Service and Outreach – Page 10 – St. John – St. Paul Catholic Collaborative

Remembering the Children of NPH – Special Second Collection This Weekend

Anne Mears Shares Her Experience with NPH
I had the privilege of visiting the NPH Dominican Republic home during the Summer of 2019 when I chaperoned the high school service trip from our St. John-St. Paul Collaborative in Wellesley. I had worked with NPH in the past when the Pequeño Tour had come to play and sing during our Sunday Masses. The young people who visited from the Guatemala home during this visit were an outstanding group of young people. NPH emphasizes that they strive to make their homes as close as they can to a stable loving family atmosphere and that was more than apparent as I met the respectful, loving, caring and fun individuals who anyone could clearly see had a strong familial bond.

When I went to the NPH Dominican Republic home I saw this for myself. The children live in small group homes within the larger complex of Casa Santa Ana and are looked after by Tías (Aunties)…

Bike Collection for “The Bike Connector” – Sunday, May 15 at 1:00pm in the Saint John School Parking Lot

The Bike Connector is a non-profit, 100% volunteer-run, community-based program that provides free bikes for people in need: children who have never had a bike and adults who need transportation. They also offer “Do It Together” bike repair workshop, affordable bicycles, and hands-on educational programming.

They recently provided free bikes to the three Afghani young men we are helping to resettle through the POWIR program.

The Bike Connector only works when they have bikes. They depend on generous donors to donate outgrown or unused bikes. Their volunteer team makes necessary repairs to ensure a safe ride.

If you have an idle bike – child or adult – please consider donating it to The Bike Connector at our Bike Collection event!

Remembering the Children of NPH – Social Media Campaign and Special Second Collection May 21-22

Unlike any other moment in our lifetime, the Covid-19 pandemic upturned our lives and our understanding of the world. But unlike in the U.S., the countries where NPH Homes reside didn’t have the benefits of government subsidies, local nonprofits, or food pantries to help them survive. During that same time, NPH USA had to cancel all their in person fundraising events and postpone international trips as Covid-19 restrictions swept across the globe. NPH Homes were thereby faced with a $2M budget deficit.

NPH’s survival has come down to cutting any expense beyond meeting a child’s most basic level of needs. This meant that even the core programs, dedicated to lifting children from poverty, had to be eliminated just so they could focus on keeping the pequeños safe, fed, and loved.

The St. John-St. Paul Collaborative has been a part of the NPH family since 2017…

This Weekend: Special Second Collection for Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program

Each year, through our Collaborative Lenten Gift, we reach out as a community to one particular place of suffering, amid so many in the world. This year, we will reach out through our support of the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program (BHCHP), which provides the highest quality health care services possible to some of the most vulnerable members of our community – Boston’s homeless individuals and families of all ages.

We thank you for your participation and we are grateful for any donation you can offer. Checks should be made payable to your parish, with “2022 Lenten Gift” noted in the memo. If you prefer, you may donate online at any time during the Lenten season, or by sending a check to your parish office.

Telling the Story Part Three: Integrated Care

The mission of the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program is to ensure unconditionally equitable and dignified access to the highest quality health care for all individuals and families experiencing homelessness in our community. Many homeless patients struggle with at least one substance abuse problem, at least one chronic physical condition and a psychiatric illness. Each condition is often preventable and manageable…on its own. But, in combination and left untreated, such health problems become compounded — and all too often, fatal.

Medicine has long grappled with addressing these interconnected aspects of a patient’s healthcare in a coordinated way. The integrated care model at BHCHP unites physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, nurses, case managers and behavioral health professionals in close collaboration. They follow patients in a variety of settings – on the streets, at the Barbara McInnis House, in shelter-based clinics, in the hospitals and in housing – providing regular contact and uninterrupted care…

Telling the Story Part Two: Jeremiah, Jackie, and Walter

This week, let’s turn to the individual stories of those who live in the shadows and whom the BHCHP seeks to help and share in God’s grace. There are many paths to homelessness including mental health, discrimination, addiction, and violence. However, many of us are surprised that the faces of the homeless often hide that they were once in a home and only a crisis or breakdown away from turning their lives upside down…

Jackie moved back and forth between Boston and North Carolina before she found herself a single parent with two children, no affordable housing and despondent with her choices. Fortunately, she found the St. Mary’s Center shelter and met the BHCHP Family Team who treated her family like their family – with the human self-worth they deserved. They watched her children while she went to interviews and went back to school. Jackie now works for the BHCHP as a medical assistant paying forward to those who come in despair and in need of a comforting welcome…

Telling the Story Part One: About Boston Health Care for the Homeless Project

The St. John-St. Paul Collaborative Service Commission has chosen the Boston Healthcare for the Homeless Program (BHCHP) as the beneficiary of our 2022 Collaborative Lenten Gift. We would like to tell you a little bit about this inspiring organization.

In July 1985, a small group of 7 professionals led by Dr. James O’Connell banded together to launch dedicated and coordinated clinical services for homeless people. This was the beginning of Boston Healthcare for the Homeless Program (BHCHP). More than just providing medical care to the homeless in Boston, they implemented a broad approach bridging medicine, public health and social services…

JCRC Webinar: Our Community’s Afghan Resettlement Work – Thursday, February 3 at 12:00pm

Our community has watched the scenes coming out of Afghanistan – the thousands of Afghans, many of whom laid their lives on the lines for allied forces – desperately trying to flee perilous conditions and escape to safety. And many of us have wondered, “what can we do to help?” Join the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) to learn more about how we work with our partners to build an infrastructure to welcome Afghan immigrants. CLICK HERE TO REGISTER!

Featuring Temple Emanuel’s Rav Hazzan Aliza Berger, JCRC Director of Synagogue Organizing Rachie Lewis, and St. John – St. Paul Catholic Collaborative’s Kelly Meraw…

POWIR Update

Our recent arrivals have settled into the apartment and are doing well. They are 3 wonderful, enthusiastic young adult men. They have already made friends with other young men from Afghanistan living in the same apartment complex. A great community is developing.

Catholic Charities is working on the documents they need such as work permits. Jewish Vocational Services will be providing free English classes and career counseling. Our team will be tutoring them, taking them grocery shopping, doing banking and other errands, teaching them how to use the T, and more!

JOB OPPORTUNITIES
Twice a month, all the POWIR leaders in the area get together for information exchange and support. One of those leaders is trying to create a document of job opportunities in the greater Boston area that all of the refugees could benefit from. For example, they have identified an events company that wants seasonal workers. If you know of any job opportunities, please contact Mary Campion…