Helping the Hungry

sisters & generous laity take a bite out of food insecurity

Throughout Catholic Sisters Week 2021 (March 8-14), our Sisters accepted the challenge set forth by the Leadership Conference of Women Religious to tackle the increasingly perilous issue of food insecurity. Sisters throughout our U.S. Province sprang into action by hosting food drives in Pennsylvania, Texas and New Jersey.

WEST LAWN, PA.

Sisters Pat Brennan and Rosemarie Bartnicki engaged the young students and their families at St. Ignatius Loyola Catholic School, where they minister in West Lawn, Pa. Over the course of a week, the stage in the school auditorium filled up with bags and boxes of donations.

Carolyn Wood, school principal, and her family delivered the food on March 13 to the Kennedy House soup kitchen in nearby Reading, Pa., where the goods will fortify the charity’s efforts to serve daily lunches and provide weekly food distribution.

“Sister Pat and I were very happy with the results,” says Sister Rosemarie. “Sister Eloina Alvarez (a Sister of St. Joseph from Argentina who ministers at Kennedy House) was extremely happy to receive the food and wishes we could do it weekly.”

SAN ANGELO, TEXAS

Sisters Adelina Garcia and Hilda Marotta, who both serve with the Diocese of San Angelo in Texas, collaborated with other Sisters in the diocese — including the Oblates of Notre Dame in Odessa, the Sisters of Divine Providence in Midland and the Carmelite Sisters at Our Lady of Grace Monastery in Sweetwater — to collect food and cash donations to serve needy families they’d identified within the diocese.

Our Sisters set up a “Giving Box” in their offices at the Diocesan Pastoral Center to receive gift cards, cash and canned goods. They also got support from our Sisters at Kendall House in Pittsburgh. “There was a very positive response from the various areas where the Sisters serve,” says Sister Adelina. “Because we also received monetary donations in addition to canned goods, we were able to assist families with additional needs.”

PITTSBURGH, PA. 

In the Pittsburgh area, our Sisters collected nine large boxes of food at Mt. Assisi Place and our Provincial Office and $620 in gift cards and $1,640 in cash donations from Sisters, friends and benefactors. Our community added another $860 to provide a total of $2,500 for the food ministries at Assumption BVM Church and Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish, both of which serve Pittsburgh’s north suburbs.

The food and gift cards were delivered to the food bank run by St. Vincent de Paul at St. Sebastian Church, which is part of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. Our own Sister Patricia Ann Mahoney, associate social minister there, gratefully received the delivery on behalf of the parish.

“I was truly amazed at how well this effort was received by both our Sisters and the laity,” says Sister Frances Marie Duncan, provincial minister of our U.S. Province.

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS

Over a two-week period in early February, Sisters Jo Goolish and Yolanda Escamilla appealed to alumnae and friends in San Antonio, Texas, to donate food and household staples to create “Love Baskets” for needy families. Generous donors dropped off more than $4,000 in food items to the convent, where our Sisters sorted them into special care packages with specific families in mind.

The Sisters also donated nonperishable items to San Antonio Catholic Worker House, the Archdiocese of San Antonio Catholic Charities and San Antonio Food Bank. Friends and alums from the former St. Francis Academy, St. Joseph’s Grade School, and St. Gerard Catholic High School & Regional Middle School all contributed to the effort.

In the weeks following their food drive, the Sisters collected an additional $1,000 for Catholic Worker House, including a donation made in memory of 1973 SFA alum Janie Campa, who died in December 2020.

SOMERSET, N.J.

In Somerset, N.J., Sisters Marie Therese Sherwood and Maria Derecola collaborated with the Catholic Community of St. Matthias, where they minister. They issued a video appeal to raise funds for Franklin Food Bank and Elijah’s Promise, organizations that serve the needy in the Somerset area. The final count of how much each charity received as a result is still pending.

BETHLEHEM, PA.

Sister M. Virginelle Makos and an enthusiastic team of volunteers received a steady stream of food donations during a one-day canned goods collection at Monocacy Manor on March 13. Generosity reigned over the four-hour drop-off window, including a full carload of food delivered by parishioners of St. Anne’s Church in Bethlehem, Pa.

Tables set up in the garage served as sorting spaces to organize the donations before they were dropped off at New Bethany Ministries and Cay Galgon LifeHouse, two nonprofits that serve underprivileged families in the Lehigh Valley.

Sister Virginelle credits the volunteers of all ages who helped, from local students who picked up service hours to a group of men from the Order of Malta, who closed out the effort by packing the delivery truck, breaking down boxes and tidying up afterwards.

“I am so thankful to everyone for doing this and was so happy to be a part of it,” says Sister Virginelle. “It was wonderful.”

Sister Frances Marie concurs. “We are grateful to all those who contributed. The issue of food insecurity is so broad and affects so many. It cannot be solved overnight, but we were happy to be able to make a small impact in each of our communities.”

still want to help?

If you missed out on our Catholic Sisters Week activities but still would like to support our efforts to combat food insecurity, checks and gift cards can be sent to:

School Sisters of St. Francis
4900 Perry Highway
Suite 201
Pittsburgh PA 15229

Please include a note indicating that your donation is for the Food Insecurity Challenge. We will direct donations to organizations with which our Sisters regularly interact.