Staff and supporters of Cabrini Immigration Services NYC (CIS-NYC) gathered at their namesake’s shrine in Washington Heights on Saturday, June 15, to honor two of their earliest staff members and supporters.

About 200 supporters and present and former staff members attended the evening event, which featured a buffet dinner and live music.

CIS-NYC is a multi-service community and faith-based non-profit, Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) accredited agency that provides a broad range of culturally and linguistically appropriate services to immigrants, refugees, asylees, and their families. It is a sponsored ministry of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

The organization was founded in 1999 in the St. Teresa Church rectory basement on Henry Street on the Lower East Side, specifically to assist migrant families facing separation. Their services have expanded since then. CIS-NYC is now based at the Cabrini Shrine in Washington Heights.

“For an immigrant like me, and for the immigrants that we serve, being with someone that says ‘welcome,’ it means a lot for us. So, thank you so much for every person here, for every donor, for every sponsor, for every person that donated two or three dollars, this is the only way in which we can have an impact on the immigrant families we serve. Thank you from the bottom of my heart,” said Executive Director Javier Ramirez Baron, LMSW, in opening remarks. Ramirez Baron initially served as an intern at CIS-NYC, before becoming a staff member and then executive director.

The organization recognized its co-founder, Sister Pietrina Raccuglia, MSC, and long-time supporter, Alex S. Avitabile, with its inaugural “Heart of Cabrini” awards.

In her acceptance speech, after proclaiming, “God is good,” Sister Pietrina told the story of how CIS-NYC, in its early days, was asked to shelter a woman whose child was going to be taken away. While the group could not accept the woman at that time, the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus’ convent could. “I gave her then phone number. Then I ran upstairs, I went to the convent, the phone rang, I answered it, and said, ‘Missionary Sisters,’” she said, to laughter. The convent was able to shelter the woman, and CIS fought on her behalf in court and prevented her child from being taken away.

Alex Avitabile, a former attorney who long worked on behalf of the cause of affordable housing, was introduced by his sister, Sister Antonina Avitabile, MSC, a CIS board member.

After paying homage to his fellow awardee, he said, “Notwithstanding my being unworthy, I nevertheless do most humbly accept and will treasure this Cabrini award. I do so to celebrate and honor the special immigrants in my life, also mentioned by my sister: my late mother, an immigrant from Italy, who like St. [Frances Xavier] Cabrini, was named Francesca; and my late wife, Teresa, a Chinese immigrant.”

Numerous former clients of CIS-NYC and their families also attended the event.