Sister Margarita Martin was saluted in Athens at the 2013 Emancipation Proclamation and Pioneer Award dinner.

The member of the Handmaids of the Sacred Heart of Jesus religious congregation received the lifetime achievement award as an “unsung hero” for her work with Oasis Catolico Santa Rafaela and with the immigrants and Spanish-speakers in Athens.

Her ministry sponsors an after-school tutoring program, works in partnership with students from the University of Georgia, and serves more than 2,000 people with basic necessities of food and clothing.

Sister Margarita shares this ministry with her fellow religious, Sister Marietta Jansen and Sister Angela Cordero.