McNeice Foundation to be Honored at Labouré Center Spring Reception

When the McNeice Foundation receives the 2026 Jack Shaughnessy Service Award at the 42nd Annual Catholic Charities Labouré Center Spring Reception on April 30, Executive Director Margarete McNeice Portanova knows there will be some smiling faces looking down on her.

One is her father, John McNeice, a longtime and generous benefactor of Catholic causes, who passed away five years ago. The other is the namesake of the award, Jack Shaughnessy, who introduced John McNeice to the Labouré Center, starting a decades-long relationship that has helped countless people and families.

“We are continuing what my father started,” said McNeice Portanova. “It is our honor to try and keep it going for him.”

The Spring Reception is a longstanding tradition in the South Boston community that raises money for the Labouré Center’s vital programs.

The McNeice Foundation is being honored in recognition of its $1 million, four-year grant award in 2025 to the Catholic Charities Labouré Center Behavioral Health Clinic. It supports the Pathways program, which provides services and hope for those affected by substance use disorder (SUD) and their families.

Through treatment and counseling, Pathways promotes healing and recovery for all who need it, regardless of their ability to pay for services.

Established in 1997, the McNeice Foundation ensures John, and his wife Margarete’s, devotion to helping people who want to help themselves continues.

“What I am most proud of is when we can see directly the impact we have on people,” McNiece Portanova explained. “If you can see what your impact is doing, it is more rewarding than anything else.”

This grant builds on the McNeice family’s almost 40-year legacy of support for Labouré, including contributions to the center’s capital campaign and various events such as the Spring Reception. John McNeice, who served on CCAB’s Board of Trustees, and Margarete were presented with the Labouré Center Service Award in 2010, the same award their foundation received this year, this time named in honor for their friend.

“Jack Shaughnessy was one of my father’s dearest friends,” McNeice Portanova said. They would call each other their brother in Christ.  It means a lot for the foundation to receive this honor.”

To learn more about the Labouré Center Spring Reception and purchase tickets, click here.