JANUARY
Nine men from Holy Infant Church in Ballwin spend a Saturday stripping wallpaper and painting three bedrooms, a living room, hallway and kitchen for a single mom and her seven children. The whole family pitches in to help.
FEBRUARY
Br. Donald and Kelly Loney offer presentations to the Christian Leadership classes at Chaminade High School. The Francican Connection takes part in the "Festival of Ministries" at St. Anthony of Padua Parish in south St. Louis city.
MARCH
FC teams together with New City Fellowship for "InterVarsity," an alternative spring break project for college students, to restore a fire-damaged kitchen for a couple of Pagedale seniors.
APRIL
Secular Franciscans from the St. Elizabeth of Hungary fraternity assist with stuffing envelopes for our annual Easter appeal
Volunteers, both young and old, from Holy Redeemer Church come together to brighten up the bedroom and living room of a southside family.
MAY
Juniors Eddie Dodson and Brian Shepherd from St. John the Baptist High School share two weeks in service of our local community - painting a house, repairing a porch, planting bushes, scrubbing a kitchen and shingling a bedroom roof.
JUNE
Kelly Loney, our Franciscan Volunteer extraordinaire, finishes up her year of service here in st. Louis. Among her many accomplishments: - Over 49 houses repaired
- 1700+ hours of service
- authored grants raising $14,500+
- Developed the agency's first newsletter
Kelly moves up to Chicago to continue volunteering at Children's Place, a program for kids with AIDS.
JULY
In an effort to expand our outreach to south city Hispanics, Br. Donald journeys down to the Mexican American Cultural Center in San Antonio, TX, for 6 weeks of intensive studies in the Spanish language, culminating with a week-long pilgrimage to the Francican missions of Mexico.
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AUGUST
Brian Dever, a recent graduate from Quincy University and new member of the Franciscan Volunteer Program, joins the FC staff to assist with home repairs for needy families.
SEPTEMBER
Br. Donald celebrates his "big 4-0" as he continues his plumbing training through evening classes at Ranken Technical College in order to better respond to some of our common client requests.
St. Louis University graduate student Stephen McGinnis volunteers each Wednesday as a service experience for his social concerns class, tackling everything from painting basements and washing windows to patching a driveway and tuckpointing a porch.
OCTOBER
Brian Dever completes his Missouri State Lead Abatement Worker Certification which will help protect families living in older homes and volunteers working around lead paint hazards.
Eight students from Quincy University Circle K travel 100+ miles to help patch, prime and paint the living room and bedroom of a Gravois Park senior citizen.
QU Circle K students joined the friars for dinner
before heading home to Quincy, IL
Little Flower School 7th graders celebrate Halloween by picking up litter along Cherokee Street while Little Flower Parish sponsors our first "tool drive" to help families continue their own repairs.
NOVEMBER
Franciscan Connection organizes St. Louis' first Inter-Agency Gathering for home repairs. 24 people representing 19 service agencies convene at Habitat for Humanities' new office building.
DECEMBER
Ron Oberkrom and the plumbing class at Forest Park Community College will assist with new pipes and drains in a bathroom renovation for one of our disabled senior citizens.
The Secular Franciscans will spread holiday cheer while Christmas caroling at the homes of several of our south city families.
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The Franciscan Connection
