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‘Chainsaw Nun’ who helped hurricane cleanup honored by Miami Heat

Posted at 1:34 PM, Nov 20, 2017
and last updated 2017-11-20 13:34:35-05

(Fox News) The chainsaw-wielding nun who was featured in a viral video cleaning up debris after Hurricane Irma was honored for her efforts Friday by her hometown basketball team.

Sister Margaret Ann, the principal of Archbishop Coleman F. Carroll High School in southwest Miami-Dade County, was surprised during a pep rally by former Miami Heat star Shane Battier.

“We got her here under the ruse that it was a pep rally for the school, which it was,” Battier told WSVN. “I think she was a little embarrassed, but it was awesome.”

Battier presented Sister Margaret Ann with tickets to a future game, a $5,000 donation to the charity of her choice, and a Tissot watch.

Sister Margaret Ann achieved Internet fame after an off-duty police officer filmed her cutting down a fallen tree in the aftermath of Irma, which pounded South Florida in September. In the video, the nun could be seen taking a chainsaw to the tree while clad in her full habit, a black apron and work gloves.

“All I wanted to do was clear the road and make it safer for all the people,” she told WSVN Friday. “I still don’t know why it went so viral. It doesn’t make sense to me.”

“It was awesome,” said Battier of the nun’s good deed. “How could you not be inspired by seeing a sister with a chainsaw clearing the street?”

Sister Margaret Ann, who was also honored by a Boynton Beach-based brewery that created the “Nun With A Chainsaw” lager, told WSVN that she’s a fan of roundball.

“I love basketball, she said. “I just love it with a passion.”