Colossians 3:11
Caroline Kelner is orchestrating another fun Food Packaging Event on Saturday, May 12 between 10 am and 3pm at St. Brigid Church parking lot in Pacific Beach. All are welcome to help assemble 57,600 meals for the poor. Food is available after 12:00 noon along with raffle tickets, lively Mexican music and friendship.
Donations are needed to offset the $12,500 cost for the food packaging ingredients. That’s less than 22 cents per meal! You may donate and sign up at https://saintbrigidparish.weshareonline.org. For more information, call Caroline at 858-761-7744 or email her.
How you can help by donating needed items
Sister Armida writes, “We are struggling very much to keep services going. Prayer is our strength to keep our faith deeper in God who provides for us all. The Casa asks for:
- Bedding, towels, both personal and laundry soap
- Staple food items
- Bottled water
The need for food is always great. The women appreciate donations of fabric, thread, and yarn to make items they can sell. The Sisters always encourage the people to help themselves.
The Sisters treat every man, woman, and child with utmost dignity, and provide work that enhances self-worth. The jobs they provide are for the “volunteers.” These men and women work very hard at the Casa — cooking in the kitchen, cleaning up, driving the trucks, sorting clothing, and many other tasks. They are paid small wages and a weekly bag of food for their labor. This helps them to sustain their families and to maintain their respect.
“There but for God go I.”
Those whom the Casa serves are destitute. The people live in drafty shacks that are often infested with rats and other critters. They often experience the trauma of empty stomachs, cold nights, insecurity, and premature death. The Sisters offer rays of light and hope to many men, women, and children through the various services they offer at Casa de los Pobres. Truckloads of food and blankets are taken to the distant colonias periodically for those unable to make the long trip by bus to the Casa (which is expensive and entails many bus transfers).
Jesus says in the Gospel, “the poor you will always have with you.” Many of these poor cannot help themselves because of sickness, deformity, or old age. The Casa is their literal lifeline. Some who come to the Casa need only a few months of temporary help, while others are totally dependent. Those who come for help do not choose this life!
Thank you donors — and students!
This month, your regular donations and 51 families provided $16,163.52 for the needs of the very poor who come to the Casa seeking food, clothing, and medical care.
Margit Dornisch and her Religious Education students at St. Patrick’s Carlsbad collected a huge truckload of Easter gifts — including over 400 pounds of peanut butter, 300 bars of spa, hundreds of gift baggies and many new towels, blankets, and more. Thank you! Thank you!
PLEASE KEEP THE SISTERS IN YOUR DAILY PRAYERS. PRAYER IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF THIS MISSION WHERE GOD PROVIDES THROUGH US ALL.
We have no overhead, except minimal PayPal and credit card charges. Everything you donate goes to serve the poor.
MARCH 2018 REPORT
- 23,310 people of all ages were served hot meals in the Casa Dining Room
- Many people received handouts of food daily
- 1,105 General Medical Clinic and prescriptions filled
- 1,650 bags of groceries were given
- 1,500 families obtained clothes and house supplies
- 410 people personally attended in Social Service office
- Groups came to do haircuts
- 1 trip to far colonias to bring tarps, blankets, and food
- 24 Scholarship aids
- We joined in the World Day of Prayer for Women