Give and It Will Be Given to You
“Give and gifts will be given to you. A good portion –
packed down, shaken and overflowing – will fall into
your lap. For the portion you give will determine the
portion you receive in return.”
– Luke 6:38
Dear friends,
As our monthly support and grant reports have been
coming in the last several months, we’re continuing to see
the affects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of the greatest
concerns can be seen in the areas of education and basic
human needs. Unemployment, coupled with rising costs due
to inflation, has caused much suffering for families in Brazil,
Jamaica and the United States, and it’s not ending yet.
Jamaican schools closed last year for in-person learning
creating not only technological challenges for the students
and teachers, but also unemployment worries for the
teachers. In Kingston, a grant to Alvernia Prep helped
purchase computers to assist with remote learning and kept
the students engaged. Monthly support helped St. Joseph’s
Infant School with face shields (see photo on reverse), as
well as helping re-employ teachers in arts programs (music,
dance, speech and sign language) in the virtual classroom.
In Olean, New York, a Mission Society grant purchased
whiteboards for Southern Tier Catholic Schools
(Bahia, Brazil) This ministry received $150/month
plus a grant of $5,000 to help our Sisters provide
personal hygiene & cleaning supplies, mattresses,
school supplies, clothing and food for families in
extreme poverty during the pandemic.
“The monthly support has greatly helped our ability
to meet the needs of very poor families, especially
families with many children. It also helped us to
become better acquainted with the reality of those
members of the community who have been left
without work and without basic conditions for
survival.”
– Sisters Maria José, Mariana & Clêusa
The Mission Society provides a total of $1,800 per month to ten of
our Brazilian Sisters’ ministries. Many of these ministries are so very
critical to the health and well being of the people involved. Our
Sisters and their partners make personal visits to families living in
extreme poverty, many of them in very rural areas. These families
already have difficulties receiving proper health care and feeding
their families, but the pandemic has worsened their conditions.
Assistance comes in the form of food baskets, baby clothes, diapers,
maternal care, dental work, doctor’s appointments, medicines, the
creation of vegetable gardens, school supplies and fuel for visits. Not
only has unemployment increased these basic human needs, but there
has been more demand for personal hygiene and cleaning supplies,
medicines for victims of COVID, and materials to make masks.
teachers at St. Joseph’s Infant School in
Kingston, Jamaica purchase protective face
shields to periodically meet with students for
consultations during the pandemic.
One example of this dire situation can be seen in Macajuba, Bahia,
where our Sisters receive $250/month to help 117 families.
“During 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, poverty in the
municipality of Macajuba suffered a massive increase. Many of
the unemployed, as well as several families, who had migrated to
the south/southeast of the country in search of better living
conditions, returned to Macajuba without a job, without any
source of income, without housing. These funds were then used
to support families during this very difficult time, providing
urgent relief of hunger. I am extremely grateful for the help. In
this very challenging time, it has helped us to provide relief and,
in this way, reveal the presence of God to these families.”
– Sister Lilian Cristina
Olean, New York purchased interactive
whiteboards to enhance classroom learning and
educate students on more “high-tech”
equipment that they struggled with during the
COVID-19 shutdown.
“Whenever we have the opportunity to meet
students where they are comfortable learning, the
students’ experiences and outcomes are improved.”
– STCS Educators
If you feel that God has blessed your life, I humbly ask you to
consider sharing this blessing with others so that they may find
comfort during this distressing era. It is only through your
generosity that our Franciscan Sisters of Allegany and their partners
in ministry are able to offer their loving ministries.
Blessings on your family during this season,
Laura Whitford, President
Click HERE for the 2021 All Souls Appeal
