Since 2022, Andrusa Lawson has shared his time, talents, and endless patience with our Sisters and staff as our Technology Generalist, teaching us all how to become more comfortable with new tools and platforms, helping our systems run more smoothly, and troubleshooting every tech issue under the sun.
His joyful presence, kind heart, and creativity have been such a gift to us – and to young people in Aliquippa who he’s been teaching how to code through a program run by the non-profit organization, Aliquippa Green.
Andrusa has been teaching youth there on weekends for about a year now and taking on other design projects that support and communicate Aliquippa Green’s mission of “empowering the Aliquippa community through comprehensive educational programming designed to equip young people with practical skills and knowledge essential for success in today’s ever-changing world.” Their programs focus on urban agriculture, technology, home restoration, and efforts that support marginalized communities in achieving equity and justice – a goal shared by our Sisters and affirmed at Chapter 2023.
This year, Aliquippa Green is organizing The 2024 Beaver County Juneteenth Festival – to be held on Saturday, June 15 at the Community College of Beaver County from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. – and asked if Andrusa would lend his design and communications skills to help them promote the event. Juneteenth, now a federally recognized holiday, and one the Sisters have chosen to observe by giving all staff a paid day off, commemorates the date (June 19, 1865) that African Americans enslaved by the state of Texas were freed by the Union Army. It was a pivotal moment in American history and the first time the Emancipation Proclamation – which took effect two years prior, in 1863 – had been enforced by the Union Army in the rebelling states.
“By recognizing and commemorating Juneteenth, we honor our ancestors’ struggles, promote unity, understanding, and strive for a more equitable future for all Americans,” Aliquippa Green shares on their website – one that Andrusa helped to design.
“For a very long time, I was interested in mental, spiritual, and emotional wellbeing for people in general. I didn’t really move in the energy of seeing the need to make the conversation primarily about race or anything like that,” Andrusa shared, reflecting on his journey of becoming more involved through his work with Aliquippa Green, and the congregation.
“What galvanized me to action more than anything is that the Sisters are constantly in that space of discernment – even if they’re not necessarily sure what the action of advocacy is specifically – it’s enough of an action for them to say, ‘we’re gonna continue to discuss this and continue to meditate and pray’ and when an action manifests that they can get behind, they do. I think that energy and that spirit is something that seems to be waning in certain parts of the country.”
Concerned by the rollbacks of efforts aimed at improving diversity, equity and inclusion in public and private institutions across the country and realizing that a more immediate positive impact may be found at the local, rather than the federal level, Andrusa hopes that all people would come to the conversation around race in an open spirit of dialogue, with a shared goal of ensuring basic human rights for all people. “Working with Aliquippa Green has transformed my thought process about events like this,” he says. “In the past, I might not have been an advocate for it, so this gave me a bit more focus that sometimes we do need to talk about race.”
Our Sisters are excited to sponsor this year’s Juneteenth event and to continue educating ourselves and our dear neighbors about the impacts and root causes of racism, white privilege, and hatred directed at marginalized persons such as: LGBTQ+, BIPOC, and women as we work to build equity and foster unity of neighbor with neighbor and all in God.