Sisters Bernadine Marie Stemnock and Anece Salay add a few last-minute items to the impressive haul of food collected at Mt. Assisi Place in Pittsburgh during the Sisters' spring food drive.
Feeding
the Need
month-LONG charitable effortS impact food insecurity
Through partnerships in the communities where we serve and with generous assistance from friends and benefactors, our Sisters have been able to again make an impact at the local level through our spring food drives and projects.
Sisters Marian Sgriccia, provincial minister, and Sister Patricia Ann Mahoney, provincial secretary, delivered nearly 500 pounds of food and personal care items and a $1,000 check to the Light of Life Rescue Mission food pantry in Pittsburgh, Pa. on April 4. The donation helped to put food on the tables of local families in need, just in time for Easter.
In Somerset, N.J., Sisters Marie Therese Sherwood and Maria Derecola volunteered at neighboring Franklin Food Bank, where they bagged fruits and vegetables and stocked the shelves. “It was so fulfilling to see people filling their baskets with food for their families,” says Sister Marie Therese.
Our Sisters in Bethlehem, Pa., collaborated with neighboring St. John Chrysostom Academy to collect two carloads of food and $300 in cash to benefit Catholic Charities in Pennsylvania’s Allentown Diocese.
The springtime effort to address food insecurity — coinciding with Catholic Sisters Week in March — also aligned with a semi-annual meat drive coordinated by Sisters Jo Goolish and Yolanda Escamilla in San Antonio, Texas. The Sisters delivered a supply of hot dogs and hamburger meat to the Catholic Worker House in San Antonio earlier this month.
Our retired Sisters who live at Mt. Assisi Place in Pittsburgh decorated Easter-themed placemats and delivered them to nearby Pleasant Valley Shelter for the charity’s Easter outreach to the hungry. They even recruited some of their fellow Residents and Mt. Assisi Place employees to help with the coloring.
“We wanted to bring a little color and let the people know that we are thinking of them and praying for them,” says Sister Barbara Ann Webster.
Sisters Maria Derecola (left) and Marie Therese Sherwood package produce at Franklin Food Bank in Somerset, N.J.
Sisters and Residents at Mt. Assisi Place color Easter placemats to brighten the spirits of local families in need.
Volunteers at the Catholic Worker House in San Antonio, Texas, accept a delivery of meat products from Sister Jo Goolish (left).
Sister Patricia Ann Mahoney and a volunteer unload food donations at Light of Life Rescue Mission’s food pantry on Pittsburgh’s North Side.