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Announcing our Hope Blossoms 2026 Guest Speakers

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – March 26, 2026 | Contact: Ellen Toups etoups@stanns.org; 301-559-5500 x187

Washington, DC--Sister Nancy Downing, CEO of St. Ann’s Center for Children, Youth & Families, announced today that Jim Handly anchor of NBC News4 and Robert Cardinal McElroy the eighth archbishop of Washington are the distinguished guest speakers at its annual gala, Hope Blossoms, on Wednesday, May 13, at Columbia Country Club in Chevy Chase, MD.

In addition to being guest speakers, Cardinal McElroy will lead the gathering in prayer while Mr. Handly will serve as master of ceremony. 

Mr. Handly has been honored with multiple Emmy Awards and an Edward R. Murrow Award during his career, which has taken him to the Middle East, Russia and the Caribbean. He’s also reported live on big breaking news stories in the D.C. area. Along the way, he’s also covered seven inaugurations, countless election nights and four U.S. papal visits and, as a Florida native, his share of hurricanes.

Pope Francis appointed then-Bishop McElroy to the College of Cardinals on May 29, 2022. He was installed in a Consistory on Aug. 27 at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Pope Francis appointed Cardinal McElroy the eighth Archbishop of Washington on January 6, 2025. Cardinal McElroy, a San Francisco native, is a member of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development and the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life.

Event Date and Time: Wednesday, May 13, 2026, 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Event Location: Columbia Country Club, Chevy Chase, MD
Event Chairs: Eric, Kyle, and Thomas Heidenberger

Hope Blossoms, St. Ann’s Center’s flagship annual Spring event, drew 300 guests last year and raised more than $575,000 for the Center’s programs helping women and their children overcome crisis and homelessness. 

St. Ann’s Center for Children, Youth & Families is one of the longest continuously serving social service agencies in the Washington, D.C. area. Founded by the Daughters of Charity in 1860, today St. Ann’s Center helps mothers and children overcome crisis and achieve lasting independence and stability by providing a safe and supportive home, child care, education and employment assistance, and clinical social work services within a Catholic community that welcomes all.
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St. Ann's Center for Children, Youth & Families | 4901 Eastern Avenue, Hyattsville MD 20782
Phone: 301-559-5500 | stanns.org | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn

Hope Blossoms 2026
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For highlights from Hope Blossoms 2025, click here: https://www.cathstan.org/local/st-anns-center-honors-michael-steele-order-of-malta-at-hope-blossoms-gala

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

About St. Ann's Center

St. Ann’s Center helps mothers and children overcome crisis and achieve lasting independence and stability by providing a safe and supportive home, child care, education and employment assistance, and clinical social work services within a Catholic community that welcomes all.