Mission Reports Archive 2010
Hunger Never Takes a Holiday
December 14, 2010 -- As I drove out in the country, I wondered how 98 year-old Jordan Johns has survived in his cardboard shack, without insulation to keep out the freezing wind. I finally found the tin-roofed shack and beeped the horn. "Is that you Father?" I heard the old fellow holler. Mr. Johns is legally blind but he can still rely on his sharp mind and good hearing.
"What if Santa Claus can't find us out in the warmin' shed?"
December 2, 2010 -- "What if Santa Claus can't find us out in the warmin' shed?" three-year old Jaycee asks her great grandpa several times a day. The child is fearful Santa will miss them because she and her great grandparents have to spend their winter days in an old shed in back of their run down house. The family can't afford propane to heat their home during the day so they stay in a warming shed with a wood stove where they can sit to keep warm.
Read how you can help feed the hungry this holiday season...
Fill a Christmas Bag with Food
November 4, 2010 -- This year, Sarah Jones has a Christmas dream. She would love to get plenty of healthy food for her girls to eat and no dinners of ketchup and water. "I'd give my girls dolls and other nice things, but they need good food," she told me. "I want them to do well in school and I know they can't stay healthy and grow when they don't get enough to eat."
Read how you can help feed hungry children and elders this Christmas...
Help Feed the Hungry on Thanksgiving Day
October 14, 2010 -- When you were a child, do you recall family meals when your mother or father reminded you, "Clean your plate. Remember the starving kids overseas." They never said, "Remember the starving kids in America," because quite honestly, they couldn't imagine that people were starving nearby.
Read how you can help feed the hungry on Thanksgiving Day...
Remembering Loved Ones on All Souls' Day
September 21, 2010 -- "We regret to inform you of the passing of…" No one wants to hear these words, especially not a devoted and beloved mother. Yet for one young Selma mother, these words were spoken not once, but twice.
Read how you can make a difference this All Souls' Day...
Teach a Man to Fish and You Feed Him for a Lifetime
August 4, 2010 -- "Anything seems possible now. I have been blessed!" Abby's enthusiasm touches my heart because I know that she could easily be living another, much harder life. But Abby didn't let that happen. Here is her courageous story
Read more about how you can help...
Hunger Has a Face
July 12, 2010 -- Hunger has a face. It is the face of an elder who lives in a backwoods shack surviving too many days on cornbread because that’s all she has. It is the face of a child drinking sugar water because his grandmother’s monthly check can’t stretch to buy the food they need to survive.
Read more about how you can help...
A Third World Country in the Midst of Our Nation
June 15, 2010 -- “This looks like a Third World Country!” a visitor told me after a tour of the deplorable living conditions in the Missions where we serve. He was right - a Third World Country in the midst of one of the wealthiest nations on earth. But how do I get people to understand this incredible travesty happening in our own backyard?
Read more about how you can help...
Hunger Knows No Race, Religion or Age
May 25, 2010 -- “Remember me, Father?” I was standing on the front porch of the Missions House when Georgia Jackson walked by with her two grandchildren. “I sure do, Mrs. Jackson. How are you doing?” Grandma Georgia had a lot to tell me.
Read more about Grandma Georgia and how Bosco became a lifesaver for her her family...
Help Families With Emergency Assistance
May 3, 2010 -- If she had waited five minutes, Hazel would have been dead. If she had been sleeping, as she often did in her wheelchair in the living room, she could easily have inhaled the poisonous gas. Most victims of house fires die from asphyxiation, not in the flames.
Read more about how you can help Hazel and other families that need emergency assistance...
The Edmundite Catholic Center of Hope
April 9, 2010 -- I have faith that “God makes a way when there is no way.” The Edmundite Missions have survived tough challenges over the last 70 years but now we have come to a turning point and although He makes a way, I need your help to complete the journey.
Read more about how you can get involved...
This Easter Remember Bosco Nutrition Center
March 3, 2010 -- Moses Grant is a single father. His wife abandoned the family after the factory lay-off cost him not only his job, but his self esteem as well. It’s hard enough to take care of two little girls under the age of six, but now he can’t find child care while he searches for any kind of work he can get.
Read more about how you can make a difference this Easter...
When You Touch the Poor, You Touch God
February 10, 2010 -- Lilly Mae has been living in the dark. The cold blast that plagued us with freezing weather for 17 days, broke the elderly woman’s water pipe inside her rundown shack. With a sagging plywood floor and without lights and running water, she can’t move around safely in her wheelchair.
Help Those Who Are Suffering
January 10, 2010 -- Mary is a bag lady. I know it’s impolite to stare, but one day at Bosco I noticed her shuffling along in the serving line wearing an oversized, dirty trench coat and an old pair of men’s shoes that were at least three times larger than her feet.
Read more about how you can save lives and comfort the downhearted...
