After my first meeting with Brother Joe and the former librarian Mrs Eleanor Smith, I joined LASALLE in 1996. At that time, I remember we were in the red but Brother paid staff salaries from his own pocket. His heart for others was immense.

There was one day I was going through my usual routine in the library and someone came over to tell me Brother wanted to see me in his workshop. So I went over immediately and in his workshop sat a young, skinny, scrawny Indian man. The moment Brother Joe saw me, he greeted me with his charming and heartwarming smile, which remains fresh in my mind today. Brother wanted me to converse with that Indian man, who spoke the same native language as me, Tamil. The man had run into hard times and was hiding in a park where Brother had picked him up. What touched me most was that Brother, having just met this stranger, could tell he needed help and had gone out of his way to help him out. He wrote to the authorities on the young man’s behalf. Brother could touch anyone from the aristocracy to the common man.

Brother Joe’s vision and mission so moved me when I first joined. I continue to believe in his vision and mission for art education and have seen the fruition over my many years here at LASALLE.