St. Joseph’s Residents give their time to volunteer
The Residents of St. Joseph’s Home have been very fortunate to receive time, talent and treasure from so many benefactors and volunteers. As they are in the twilight of their life, many Residents are unable to give to others as much as they have done in the past. The Feed My Starving Children (FMSC) Organization gave our Residents the opportunity to give to those who have nothing. Five Residents, seven Franciscan postulants, three Volunteers and two Staff members went to their Schaumburg, IL FMSC location to pack meals on December 5. When groups volunteer, FMSC asks for a monetary donation. Some of our Residents that were unable to join us, donated some of their Bingo winnings that we were able to give as part of our donation.
Feed My Starving Children is a nonprofit organization that donates nutritionally complete meals (Manna Packs) to malnourished children in poor countries. Our packs were designated for Haiti. The Residents, Postulants, and staff poured ingredients into a bag, weighed, sealed, and packed the bags in an assembly line while music played – that made everyone want to dance! Then as a group, we prayed for the children who would receive these meals. All together with other volunteers, we packed 144 boxes of 31,104 meals (bags). We were able to feed 85 children for a year.
The Residents and Postulants enjoyed this so much that Arlene, Bridget, and Ruth requested that we go every month!
We are also grateful to Residents that volunteer on a regular basis in various areas of the Home. There are Residents that help in our Kitchen, Dining Rooms, Gift Shop, running errands, just to name a few . There are Residents that also volunteer outside of our Home. We certainly are lucky to have so many people surrounding St. Joseph’s Home that have a spirit of generosity.
St. Joseph’s Residents give their time to volunteer