Simplicity and Outreach Key to Charitable Giving

Viola Bramel’s love of God and nature is evident in everything she does. Through her work as a federal park ranger, her many volunteer activities and her support of Glenmary’s mission work in rural America, Viola uses her time, talents and treasure to educate people of all ages about the care of the planet, of living creatures and the love of God.

A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, Viola works as a federal park ranger at West Hill Park in Uxbridge, Mass., where she leads programs that endorse stewardship and cultural leadership with the end goal of protecting “everything on the property.” She manages the park’s volunteer program and runs the junior ranger programs, teaching children age six on up how to protect habitats and how to respect and care for the planet and the creatures on it.

Because of this work Viola received the Hiram M. Chittenden Award in 1996 from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The award recognized her “outstanding interpretive programs designed to promote public awareness of the natural resources available.”

Her interest in the planet and natural resources has inspired Viola to serve on the local recycling board for the past 18 years. The board works to collect “electronics and heavy metals,” she says, as well as helping residents find resources to recycle motor oil, antifreeze, old computers and TVs among other things. The recycling effort “gives people a place to put [waste] instead of throwing it on the side of the road.”

Viola not only cares about the earth and four-legged creatures, she also devotes her energy to helping people globally as the Massachusetts state contact person for the collection of eyeglasses for the Lions Club. The eyeglasses are eventually distributed to people in developing countries. And she also finds time to teach CPR classes in her local community. Viola uses her love of teaching at her parish as well where she volunteers her time teaching religious education classes to high school students.

Viola first started teaching CCD classes while a student at Morehead State University in Morehead, Ky., in the 1970s. While living in Morehead she began attending Mass at the only Catholic church in the area, the Church of Jesus Our Savior—a Glenmary mission that was turned back to the Diocese of Lexington in 1994.

Viola says she “basically fell in love with” Glenmary during that time. The Glenmary priests who served the mission during her college years—Fathers Dan Dorsey, Mike Caroline and T.J. Meehan—planned outings for the youth group and lead retreats to the Glenmary Farm in Vanceburg, Ky.

At the Glenmary mission Viola found camaraderie, a connection to God and a way of just reaching out to other people that “was simple and beautiful,” she says.

That simplicity and beauty stayed with her as she began her career and became financially independent. She began supporting Glenmary's home mission ministry financially by joining the Boost-A-Month Club because she “loved the outreach of [Glenmary]. I felt that outreach is just so essential all across the country.” She later designated Glenmary as a beneficiary of two certificates of deposit through the planned giving program. This qualifies her to be a member of the Father Bishop Legacy Society whose members help ensure the future of Glenmary’s home mission ministry by making various types of planned gifts.

For Viola, whose love of nature and God is lived every day, the attraction to and ultimately the support of Glenmary’s mission and ministry seems natural. “I loved the simplicity that I found in Kentucky and the thought of not having that anywhere else in the United States was huge to me,” she says.

Today, through her monthly gifts and her planned giving decisions, she is working to ensure that other places like Morehead, Ky., will have the opportunity to experience Glenmary’s home mission ministry.