Sarah Gauvin Gets Prestigious AARP Andrus Award

Published in Pawtucket Times on November 25, 2002

People have different perceptions of how retirees spend their time.

Some see retirees traveling across the nation in RVs, working part-time jobs to make ends meet, going for the “big win” at Foxwoods on the one-armed bandits.

Or perhaps retirees are not out and about working or traveling, but instead are sitting on a rocker on the porch, disengaged from the community-at-large.

Not so for Sarah Gauvin, who remembers retiring from her bookkeeping job at age 65 to put more time and energy into her volunteer efforts.

The now 80-year-old Pawtucket resident has been a card-carrying member in AARP’s Chapter 1192 for the last 15 years – serving three years as the group’s vice president and two years as president.

Gauvin has also been extremely active in the aging advocacy group’s efforts of pushing for a drug benefit in Medicare.

However, Gauvin does not limit his volunteer work to just AARP-RI activities – she also uses her time to support other worthy local causes.

As a member of the St. Vicent de Paul Society at St. Edward’s Church in Pawtucket, she assists Rhode Islanders in paying their rent and activities.

On most Wednesdays, you can always find Gauvin working at the Blackstone Valley Emergency Food Center (BVEFC), passing out bags of food. She is a charter member of BVEFC and also sits on the Pawtucket Senior Center Council.

Ten years ago, Gauvin signed up with Literacy Volunteers of America to help teach adults the skill of reading. Ultimately, over this period of time, she would tutor a young woman who was returned to the community after years of being institutionalized in a facility that is now closed.

Before she met Gauvin, she could not read one single word. Today, this woman, now in her 40s, can read at a sixth-grade level.

Last week, at the Atlantic Beach Club in Middletown, more  than 80 seniors and AARP Rhode Island staff gathered to celebrate the importance of volunteerism.

They came to recognize Gauvin and other senior volunteers for their strong commitment efforts and dedication to make the Ocean State a better place to live.

Gauvin became the 2002 recipient of AARP-RI’s Andrus Award, the nonprofit group’s most prestigious volunteer award.

Each year, AARP-RI and other state chapters recognize an outstanding member and volunteer who is making a powerful difference to their community in ways that are consistent with AARP’s mission, vision, values and strategic direction.

State Director Kathleen S. Connell called Garvin’s efforts “inspirational” to many because of her selfless giving.

“In her own quiet way, she has profoundly affected the lives of many others and continues to do so. I hope that when I am her age. I can be half as energetic and contribute as much as does,” Connell says.

Phil Zarlengo, 64, president of AARP-RI, tells All About Seniors, that Gauvin’s sterling track record as a volunteer dispels the myth that seniors lie  life of leisure, not wishing to get involved in their later years with life’s major issues and concerns.

“She has a lifetime commitment to community service at all levels,” he adds.

According to Zarlengo, hundreds of AARP volunteers also exemplify Gauvin’s commitment to the community.

“We are highly dependent upon these volunteers to really fulfill AARP RI’s mission,” that is enhancing the quality of life for all ages, to lead positive social change and to deliver value to members through information , advocacy and service.

Gauvin is sold on the positives of being a volunteer.

“Get involved,” she urged “because it makes your life brighter, if you help somebody else.”

Retiring Senior Advocate Played Key Role in Shaping Long-Term are Policy Debates  

Published in Pawtucket Times on November 18, 2002

Sheila Cabral Sousa, a long-time and well-respected senior advocate, leaves her post as executive director of the Rhode Island Association of Facilities and Services for the Aging to become a broker with statewide Residential properties.

Sousa has played a key role in shaping the Ocean State’s long-term care policy during her 12-year tenure representing nonprofit providers who operate nursing facilities, assisted living facilities and senior housing sites.

Sousa’s professional life experience would help her to successfully lead a major statewide nonprofit provider group, providing a continuum of  long-term care services to Rhode Island’s vulnerable elderly.

As a teenager, Sousa dreamed of becoming a lawyer. Once she received her bachelor of education degree from Rhode Island College, the young woman entered the Suffolk University School of Law in Boston.

Ultimately, she would complete a four-year night program, receiving a J.D. in 1971. Eight years in private practice would sharpen her legal skills, skills that would become valuable in helping her to lobby and shape public policy.

In 1979, a job offers given to her husband brought the young couple to Washington, D.C. Briefly, Sousa owned an operated an antique and collectible store in Alexandria, Va., until she found employment in the federal government.

While working for the Veterans Administration, her experience working on the Board of Veterans Appeals gave her a working knowledge of medical issues.

After the couple divorced, Sousa came back home to Rhode Island in 1986, where she would become the field manager for the Richard Licht campaign.  Her efforts helped him to become Lieutenant governor. From there, she became executive director of the Rhode Island Mental Health Association, a position that would give her an understanding of mental health issues in Rhode Island and a familiarity with the state legislature.

In 1989, Sousa would take the helm of the Rhode Island Association of Facilities and Services for the Aging (RIAFSA)

For 13 years, she would give credibility and recognition to the views of the nonprofit provider group to lawmakers, state policy makers and to the general public.  As executive director, Sousa would not represent one segment of the long-term care continuum, but the full spectrum, from nursing facilities, assisted-living facilities to senior housing.

Sousa leaves her position with many admirers.

“Enormously intelligent,” “quick-witted” and “a very committed advocate for social justice, women’s issues and the elderly” are traits used to describe Sousa, as quoted by Maureen Maigret, director of public policy for Lt. Gov. Charles Fogarty.

“Sousa was not afraid to push people to really examine all the policy issues. She really forced one to take a look at all the angles of an issue to make sure the best results happened,” said Maigret, whose personal and professional friendship with Sousa spans back to the 1970s.

According to Maigret, Sousa has a strong interest in elderly housing issues and has called for the need of supportive housing services to be offered to the residents.

“Through Sousa’s efforts, the Rhode Island Housing Resources Commission wrote a report looking at the need for supportive housing for the elderly and those with disabilities,” Maigret stated, adding that this report will be released in the near future.

Adds Susan Sweet, a consultant to nonprofit agencies and an elder rights advocate who is also a longtime friend of Sousa, “She can pierce the babble of irrationality with her quick and sharp wit and is never afraid to do so. She is fearless and funny, smart and compassionate. Quite a combination, adds Sweet.

“Wherever she spends her time, she will bring her considerable strengths to it and it will do well and do good things,” added Sweet.

Steve Horowitz, CEO of East Greenwich-based St. Elizabeth Community and RIAFSA’s past president told All About Seniors that Sousa is “a dynamic person” and a “visionary,’ and that she was the nonprofits first and only executive director.

“She was instrumental in bringing RIAFSA to the table when the state discussed policy issues,” he said.

“She didn’t look at an issue as to how it would affect us today, but how it would impact RIAFSA down the road,” said Horowitz.

Furthermore, Sousa had a tough job because she worked with only a part-time assistant.

“If you see her accomplishments over the years, you would think we had a staff of five people-based on all the work that was done,” noted Horowitz.

Roberta Hawkins, executive director of the Alliance for Better Long-Term Care and the state ombudsman, called Sousa a tireless woman who worked extremely hard on behalf of her nonprofit providers without ever losing sight of the elderly clients that they served.

“I will miss her tenacious nature and wonderful sense of humor. Her sense of humor brought levity to intense policy decisions, observes Hawkins.

While Sousa worked hard, she also enjoyed life, too. She is a great cook and has a love for Irish country dancing and music and playing poker, her colleagues say. She is also quite an interior decorator, with an eye for color, too.

Sousa, 60, is not  turning her attention toward her new challenging mountains to climb.

“It’s tie to try new career options,” she said.

Some people say that everyone is replacement.” But in Sousa’s case, and to those who have come to love and admire her, the person who takes the helm of RIAFSA will have big shoes to fill.

A farewell party for Sousa will be held on Thursday, Nov 21, 2002, from 4 to 6 pm, ag Green Tea, 5600 Post Road, East Greenwich. For more information, call Steve Horowitz at 471-6069.

Hall of Fame Inductees Make Great Role Models

Published in Pawtucket Times on October 28, 2002

Hundreds of people gathered Friday evening at Bobby’s Banquet Hall on Newport Avenue to celebrate the honors bestowed to six people with strong ties to Pawtucket who became the latest inductees into the Pawtucket Hall of Fame.

Since 1986, the Pawtucket Hall of fame Committee, ably led by Raymond S. Dalton, Sr., has recognized more than 60 persons for their love and positive contributions to the City of Pawtucket.

Over the years, the Pawtucket Hall of Fame Committee has selected and recognized those who were either Pawtucket-born residents , persons whose reputations were made while they resident in the city, Pawtucket business owners or those persons who have made an impact on the community.

The varied life experiences of the new inductees to the Pawtucket Hall of Fame can be an inspiration to both young and old, but more importantly to the city’s younger generation.

Although Abraham “Cappy” Asermely, 73, excelled in his life long profession as an educator in the Pawtucket School Department, he was recognized by making the city of Pawtucket a better place to live through organizing sports opportunities for all ages.

His love for basketball led him to create the first “three-on-three” elementary school basketball program in 1968.  Several years later, the three-on-three basketball concept would be used by Asermely when he created an “over-21 league” for the Pawtucket Recreation Department.

Like Asermely, William “Billy” Hulme, 92, had a very strong work ethic, working as a service man at Blackstone Valley Gas and Electric for 35 years. Hulme’s great love for music began at age 5 and continues to this day, when at the drop of a hat, he would write a song or pull out his harmonica and play. The World War II veteran is a shining example that creativity can be tapped during your later years. Although in his 90s, his creativity and passion for his music are still strong.

Born in Pawtucket in 1922, the late Captain Conrade E. LaGueux would later leave to defend his country during World War II. Parachuting into Nazi-controlled southern France, the Pawtucket resident and his fellow commandos joined up with the French underground to destroy a German supply train.

Meanwhile, LaGueux would later go into China, where he was given responsibility of training China’s Parachute Division. With the war ending, the Pawtucket war veteran would eventually join the CIA, where his French language skills and experience gained in the Chinese theater would be valuable for the CIA’s East Asian Division.

In the early 1970s, LaGueux would become the deputy chief of station in Saigon. Ultimately, he would be responsible for the planning and implementation of the evacuation of key Vietnamese leaders.  While residing outside of Pawtucket for most of his adult life, LaGueux would never forget his early ties to is hometown, his wife told the crowd in the room during the induction ceremony.

Last Friday, Patrick McCabe also joined the rank and file of the Pawtucket Hall of Fame.  Called the “Father of Irish in Pawtucket” the 96-year-old inductee was a strong supporter of his church, St. Mary’s Parish in Pawtucket. His work at Kaiser Shipyard during World War II brought him to Pawtucket.

His love of his Irish homeland led to purchase the Irish Social Club in Pawtucket, and the place quicky became the focal point of Irish get-togethers and events. As the grand marshal, McCabe led Pawtucket’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade. Commitment to his Irish heritage and to the parade led him to save the popular Pawtucket event when support for it dwindled.

At age 53, Louis C. Yip is one of the youngest inductees into the Pawtucket Hall of Fame. A native of Hong Kong, Yip came to America and now stands as Pawtucket’s shining example of the American dream. Along with running one of the best Chinese restaurants in New England, the China Inn. Yip has brought vitality to the city’s downtown by turning an old bank building into the Registry of Motor Vehicles and an old vacant mill into a thriving commercial property.

As a promoter of his Chinese culture, Yip provides strong support to the Rhode Island Association of Chinese Americans. He continually looks for ways to promote his adopted hometown, Pawtucket.

Lastly, William Meiklejohn, born in 1861, became a historical inductee to this year’s Pawtucket Hall of Fame. Coming to Pawtucket from Scotland, Meiklejohn was the founder of the Pawtucket Board of Trade, which ultimately became the Pawtucket Chamber of Commerce.

The new inductees in Pawtucket’s Hall of Fame provide us with a road map on how we can make positive changes not only to Pawtucket, but to our daily lives. That is quite a legacy that they leave us and the future generations that come after us.