PRESS RELEASES

The Upper Room Board of Directors presented it’s second annual Anna Willis Memorial Scholarship to Salem High Senior Paul Antonietti Thursday evening at the Salem High Awards Ceremony. This scholarship was created after the passing of the late founder Anna Willis in December of 2017. As a way to honor her work and her tireless commitment to making the world a better place, the board of directors began the Anna Willis Memorial Scholarship. Applicants are those who have shown some commitment to their community through service, and who have a relationship with The Upper Room in some way. Antonietti, a Salem resident applied for the scholarship, and had a personal relationship with Anna Willis as the choir director of St. Joseph’s the church he and he family attend, and one that was very dear to Willis. Over the years, that parish, and it’s members spent time creating quilts which were given to teen parents, one of the founding programs of the Upper Room was the Teen Parenting Program.   

Celebrating with Paul, his parents and brother Peter, were Anna’s husband Dick Willis, her daughter Annika Scanlon, Board of Diretcors President Elect, Charlene Puzzo and Executive Director Brenda Guggisberg. “It is so important for our board to recognize the foundation of our organization, and one of the women who founded The Upper Room.” Remarked Charlene Puzzo. “Anna continues to live through our work, and the vision she had for helping people continues to be the heart of the daily work we do at The Upper Room today.” Share Brenda Guggisberg current Executive Director “Anna offered this community a place they could rely on, a place that understood, and that would go the extra mile to help people. She lead by example and I am so very grateful to have worked with her many years ago, I strive every day to do the work she set out to do, with her powerful intentions and goodness”.   

Paul Antonietti will attend UNH this fall, and The Upper Room Board and Staff wish him the very best of luck in his endeavors.    

The Anna Willis Memorial Scholarship Award will be announced in early 2020 for eligible applicants.