Tara Ruszkowski addresses the people attending The Lamb Center’s annual banquet.
In a moving tribute to a leader whose compassion shaped a community, The Lamb Center presented its inaugural Honorable Gerry Connolly Community Impact Award to Mary Petersen. The ceremony took place during TLC’s annual Hope and a Future Banquet – a celebration of faith, service and transformed lives.
The event was held Oct. 9 at the Falls Church Marriott Fairview Park, and the award was created to honor the late congressman’s lifelong commitment to public service and advocacy for Fairfax’s most vulnerable residents. Presenting it alongside Connolly’s wife, Smitty, and daughter, Caitlin, was his former chief of staff and congressional successor, U.S. Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-11th).
Petersen was chosen because her more than 30 years of service to The Lamb Center exemplify the values that defined Connolly’s legacy – compassion, collaboration and dignity for all. A former Lamb Center Board of Directors chairman, Petersen was involved in TLC since it opened in 1992 and helped spearhead fundraising for its current facility on Campbell Drive.
“Gerry loved the closeness of local service, the ability to see results,” said his widow. “He saw every act of kindness, large or small, as a way to strengthen the fabric of our community. Honoring his legacy through this award – and recognizing someone like Mary Petersen, who’s quietly uplifted others for decades – would have meant the world to him.”
“It just felt right honoring Congressman Connolly’s legacy through Mary’s incredible years of service,” said TLC Executive Director Tara Ruszkowski. “To see our community fill the room, give generously and stand together in faith was humbling. It reminds us that hope is not only alive, it’s abundant.”
Emceed by Claude Jennings and Jerry Woods, radio personalities at WGTS 91.9, this year’s banquet welcomed more than 500 people and helped TLC raise an unprecedented $273,000 – its highest total since the banquet’s inception.
Attendees were also inspired by testimonies from TLC guests Dirk H. and Zuri M., who shared their stories of transformation made possible through The Lamb Center’s ministry. Army veteran Zuri spoke about her journey from homelessness to healing.
Dirk’s journey began after Fairfax City Police Officer Rick Cline, liaison to The Lamb Center, found him in rough shape and encouraged him to visit the center. There he found the support he needed to get back on his feet. Now both Zuri and Dirk are newly housed.
Amid the ongoing challenges of homelessness and affordable housing, the banquet also served as a reminder that when compassion leads, transformation follows.
The Lamb Center is a daytime resource center for individuals experiencing homelessness in Fairfax. It provides breakfast, lunch, showers, laundry service, Bible studies, case management, employment opportunities, housing and job counseling, AA meetings, small-group opportunities, nurse-practitioner services, a dental clinic and more. As a Christian ecumenical community of faith, TLC works on behalf of all people experiencing poverty or homelessness, regardless of race, religion, creed or any other status.
To help support Hope and a Future, go to thelambcenter.org/hope.
From left, James Walkinshaw, Tara Ruszkowski, Mary Petersen, Caitlin Connolly and Catherine “Smitty” Smith.