At the Archdiocesan Council of Catholic Women’s 86th annual convention April 20-21 at St. Michael in Stillwater, leaders will present Laywomen Volunteer Awards to four women.

Betty Cardinal

ST. PIUS X, WHITE BEAR LAKE

Betty Cardinal, 73, is a wife and mother of three. At her parish, she helps prepare children for their first reconciliation and Communion. She is also a teacher and sponsor for the Right of Christian Initiation for Children, which began after she referred a family to her parish for baptizing their children. She is active in her parish CCW and has chaired a variety of parish committees, including the Appalachia Mission collection. She has also decorated the church’s worship space for more than 15 years and is an extraordinary minister of holy Communion. For two hours each week, she prays in the parish’s 24-hour eucharistic adoration chapel. Outside of her parish, she is a member of the “Pastel Painters” and has assisted in painting more than 20 houses. She also volunteers with Habitat for Humanity and “Friends of the Poor,” a program of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd. Forty years ago, she helped organize the parish school’s first “walking marathon,” which continues today. She has also coordinated youth mission trips, opens her home to a foreign exchange student each year and is active in the pro-life movement.

Catherine Herrmann

MOST HOLY REDEEMER, MONTGOMERY

Catherine Herrmann, 79, has been a past president of her parish Council of Catholic Women, an extraordinary minister of holy Communion and a lector. She has coordinated and taught religious education for 30 years and served as a chairwoman for parish festivals. As a member of the parish-initiated “Sisterhood of the Bag Ladies,” she makes plastic sleeping mats for homeless veterans. Her service extends to the greater community as a member of the local hospital board and a leader of the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts for 30 years. She is the founder of the Jaycee Women in Montgomery. Herrmann has been involved with the community theater as an actress, seamstress and director. She has been married for 57 years and continues to work with her husband in their drug store. They have six children and 18 grandchildren.

Olive Hupf

ST. PIUS V, CANNON FALLS

Olive Hupf, 84, has served as president and co-president in her parish CCW, and has been active on the ACCW board since 1993. She has hosted pro-life events and initiated the local Haiti project, sewing first Communion dresses and other needed items. She has collected Christmas gifts for families in low-income parishes and coordinates filling a semi-truck with Christmas gifts for the poor in Appalachia. She started the Christmas Shoe Box mission project in 2013. Representing the ACCW, she had a private audience with Pope John Paul II in Rome. She has led pro-life and legislative missions, and has attended numerous National Council of Catholic Women conventions and a United Nations forum. At St. Pius V, she initiated eucharistic adoration and a children’s choir, and played the organ for Masses. She also served as the parish’s faith formation director and volunteered in the office. In the broader community, Hupf has been involved in 4-H, the school board, Future Farmers of America and was an election judge. She and her husband raised six children on their farm, which hosted the archdiocesan Rural Life Sunday Mass and celebration.

Melinda Stella

TRANSFIGURATION, OAKDALE

Melinda Stella, 48, has served as the CCW president and is currently the communications director at her parish. Also an active volunteer, she works at the fall festival, Lenten fish fry and rummage sale, serves doughnuts after Mass and is an extraordinary minister of holy Communion. As chair of her parish’s Financial Peace University program, she helps families with their finances and coordinates volunteers to pray for participants. She has been a faith formation teacher for the past two years. Through CCW, she has coordinated making meals for the local food shelf, and ensures any extra food from various parish gatherings and bake sales goes to sick, elderly and homebound parishioners. Outside of the parish, Stella prepares food at the Medieval Banquet, greets guests at the art festival, coordinates a weekend event and works the concession stand for sports activities. She is currently chair of the fine arts show. A wife and mother of six, Stella is a registered nurse at Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare in St. Paul.