding was pressure washed and the picket fence was painted.

Members of the Atlanta Region, along with staff and volunteers for the Pregnancy Aid Center in Atlanta were present for the Malta Grant Presentation recently. Tom Wessels spearheaded the request for this grant, following through to assure it became a reality.
Thanks to this Malta Grant, exterior stucco and an expanded storage room for baby supplies are forthcoming.