Mental Health Counseling Services
Organization / Location: Catholic Charities of Arkansas, Little Rock, Ark.
Contact: Sr. Mary Lou Stubbs, DC, Director, 501.664.0340 ext. 352
This program will provide free mental health counseling services and prescription assistance to persons otherwise unable to afford it, with a special emphasis on reaching the impoverished in rural Arkansas.
Pre-School Initiative
Organization / Location: St. Peter Cathedral School, Wilmington, Del.
Contact: Sr. Barbara Ann Curran, DC, Principal, 302.656.5234
This pre-school program hopes to serve between 20-30 children, ages 3-4, in a full-day program. The early learners will benefit from placement in a nurturing, academically enriched learning environment. The low tuition costs and fees will fill a need for parents who cannot afford the high-priced pre-schools in the surrounding area, and alleviate the fear and worry that poverty and health concerns bring to these families.
Centering Pregnancy Program, Center for Life
Organization / Location: Providence Hospital, Washington, DC
Contact: Matt Lukasiak, Vice President, Mission Integration, 202.269.7153
The Center for Life is a comprehensive, bilingual maternity clinic and specialty gynecological center for vulnerable and medically underserved women that provides low-cost, and often no cost, prenatal care and delivery services. The majority of mothers are “working poor” from families that work hard but cannot afford or do not have access to medical insurance. The Centering Pregnancy Program takes women out a waiting area and examination room scenario and places them into groups for their care. The traditional 10-minute pre-natal exam is replaced with a two-hour examination, education and support session within a group format. Individuals within the group share the bond of being pregnant, which for many of these women is a critical support as the traditional familial system may be missing.
Parish Nurse Ministry Chain of Survival
Organization / Location: St. Vincent’s HealthCare Foundation, Jacksonville, Fla.
Contact: Jane R. Lanier, CFRE, Senior Vice President and Executive Director, 904.308.7306
St. Vincent’s Parish Nursing Ministry, in collaboration with St. Vincent’s Advance Patient Transport and the American Heart Association, will endeavor to improve the chain of survival for individuals stricken with a sudden cardiac arrest. Proven strategies show that with cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and automated external defibrillators (AED) a victim’s chance of survival more than doubles. This grant would make AEDs readily available at 20 churches and provide CPR education for lay persons. It will also provide the American Heart Association’s self-directed CPR Anytime training kit available to 25 to 30 people in each church.
Taller de José (Joseph’s Workshop)
Organization / Location: Congregation of St. Joseph, Chicago, Ill.
Contact: Sr. Kathy Brazda, Director, 773.521.8400
Taller de José is a resource center for men, women and children who lack the basic necessities and freedoms of life. It serves all who seek help by linking and accompanying clients to appropriate people or agencies that can work with them until each problem is resolved. It does not duplicate existing services in the ecclesial and civic communities but will partner with them to help alleviate human suffering caused by hunger, domestic abuse, addictions, homelessness, sickness and violence.
Intergenerational Religious Formation Program
Organization / Location: Catholic Diocese of Dodge City, Dodge City, Kansas
Contact: Rev. Robert A. Schremmer, Vicar General, 620.227.1515
This program will provide catechetical formation for the 53,000 parishioners in the Dodge City Diocese through a family-based intergenerational education program. Parishioners from kindergarten through senior citizens will meet together for a meal and then proceed by age groups to gather for lessons on a common topic. During the week, these families will work together at home on the exercises, activities and prayers that expand on the lesson taught in the group gathering. This program, which will be offered in English and Spanish, will help to address the lack of competent adult religious formation teachers in many of the local parishes.
Bringing the Charism to Life
Organization / Location: St. Joseph’s Academy, Baton Rouge, La.; Saint Joseph Academy, Cleveland, Ohio; Nazareth Academy, LaGrange, Ill.
Contact: Linda Harvison, Prinicipal, 225.388.2244
The faculty and staff at these three high schools play an integral role in educating the students about, and immersing them in, the charism of the Sisters of St. Joseph. These lay partners have the opportunity to attend a week-long program in France for pilgrimage and immersion in the original spirit of the Congregation of Saint Joseph and the global dimension of the charism. This experience deepens participants’ awareness of the call to live the mission of unity and reconciliation. By experiencing the charism of the Sisters and expanding the knowledge of their history, these lay partners are better able to respond to the call of grace.
Serving Together
Organization / Location: St. Joseph’s Academy, Baton Rouge, La.; Saint Joseph Academy, Cleveland, Ohio; Nazareth Academy, LaGrange, Ill.
Contact: Linda Harvison, Principal, 225.388.2244
Serving Together will unite students from these three high schools to serve members of the Hurricane Katrina-ravaged church parish of St. Gabriel in New Orleans. The outreach project is designed in the spirit of the first Sisters who first met the needs of the people in France. Ten students from each school and three teachers will spend a week rebuilding homes in New Orleans. They will have opportunities to hear from guest speakers about criminal justice, education and healthcare and will connect and worship with the people of the parish.
Saint Joseph Spirituality Center
Organization / Location: Saint Joseph Spirituality Center, Baton Rouge, La.
Contact: Cynthia Sabathier, CSJ, Executive Director, 225.383.3349
Saint Joseph Spirituality Center promotes religious education and the spiritual development of adults. This includes activities that foster the wholeness and holiness of the human person, which lead to deepening and effective consciousness of the role of the Christian in the world. Residents in the community are invited to participate in a day of awakening to raise consciousness, build community, enhance cultural enrichment and embrace diversity.
Postpartum Breastfeeding Support Program
Organization / Location: Borgess Medical Center, Kalamazoo, Mich.
Contact: Patricia Leonard RN, MS, MSN, Director of Women’s and Children’s Services, 269.226.6784
Maternity care at Borgess Medical Center is provided through a birthing-center concept that supports mother-baby bonding. The unit has been very successful with its skin-to-skin initiative, called Kangaroo Care, which enhances its efforts at early initiation of breastfeeding. The initiative provides breastfeeding education and preparation is provided during pregnancy through the childbirth education program and by pre-natal care providers. Following delivery, the obstetric staff offers additional education, consultation and assistance. This support program will provide ongoing breastfeeding support and counseling to mothers after they are discharged from the hospital to help extend the length of time a baby is breastfeed.
