Don Ward receives BC High’s top alumni award

After more than 45 years of selfless service to the local needy and less fortunate, Donald Ward of Canton is finally, albeit reluctantly, receiving his due.

On October 17, the 79-year-old Ward will be honored by his alma mater, Boston College High School, as one of three recipients of the St. Ignatius Award — the highest honor that can be bestowed on a graduate of BC High.

Don Ward

Named after the founder of the Jesuits, the St. Ignatius Award recognizes those who have “exemplified the ideals of the school through high moral character and selfless service to the community.” And Ward, as the longest serving member of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul at St. John the Evangelist parish, certainly fits that bill.

“Don’s quiet leadership in this organization has helped countless individuals over the past four decades,” states the BC High website. “For 16 years, Don actively served as president of the society in his own parish and at the same time made presentations to the various other Vincentian Conferences on the availability of programs for the needy, including food stamps, health programs, housing, heating, Social Security disability, and grandparents’ programs.”

A humble and unassuming man and a third-generation Cantonite, Ward said he was genuinely speechless when he received the call from BC High President William Kemeza informing him that he was one of this year’s winners, in part because he knew very little about the award, but also because Vincentians, as they are called, prefer to do their work anonymously and with as little fanfare as possible.

“We don’t advertise ourselves,” explained Ward in a recent telephone interview. “What we do we do on a private basis, and unless you had contact with us you probably wouldn’t know we existed.”

Yet Ward, as it turns out, does have his share of admirers, including fellow Canton residents and past St. Ignatius Award winners Dr. Bill Sullivan and Paul Driscoll, who lobbied for the award on behalf of their friend.

Driscoll (’78) received the honor in 2008 in recognition of his work as a youth advisor at St. Gerard Majella, while “Doc” Sullivan (’50) accepted the award four years later in honor of a lifetime of charitable acts.

A longtime Vincentian himself, Sullivan has served as both a member and a leader at the local and district levels, and together with Ward and a small group of dedicated volunteers, they have given countless hours and managed to help hundreds of local residents get back on their feet.

“The purpose of our conference is to assist those in need,” said Ward. “We start off with food, clothing, electric, gas heat, and in some small ways, housing, so if someone were behind in rent or running out of oil, there is a telephone number they can call and a team that answers the phone and checks messages three or four times a day.”

The society itself was founded in France in the 1830s and surfaced in the United States just a decade later in St. Louis. It has since spread to 100 countries and currently boasts a membership of 800,000 lay people, including more than 150,000 in the U.S. alone.

Its primary mission is to assist those who are needy and suffering, and much of that work is accomplished on the local level in parishes such as St. John’s.

Ward’s personal affiliation with the society began in 1970 and was inspired by his service work at the Brockton VA hospital as a young adult.

“I get more out of it than the people we help,” he said, “and I’ve met an awful lot of nice people out there who we became friendly with and who know why we’re doing what we’re doing when we help them.”

Ward is also proud of the fact that the group will help anyone — regardless of their background or religious affiliation — as well as the fact that the society offers a “hand up” rather than a hand out.

“We try to serve the clients on the basis of what their immediate need is, but we also try to educate them on what other things they may be eligible for and how to apply for them,” he said. “We’re giving them a chance to be who they want to be. All you’re doing is helping them over a small hurdle that comes up in their life.”

The current St. John’s conference consists of 18 volunteers, many of whom have been involved for decades. Funds for the society’s charitable work are raised primarily through donations from parishioners, including some who give monthly or even weekly to the cause.

“We have four places in the back of the church where people can leave money, and those containers are what help keep us going,” said Ward.

Over his many years of service, Ward has noticed changes in the types of requests that are made and has seen the needs evolve — from mostly elderly residents to families to single-parent homes, and now, increasingly, grandparents who have taken on the responsibility of raising their grandchildren. “So over the last 46 years, in some ways, it’s gone from helping old to old,” he said.

But despite the changing needs and the increasing complexity of some of their cases, Ward said the society remains a constant in the community and is still helping others the “exact same way as [they] did it before.”

And the same, it seems, can be said of Ward himself, who continues to give freely of his time while living out the Jesuit mission of being a man “for others.”

“Since 1970 I have not changed what I’m doing,” he said. “And I don’t intend to stop.”

The St. Ignatius Award ceremony will take place at 9 a.m. on Friday, October 17, in the McNeice Pavilion at BC High. For information on current and past award winners, go to www.bchigh.edu/stignatiusaward.

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Posted by Jay Turner on Oct 2 2014. Filed under Features. Both comments and pings are currently closed.