Service and Outreach – Page 5 – St. John – St. Paul Catholic Collaborative

Telling the Story – Part 1: Introducing Ukraine Forward and City of Goodness

Day after day, we have watched and read about the horrific conditions that have beset Ukraine as a result of the Russian invasion. Millions of people have died or fled their homes as refugees. Families have been torn apart and many individuals who have survived are struggling with serious injuries and terrible living conditions.

To find out how best to help, we contacted the pastor of Christ the King Ukrainian Catholic Church in Jamaica Plain, Fr. Yaroslav Nalysnyk. He recommended and vouched for Ukraine Forward, an initiative of the Ukrainian Educational Foundation of Boston…

Myron Kravchuk, a Christ the King parishioner and founder of Ukraine Forward, met with the Service Commission to discuss their history, mission, and current projects. One new project is with City of Goodness, a social service center for women and children. With the onset of the war, it has become a shelter for women and children from across Ukraine…

Announcing Our 2023 Collaborative Lenten Gift: City of Goodness in Ukraine

City of Goodness is a social service and support center that was originally established to care for women and children fleeing domestic violence. With the onset of the war, City of Goodness has become a shelter for women with children, families (with their pets!) and elderly people from all over Ukraine. They settle them, feed them, provide medical treatment, and try to make this time a little less traumatic for the little ones. They have also taken in evacuees from three orphanages from the South of Ukraine – children from birth to 7 years – and are constructing additional buildings (with bomb shelters) so they can accommodate another two hundred evacuee children.

Our gift will help with construction costs and the constant need for food, medicine, hygiene items, pillows, baby food and formula, and clothing…

“Lent: A Time to Listen, A Time to Let Go, A Time to Laugh” – Saturday, February 25

The SJSP SVdP Conference welcomes you to this free Lenten Retreat. Sr. Carlotta delves into the story of The Passion. What does it mean today? Sister helps bring it into practice as we enter Lent, and especially Holy Week.

Saturday, February 25 – 9:00am to 1:00pm

St. Joseph Spiritual Ministries
71 Walnut Park Newton, MA

Numbers are limited – to attend please RSVP to SVDP@sjspwellesley.org
Questions: Julia: 781-816-9748

Wellesley Food Pantry Collection at St. Paul Church – Soup!

On the first Sunday of each month, items are collected for the Wellesley Food Pantry at St. Paul Church.

NEW! We are currently collecting SOUP for the Wellesley Food Pantry. All soups are appreciated, but the pantry is specifically in need of the following:

Beef * Vegetable * Lentil * Tomato * All Chowders

We will be working with the Food Pantry to focus our collection on the Pantry’s most pressing needs. At some times of the year it may be soup, at others times it may be laundry detergent or canned fruit – watch the bulletin and website for updates…

Thank You from the Christmas Wish Team!

For almost 30 years the Christmas Wish team has reached out and asked for sponsors and donations and once again our parishioners answered the call! This program is only possible because of the incredible generosity of our parishioners who donate gifts, money and time to us each year.

This year we were able to support 334 children and their families in Wellesley, Roxbury, Brockton and Lowell. Each child received a special gift as well as clothing and their family received a $200 grocery gift card. In addition, we were able to give Julie’s Family Learning Center in South Boston a substantial number of food cards that the women use throughout the year.

Thank you for the amazing response this year. We are beyond grateful for your continued support.

“Spirit of Sharing” Gift Collection for St. Patrick Parish in Lawrence

Founded over two decades ago by a group of St. John-St. Paul parishioners and Saint John School families, the Spirit of Sharing-Lawrence collection helps brighten Christmas for about 350 boys and girls living at severe risk for hunger in Lawrence, MA. Many thanks to Fr. Jim Laughlin and Fr. Bryan Hehir, and to all parishioners, for your abiding support of Spirit of Sharing and the Lawrence community.

Spirit of Sharing provides cheerful Christmas gifts for children whose parents, despite working two to three jobs a week, cannot afford to give them presents…

Thank You For Your Donations to the Waltham Food Pantries!

Thank you to everyone who joined us for Mass on Thanksgiving morning and brought items for the Waltham Food Pantries! As you can see, we collected a tremendous amount of non-perishable food, personal, and household items for those in need.

The folks at the Bristol Lodge Food Pantry were so happy to receive these much-needed donations!

Our Annual “Coats for Kids and Families” Collection is This Weekend, November 12-13!

Drop Off in the St. John Rectory Garage
As the weather gets cooler we are once again having our Coats for Kids & Families coat collection:
All winter coats – kids, adults and babies – that are warm winter coats in good, wearable condition.
Please donate coats you would give a friend to wear. Do not donate coats that have rips/tears, broken zippers and/or permanent stains and please be sure to empty out all pockets.

Annual “Coats for Kids and Families” Collection – November 12-13

We will once again be collecting gently-used and new winter coat donations for children and adults at the St. John’s Rectory Garage on the weekend of November 12 -13.

What to Donate:

All winter coats – kids, adults and babies – that are warm winter coats in good, wearable condition. Please donate coats you would give a friend to wear. Do not donate coats that have rips/tears, broken zippers and/or permanent stains and please be sure to empty out all pockets.

St. John Christmas Wish 2022

We are happy to extend an invitation to participate in this year’s St. John Christmas Wish Program. The Christmas Wish Program has been one of the highlights of St. John’s holiday outreach since 1993. This Christmas, we hope to grant the special wishes for more than 400 children based upon the caring generosity of our parish community. Each child is provided with a new outfit of clothing and a special Christmas Wish gift they have requested. These gifts will go to the youngsters in our own parishes, as well as in our sister parishes of St. Katherine Drexel in Roxbury, St. Patrick in Lowell, St. Patrick in Brockton and the Julie Family Learning Program in Boston.

If you are able to help make Christmas Wishes come true this year, please visit our Christmas Wish SignUp page to sign-up to sponsor a child/family…