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Monastery benefactor receives award

Sister Audrey Steff (right) offered the invocation at the ACES 2023 Awards Luncheon honoring Valerie Laufenberg

Sister Audrey Steff (right) offered the invocation at the ACES 2023 Awards Luncheon honoring Valerie Laufenberg as the Bob & Betty Merwin Outstanding Citizen. The two first met when Sister Audrey was Valerie's teacher at Mount Calvary Grade School in Erie. Valerie, a decades-long benefactor of the Benedictine Sisters, recently retired as Executive Director of ACES (Americans for the Competitive Enterprise System, Inc.), a nonprofit dedicated to teaching students about free enterprise and economic education, after a 36-year career. The Bob & Betty Merwin Outstanding Citizen Award recognizes an individual who is dedicated to their profession, while contributing to their community as well.