Each year, the Sharing Board creates a report that summarizes the past year’s activities and provides the financial details regarding collections and distributions. The following is our report for the period between July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2021.
Mission
We believe that our Sharing Program makes the Gospel vision of love real through effective
action. The Sharing Program provides a concrete way of expressing this vision by:
- Sharing our faith.
- Building bridges through friendship and understanding.
- Sharing financial resources, food clothing and ourselves.
- Involving the Parish members more directly in outreach activities.
In light of our mission and recent changes in their organization, the Sharing Board has elected to end our support of the women’s shelter, now known as the Southside Center of Hope.
Saint Frances of Rome
The Sharing Board continues to give the majority of our financial support to our Sharing Parish, Saint Frances of Rome. Most of these funds are directed to supporting tuition
assistance for families in need for their parish school. Due to pandemic related job losses and other financial hardships, this need grew significantly.
Father Paul Stein, SFR pastor, regularly attends Sharing Board meetings to provide updates
on the parish and school. The Sharing Schools program activities were put on hold for the
school year due to COVID concerns.
Saint Frances of Rome students in their classroom and expressing thanks for the
generous donations that help support tuition assistance.
Saint Columbanus Food Pantry (now Saint Moses the Black Food Pantry)
The Sharing Board organized a successful food and coat drive in the fall, followed by another successful food drive in the spring. Parishioners generously donated food as well as warm coats, grocery gift cards and cash to support the Saint Columbanus Food Pantry. There were changes made to make the collection COVID safe by having a drive-through, contactless donation system
In addition, Sharing Board members distribute food at the pantry periodically.
Sharing Board members and volunteers collect
food and coats at the Fall Food Drive.
Fr. Joji and Fr. Matt O’Donnell help the spring food drive
As a result of the Chicago Archdiocesan Renew My Church process, Saint Columbanus was consolidated with two other south side parishes and renamed Saint Moses the Black. The food pantry continues to operate as before, and has been renamed to reflect the new parish name. Father Matthew O’Donnell continues to serve as pastor.
Saint Anne Sharing Tree
The Sharing Board continued the Advent tradition of the Sharing Tree. There were significant adjustments made to the process to make the collection COVID compatible, including the elimination of paper ornaments, limiting gifts to financial donations and gift cards, and the addition of online donations through Give Central. The 2020 collection included generous donations and gift cards for the people in need that are served by the Saint Columbanus Food Pantry as well as generous donations for tuition assistance for the students in need from Saint Frances of Rome.
Saint Anne School participated again in the Sharing Tree, as each classroom adopted a family in need from Saint Frances of Rome. The students purchased gifts from wish lists to provide Christmas gifts for these families.
The generosity of Saint Anne parishioners is greatly appreciated by our sharing partners.
Please continue to help those in need by supporting Parish Sharing through the Gold/Sharing envelopes or through electronic donations via Give Central!
Two ways to support Parish Sharing:
