Toni Armstead, a parishioner of St. Ignatius Loyola Parish, was honored Sept. 12 with the St. Josephine Bakhita and St. Katharine Drexel Award at the sixth annual dinner hosted by the Office of Black Catholic Ministry.
“Receiving Communion from now St. John Paul II at World Youth Day in Denver in 1993 was the greatest moment of my life,’ she said when presented with the award by Archbishop Samuel Aquila and Mary Leisring, director of the Office of Black Catholic Ministry, at the event at Bogey’s on the Park. “And receiving the Sts. Bakhita and Drexel Award is a close second.”
Armstead, director of religious education at the parish, is well-known in the community for her service and involvement in both spiritual and charitable activities, including the annual Christmas Food Box program that provides food baskets to an average of 225 families every year, as well as Christmas gifts, toiletries bags, and other items.
“I love my parish, and I love the people in it,” Amstead added.
