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The Sister Mary Alice Murphy Legacy Fund
by Mary Alice Bramming, Covenant Associate, and Sr. Pat Murphy, SCS
 On April 26, 2006, CARE HOUSING of Fort Collins, Colorado, launched the Sister Mary Alice Murphy Legacy Fund at a brunch honoring her. CARE HOUSING is the nonprofit low-income housing program initiated by Sr. Mary Alice in April 1992. Under her leadership a band of local, loyal leaders have collaboratively developed five affordable housing communities in Ft. Collins.
Photo: Sister Mary Alice Murphy OLVM accepting award.
CARE serves as both a developer and owner-manager providing clients with high quality, safe, affordable housing. Their goal is to help residents become self-sufficient and enable them to move into market housing. Most residents do make that move but there is no time limit on how long a resident may stay. The current director is Victory Noll Covenant Associate Chadrick Martinez who spearheaded the idea of creating the Legacy Fund to honor Sr. Mary Alice and to perpetuate the work of helping families move out of poverty — a work to which she has dedicated her life.
Photo: Associate Chadrick Martinez (left foreground), Director of CARE HOUSING.
The celebration was held in one of Ft. Collins’ civic centers. The hall was filled with all of the CARE HOUSING staff, original and current board members, city officials, business leaders, directors of various social services agencies, and friends. The Victory Noll Associates were well represented bringing good wishes to the founder of Associates.
Photo: Victory Noll Associates: Frances Kulbe (left) and Mary Borman.
 Mary Borman, Covenant Associate, spearheaded the first fundraising effort of CARE HOUSING, selling house pins. Everywhere she and her friends and Sr. Mary Alice went they carried a basket of colorful, ceramic pins made in the form of houses. This effort paid Sister’s salary for the first year.
A former resident and single father of four, and a current resident and single mother of three, shared their stories about how CARE HOUSING had given them a chance at a dignified and less stressful life for themselves and their children in clean, safe, affordable housing with social service programs as support. Their stories brought tears to the eyes of more than a few in the audience.
Sr. Mary Alice expressed her deep appreciation of the support those in the hall had given her to make it possible for her to bring about these programs and her awe at the Legacy award. Her sister, Sr. Pat Murphy, SCS, sang a song to end the program.
The spirit of Victory Noll will live on in Ft. Collins not only through this Legacy Fund but most especially through the lives of the Victory Noll Associates who continue to work for a more just society in that place.
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