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The Roundtable is this year’s recipient of the annual Continuum of Caring Award from the Friends of St. Joseph Villa Foundation for Charity Care in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The award recognizes the accomplishments of community leaders who have demonstrated strong support of the senior population in caring for the elderly and their related issues, needs, and causes. Past recipients include Norma Matheson, Jon and Karen Huntsman, and Pamela Atkinson.

In her letter notifying Roundtable Board Chair Alan Bachman of the award, Foundation President Beth Ehrhardt wrote that, “The Friends of the Foundation felt this year’s event would be a wonderful opportunity to recognize the work of the Salt Lake Interfaith Roundtable with the Continuum of Caring award. The missions of the two organizations intersect when considering the faith communities’ activities that arise from our shared compassion for the elderly.”

Mr. Bachman accepted the award on behalf of the Roundtable’s membership at the Foundation’s annual Hope Benefit dinner and auction, Wednesday, August 22, 2012, at Salt Lake's Little America Hotel.

Susan Northway, a Roundtable board member who is also the Director of the Salt Lake Office of Religious Education of the Catholic Diocese, told the audience that, “Charitable works arise from a common belief held by the St. Joseph Villa Foundation and the Salt Lake Interfaith Roundtable. This belief is that we were all created in the likeness and image of the Divine, and because of that, we reach out in works of charity and hospitality. Showing hospitality to the stranger is something that we practice in the Interfaith (Roundtable).”

Mr. Bachman said that like the St. Joseph Villa Foundation, the Roundtable is also about faith cooperation. The result is that each faith comes out stronger by meeting other faiths.

“Wisdom is understanding plus knowledge. The understanding of other people requires getting to know them to break down the bodies of fear. All of the faiths that are represented in the Roundtable have major parts that are devoted to charity. You have to be active in the world; if your neighbor is hurting, you can’t hide under your bed.”

He added that in Judaism there are three pillars: Teshuvah, connecting to a divine source; Tefillah, praying for good things to happen; and Tsedakah, charity, — “the active component and the end result of the other two.

"The Salt Lake Interfaith Roundtable is very grateful for receiving this annual award from the St. Joseph Villa Foundation. We hope that as a result of this special occasion that the mission of the Foundation and the Roundtable will be strengthened; that there will be an increasing understanding of our diverse community; and that the quality of life will be enhanced for seniors of all faiths.”