‘Woman for others’ earns Loyola recognition

By Christine Bordelon
Clarion Herald

Amy Sins believes that when you focus on “
what your heart wants, your head knows and what you can physically do, it really balances out your life.”
 
She found her balance by melding a passion for cooking with the values of helping and advocating for others, doing what’s right and leaving the world a better place – taught by her parents and strengthened at Loyola University New Orleans.

Sins will be recognized for living a life of integrity as a nonprofit volunteer, nonprofit founder that responds to disasters and an undying Loyola supporter with Loyola University New Orleans’ Integritas Vitae award. She will receive the award Nov. 10 at the university’s 1912 Society Dinner. At 46, she is the youngest person to win the award.

“To know that I have lived a life of integrity and that is noted, but also being a young recipient also adds to the importance of continuing that,” Sins said of the award. “It was floored, absolutely floored when I found out I had been given this incredible honor. To know that I still have a lot of life left and opportunities to do great things. This just makes what happens in my future even more important. … Words just can’t describe it. I am so honored and appreciative.”

Standing by her dad’s side
Since growing up in a south Louisiana family – she attended St. Theresa in Gonzales and St. Joseph Academy in Baton Rouge ­– where life revolved around food, Sins recalled standing beside and watching her dad cook in the kitchen. But being talkative, she first pursued a business career until 2012, when she opened a restaurant.
 

Jesuit’s “man for others” mantra was apparent to her when friends and teachers rallied around her after her father died her college junior year.

“Loyola stepped up for me at a time that I needed it. … I feel like it was a divine intervention that I was able to stay in school and grow and still be a part of that Loyola community.” She is a past president of Loyola’s Alumni Association and on the alumni board for about a decade. She is now active on an advisory board for the entrepreneurship program with the Business School at Loyola where she mentors students. She also met her husband of 22 years, George, at Loyola.

“I think the time in college and the adversity that I faced and the people that supported me, helped me discover who I was and nurtured my strengths and gave me the confidence to know what my skills and strengths were. I had a community around me that allowed me to be free to explore and learn. That’s what I want for other students.”

Others inspired her
When Katrina destroyed her home near the 17th Street Canal levee breaks, a group of strangers helped carry her soggy stuff to the curb and returned a second day to gut her house to the studs. At that moment, she saw a house “under construction” that she could rebuild, and she knew that it would be okay.

“I swore I would pay it forward to someone else,” she said.

Sins wrote a cookbook, “Ruby’s Slippers,” a tribute to life, culture and hope by saving the recipes of many families whose homes had flooded during during Hurricane Katrina.  She continues her love of food with a food show on WRBH-FM 88.3 Radio for the Blind.

Her first disaster relief opportunity came in 2008, when she saw on TV massive floods in Cedar Rapids, and told her husband, “We should go help them.”

With family, she helped prepare 3,000 meals in a KC hall in Cedar Rapids over three days, brought art supplies, helped people fill out FEMA paperwork and gutted houses. The KC Hall became “a center of hope and recovery.”

“It was a great opportunity for families to come into a situation that was welcoming and comforting and a little normal. … and show some New Orleans love.”

At her restaurant, Langlois,  she took classes on safe food preparation to serve to disaster victims. Langlois has since morphed into an interactive private-event collaboration with local restaurants.

Her next big relief mission was in late August/September 2016, when a tropical storm dumped 20 inches of rain from LaPlace to Baton Rouge. Sins said she spent 19 days facilitating more than 100,000 meals in south Louisiana, including her childhood Ascension Parish community.

As a U.S. State Department volunteer, she’s assisted Afghan families fleeing to safety in another country. She also just recently coordinated a plane-load of supplies to Maui as part of relief efforts for families in Lahaina whose homes were destroyed by massive wildfires.

Disaster relief gives her joy
Sins says she works with any faith-based group that reaches out during disasters, including Second Harvest Food Bank of Louisiana.
 
For the Lahaina effort, she linked up with a pastor in Maui to develop a way to help not only his church but others.

“A company donated a 747 plane and said if you could fill it up, we will fly it to Maui. And, that’s what we did.”

The plane was loaded in three days in Las Vegas and then flew directly to the Maui Airport on Sept. 18, where special permission was granted for it to land (because of its big size). Volunteers in Maui unloaded the plane in only three hours.

“It warms my heart to see so many different faith-based groups working together to help people,” she said.

When she receives her award Nov. 10, Sins will have family members beside her including her husband George and uncles John and George, who are Loyola graduates.

Sins said everyone has the ability to help others, not just in disasters but in every-day life with something as simple as a smile.

“I feel like it is somewhat our duty as citizens of the world to give back,” Sins said. “You can use whatever skills you have, whatever your super power is or whatever you were blessed with … to help someone. Never second-guess your skills or how valuable they are. There is nothing like the smile you can bring to someone. …  We can do those kinds of things every day. When something bigger happens, we can use our skills and figure how they can be leveraged for good and make a difference in someone’s life.”

For tickets to the 1912 Society Dinner at the Roosevelt, 130 Roosevelt Way, New Orleans, visit  loyno.edu/1912.
 
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