The United Women in Faith (UWF) at Fenimore Street United Methodist Church (FSUMC) in Brooklyn on Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 10, bestowed its “Mother of the Year” Award on Vincentian Valcia Williams during Worship Service.
“There is a light that burns with a steady, quiet brilliance — a light fueled by a deep love for the Word and a relentless commitment to family,” said Angela Als, the Barbadian-born member of UWF Special Recognition Committee, in introducing the award. “As we gather to honor an extraordinary mother for her spiritual guidance, we look to Psalm 119 to describe a life lived in harmony with God’s truth.
“At church, she is a quiet and helpful presence who has served in every corner of our sanctuary, often in ways that go unseen, but never unfelt,” she added. “To her children, she is the primary teacher of faith. The Psalmist writes, ‘Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.’ This mother has ensured that her children never have to walk in darkness. By anchoring her home in the faith, she has given them a compass to guide them throughout their lives.
“Her devotion is found not only in words, but in a long history of ‘whole-hearted’ service,” Als continued. “She once lifted her voice in the choir, making the statutes of the Lord her ‘songs in the house of her pilgrimage.’”
With a mind for order and integrity, Als said Williams previously served on the FSUMC Finance Committee, “guarding the resources of this church with the same care she gives her own household.”
Althea Johnson-Aird, the Vincentian-born chair of UWF Special Recognition Committee, said, today, Williams greets “the saints as a faithful usher, including supervising the junior ushers, and pouring into the next generation through the Higher Education Committee, embodying the prayer: ‘Teach me knowledge and good judgment.’”
Johnson-Aird also said Williams has “lived the command to ‘hide Your word in my heart’ and, more importantly, she has helped her children do the same.
“Her life is a beautiful tapestry of grace, and an unwavering commitment to ‘The Way,’” she said, stating that Williams’s children have been a “faithful part” of FSUMC “since before they were born.
“Today, they carry on her legacy of service in the Junior Choir, Sunday School, on the drums, and as ushers,” Johnson-Aird added. “Because she has walked steadfastly in the law of the Lord, her children truly rise up and call her blessed.
“On behalf of the Fenimore Street United Women in Faith Recognition Committee, it is our high honor and distinct privilege to announce that our 2026 Mother of the Year, hailing from the island of St. Vincent & the Grenadines, is none other than Sis. Valcia Williams,” she continued.
Williams — who is a member of FSUMC Higher Education Committee, supervisor of the junior ushers, and a member of the Gospel Chorus — previously served as FSUMC finance chair, with her compatriot Sherol Jeffrey-Cadogan as co-chair.
Williams told Caribbean Life that she was “inspired” by the Rev. Andrea Moore-Smith, a former FSUMC member, now serving as pastor of Bethany United Methodist Church in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, who asked Jeffrey-Cadogan Sherol and her “when are we going to stop warming the benches and take an active role?”
“I am blessed with two children — son Nicholas Charles plays the drums, and daughter Noelani Charles plays the piano,” Williams said. “I would like to thank my family, especially my mom, Catherine Williams, friends, and church family who continue to support me as ‘it takes a village to raise a child.’”
Williams’s dad, Ashley Williams, died on Feb. 25, 2005 in Brooklyn.
“This recognition is completely unexpected,” Williams said. “I honestly thought I was just coming to church for our Mother’s Day Service.
“I’m truly honored to be selected by the United Methodist Woman in Faith for this award,” she added. “I am thankful to God who continues to bless me every day of my life.”
In his sermon, “Moved by Love,” based on Exodus 2:1-10, the Rev. Roger Jackson, FSUMC pastor, preached: “On this day, we celebrate loving mothers and women in our lives who have played an intricate role in shaping and molding us into becoming the best people we can be.
“We thank God for you, who, with joy, sacrificed in countless ways to see to it that we had what we needed to make it from one day to the next,” he said.
“I thank God for all of you mothers and women, who have been moved by love in caring for others,” Pastor Jackson added. “What you have done and continue doing is no different than what the women in Moses’s life did for him. And it proves that Jesus is alive and well in you.
During the Worship Service, the Sunday School children, the Chancel Choir and the Men’s Chorale paid tributes to mothers.
