LOOP
IN
THE
C O N T I N U E D
LOCAL RETIRED TEACHER
VOLUNTEERS AT
CATHOLIC CHARITIES
FOR NEARLY 10 YEARS
The Allegheny County Medical Society
Foundation (ACMSF) presented the 2016
Benjamin Rush Individual Award to Mary
Carroll Grimes during its Celebration of
Excellence Awards Gala on Saturday, March 4,
at Heinz Field – UPMC Club.
Established in 1947, the Benjamin Rush
Individual Award recognizes non-health
care professionals who devote time, skills or
resources to assisting others and contribute to
the advancement of health care.
Grimes began volunteering at the
Catholic Charities Free Health Care Center
(CCFHCC), also known as “The Miracle
on 9th Street,” in February of 2008. The
center opened a year earlier to provide
quality medical and dental care at no cost
to individuals who do not have employer-
sponsored health insurance, cannot afford
private insurance, or who do not qualify for
Medicaid or other types of assistance.
“When I learned that Catholic Charities
opened a free clinic in downtown Pittsburgh,
I immediately was interested,” says Grimes.
“I always wanted to be involved with people
needing care.”
A retired ESL (English as a Second
Language) teacher, she has logged over
2,223 hours volunteering at the CCFHCC,
36 724.942.0940 TO ADVERTISE | Peters Township
interviewing and helping individuals enroll
in the free care clinic through the eligibility
process—an in-kind value of nearly $112,000.
“I have met so many wonderful people
including volunteers and patients,” says
Grimes. “We have become a community
of friends. Every day I go home with a new
appreciation of people’s difficult lives. My days
spent at the clinic take me out of my sheltered
suburban life.”
She turned her volunteerism into a family
affair, recruiting her husband, Dr. Bernie
Grimes, a retired endocrinologist, in 2008 and
their son, Dr. Michael Grimes, a practicing
endocrinologist at Allegheny General
Hospital, in 2014, to care for patients at the
health center.
“We are so blessed by the presence of Mary
Carroll and her family in our lives, those of the
staff, volunteers and, most of all, our patients,”
says Annette Fetchko, Administrator,
CCFHCC.
Grimes also devotes time to tutoring inner
city children and teaching English to refugees
through the Greater Pittsburgh Literacy
Council. She is a Family Promise Meals
volunteer at St. Benedict’s Church as well,
a hospital Eucharistic minister and helps to
sew Dignity Robes—specially designed robes
for women undergoing radiation treatments
associated with breast cancer—at St. Louise
de Marillac Church.
Mary Carroll and Bernie Grimes reside in
McMurray. They have four adult children and
eight grandchildren.
The ACMS represents physicians from
all specialties and is dedicated to providing
leadership and advocacy for patients and
physicians. The organization has been serving
Allegheny County since 1865.
PT’S ROWDY RHYTHM
TAKES ON SAN
ANTONIO, TEXAS
Sixty-five students from Peters Township
High School’s combined choir, Rowdy
Rhythm, performed at the Midwinter
Festival for the Barbershop Harmony Society
(BHS) on Jan. 20. The choir traveled to San
Antonio, Texas, and enjoyed sightseeing at the
Alamo and the Riverwalk before continuing
months of dedicated planning and rehearsing
to showcase their 10-minute theatrical
vocal performance and participate in the
Barbershop Harmony Society mass youth
choir sing.
Rowdy Rhythm’s Friday evening
performance of “South Rampart Street
Parade,” “Sail Away” and “Fly Away”
astounded the sold-out crowd of over
2,000 people at the Lila Cockrell Theater.
At the close of their performance, Rowdy
Rhythm was met with a standing ovation and
recognition throughout the weekend for their
singing, onstage surprise costume change,
style, energy and groundbreaking show on the
Barbershop Harmony Society stage.
The group performed again on Saturday as
part of a combined choir composed of all the
participating youth singers from across the
nation. To complete the experience, Rowdy
Rhythm enjoyed a riverboat tour of the
Riverwalk, serenaded the public up and down
the river, delivered an impromptu reprise of
their performance at the outdoor theater of La
Villita and enjoyed the sights and sounds of El
Mercado. Congratulations to the performers
of Rowdy Rhythm and director Ryan Perrotte,
as well as the chaperones, parents and Peters
Township Music Boosters group that made
such an amazing experience possible.
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