Sister of Notre Dame de Namur who came to Central Florida in 1971 to work with migrant and seasonal farmworkers, immigrants and the working poor. Invited by the Catholic Diocese of Orlando to begin the Office for Farmworker Ministry, she and the other sisters began reaching out to and learning from the people.
Among the projects the Sisters worked on together with the community are: Community Health Centers which started out as the West Orange Farmworker Health Association; Homes in Partnership, a self help housing organization which has built subdivisions with more than 4,000 homes for low income people; Community Trust Federal Credit Union, the Farmworker Association of Florida, a statewide worker organization with 6,000 members working on issues affecting agricultural workers; the Notre Dame Mission Volunteer / AmeriCorps program which recruits, trains, deploys, and supervises 30 AmeriCorps members serving at risk students in Orange County Public Schools and in other in other local nonprofit organizations working with poor and marginalized people.
Now known as the Hope CommUnity Center, she and a team of committed, creative and passionate people continue to work from the assets of the people seeking common solutions to problems, building power and confidence. The Mission of the Hope CommUnity Center is the empowerment of the Central Florida’s working poor community through education, advocacy and spiritual growth. The Hope CommUnity Center is a service learning community where all are both teachers and learners in a mutual process of creating empowered and diverse communities of care and social change.
Sister Ann continues to stand in solidarity and lend her voice along with the voices of those directly affected by our country’s broken immigration system and she encourages others to continue the fight for equality as well. Sister Ann has a BA and honorary Doctorate from Trinity Washington University, a MA in Latin American Literature from the University of Maryland and an Honorary Doctorate from Rollins College.
