Ministry Fund

The FSPA Ministry Fund supports a diverse range of projects. The fund focuses on projects that benefit the poor and oppressed who have few alternatives open to them, with preference for women, minorities, and rural concerns. FSPA are involved at some level in every project that receives funding. Some of the ways the fund addresses the needs of our day include:

• The hungry and homeless receive food and clothing and develop skills for living and working;
• Children gather for summer camps where intense reading, math, moral education, and fun are part of the daily activity;
• Women connect with women and regain their self-esteem so they can be reunited with their families and take leadership roles;
• The uninsured receive health care;
• The elderly are given support in times of crisis and grieving;
• Individuals receive counseling and mentoring while struggling with addiction, violence and abuse;
• Men and women journey with a companion at one of our spirituality centers to grow in their relationship with God, self, others and Mother Earth.

The ministry fund is supported by gifts from family and friends of FSPA. All gifts that are designated as unrestricted are added to the fund. In addition, FSPA tithe their earnings, and the congregation makes a contribution to the fund each year.

Ministry Fund Stories

Ministry grants further human rights efforts

The office of the Co-Madres* in San Salvador, El Salvador, is a simple place, staffed by three people who—at first glance—appear to be quiet, simple women; they could be anyone’s mother or grandmother. Yet, under their calm exteriors, each of them harbors the memory of unspeakable horrors that are difficult, if not impossible, to comprehend. They remember how their family members were abducted, and later found seriously injured or killed. They remember their own experiences of rapes, beatings, electrical shocks and psychological torture. Those tortures occurred during El Salvador’s civil war, at the hands of the U.S. and Salvadoran government-supported military. Scarred but not defeated, these women are now waging a war of their own, an ongoing battle for human rights.

Fueled by their personal experiences, they have the will to fight, but not the financial means. An FSPA ministry grant is helping them in their mission, by funding public forums led by the Co-Madres to educate people about their human rights and to work toward justice for the tens of thousands of civilians who were tortured, disappeared or killed during the war.

“The Co-Madres denounce the impunity and are eager to move ahead with justice,” says Sister Marie Des Jarlais, the sister sponsor of the ministry grant. Every year she leads cultural immersion trips to El Salvador, which include a visit with the Co-Madres. She explains that the Co-Madres want to pressure the Salvadoran Supreme Court to annul amnesty for human rights abusers from the civil war. “These are poor but honest and very brave women,” she says. “They take great personal risks in speaking out, but they need financial support.”

The ministry grant awarded to the group has made it possible to have four workshops in each of three areas of El Salvador. “The teachings of human rights, and specific rights afforded to Salvadorans by their constitution, is very important,” explains Sister Marie, who says the Co-Madres want to involve others in their push for justice, develop leadership skills in the people and secure a better life for the poor. “This is very important work, by the Co-Madres, toward building a more just future for Salvadorans.”

“My hope would be that through their education efforts, similar circumstances can be avoided in the future so others will not have to be victims of torture and abuse and suffering like they have,” says Sister Karen Grochowski, who met the Co-Madres during a GATE cultural immersion trip. “We here in the U.S. have so much that we take for granted. It’s important for us to remember that others around the world don’t have access to clean water, good jobs, food and resources that we have. Therefore it’s important that we share our abundance with others.”

*Committee of Mothers and Families of Prisoners, Disappeared and Political Assassinations of El Salvador, Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero (named in honor of the archbishop who was shot and killed during El Salvador’s civil war)

Family & Children’s Center supports Healthy Families

The Healthy Families program at Family & Children’s Center in La Crosse, Wis., supports at risk families with in-home family support workers who teach parents about child development and help parents form coping skills and parenting techniques. In addition, workers help family members set and achieve personal goals. With the help of a ministry grant, the program aims to end the cycle of abuse and neglect.

“Many of our agency’s services deal with the consequences of abuse,” says Sara Battison, chief development officer for the Family & Children’s Center. “We brought the Healthy Families program to this community in 1992 because of the prevention approach that is used. Healthy Families is the only program in the Coulee Region to offer parents this in-home visiting program for five years at no cost to families.”

Sister Marlene Weisenbeck, who serves on the board of the Family & Children’s Center, is the sister sponsor of the ministry grant. She says she appreciates the collaboration with community organizations on behalf of children. “Families are screened for this program through Franciscan Skemp Healthcare. Viterbo University has collaborated in a research study which has given strong evidence that this program not only saves money, but is also effective in helping families at risk get a good start. The La Crosse Community Foundation and the United Way have also been substantially influential in making this program possible.”

Healthy Families is a free program offered to those who meet specific criteria and are referred by local medical professionals. The families who qualify often face difficult challenges such as unemployment and other financial concerns or lack of a support system. Since its inception, more than 800 families have enrolled in the voluntary program. The study by Viterbo University concluded that the program is 98 percent effective in stopping child abuse and neglect. However, because of the level of need in the community and lack of funding, some families are unable to be helped. The FSPA ministry grant helps them meet some of their financial needs.

The Family & Children’s Center is currently working to establish an endowment for the Healthy Families program as part of a capital campaign that began in 2006. Eventually they hope to reduce the need for grants and donations.

“Please know your grant truly does make a world of difference in our ability to serve more of the at-risk families throughout our community,” says Battison. “Children are growing up with stronger futures and living in stronger families thanks to you.”

Drinkable water changes lives in El Salvador

The villages of San Juan and El Progreso, El Salvador, haven’t had drinkable water for 40 years. With no financial resources to drill a well, the people must instead purchase water from a delivery service and store it in large barrels. Unfortunately, the company which provides the water drains it from local streams, which are also used for bathing, laundry and sewage disposal. As a result, people get sick and sometimes die.

With the help of an FSPA ministry grant, along with other donations, a well project was recently completed in San Juan. Now clean, drinkable running water is available to the families that live in San Juan and El Progreso.

FUSANMIDJ**, an organization devoted to promoting the health of women and children in rural El Salvador, was the driving force behind the well project. The residents of the area also played a key role, says Sister Marie Des Jarlais, the sister sponsor of the ministry grant. “The poor of San Juan have no financial resources. They worked together to secure the land title for the site of a well. This has brought them together, helped them organize and helped this rural area toward better health.”

When a GATE group (Global Awareness Through Experience, a sponsored ministry of the FSPA) recently visited San Juan, a festive, albeit simple celebration greeted them. Children dressed in bright costumes sang several songs and danced for the visitors. Villagers thanked the visitors for their role in making the well a reality. Knowing that although the well water is clean enough for villagers to drink, it would still make foreign visitors sick, they purchased bottled water for their guests—a generous gesture for families which earn less than a dollar a day.

“I came away with a sense of just how much that gift meant to them, and how grateful they were to be able to have the water. It really was a life-changing event for them,” says Sister Karen Grochowski, GATE El Salvador participant in June of 2007. “In a very real way it’s the difference between life and death for them—it’s the difference between sickness and health.”

Villagers still dream of piping water to the school, so children can have access to water during the day. But, for now, they are immensely grateful for the gift of drinkable water. For decades it seemed an impossibility, as they walked several miles to Armenia for water, filled their jugs and carried them back, balancing them on their heads. A project like this well, which provides fresh water to hundreds of people, costs only $30,000.

Says Sister Marie, “the work is necessary and important. It makes a difference in the lives of an entire village.”

**Foundation for the Integral Health of Women and Children: Maura, Ita, Dorothy and Jean (named in honor of the four North American churchwomen who were assaulted and murdered during El Salvador’s civil war)

Indigent Inmate Program provides personal care items  

At the La Crosse County Jail, impoverished inmates have difficulty affording personal care items and the jail does not supply them. Soap is provided, but some inmates react to the harsh soap, paired with the dry air of the jail. Some might say that a criminal serving time does not deserve even simple comforts, but Sister Mary Ann Gschwind has another point of view. “In the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus is unequivocal in his statements about some of the ways we are to act, in his love, toward those in society that have less or are usually considered as being less than the rest of us,” she explains. “To clothe the naked and visit the imprisoned are two concrete directions we have been given, directions that we must follow, if we are able, in order to be numbered among those given a place in God’s kingdom in heaven merited for us by Jesus’ death and resurrection. We are able and excited to be able to do what Jesus asks of us.”

Sister Mary Ann is the sponsor of an FSPA ministry grant given to La Crosse Jail Ministry, to provide basic personal care items to indigent inmates. “The men and women locked up in the La Crosse County Jail are not faceless criminals for us, something to fear. Jesus’ eyes stare out at us from the faces of the inmates the chaplain sees daily,” she says. “They may have done wrong or very bad things, but they are still human beings created in God’s image and likeness, and some of the Creator’s neediest creations. If we do not help, who will?”

The ministry grant provides writing supplies, stamps, pencils, combs and other items to the inmates. In addition, inmates with minor skin conditions not treated by the jail medical staff are supplied with soap, shampoo and over-the-counter medications if the condition is confirmed by a jail nurse. Says Sister Mary Ann, “The hope is that the relationships built around these simple actions will have far-flung impacts on the inmates’ lives in the realization that there are some people in town who love them for who they are, hopefully leading to a change in their mindset and their actions in engaging the community.”

Diabetes project helps Iowa patients

Diabetes is emerging as a public health crisis for our time, and as a result, hospitals are experiencing increased need for support services for patients with diabetes. For St. Anthony Regional Hospital in Carroll, Iowa, this presented a clear challenge: to develop a state certified diabetes education program. Self-management education is commonly recognized as the cornerstone of effective diabetes care—which emerged as the goal of the St. Anthony Diabetes Education Program when it was launched in 2006. Today the program provides access to quality diabetes education services for people of west central Iowa, and that education is made available, in part, through a ministry grant from the FSPA.

Deb Dieter, a registered nurse at St. Anthony Regional Hospital and the nurse educator at the diabetes center says, “As members of the St. Anthony Diabetes Care Team, we recognize the profound impact that diabetes has upon the overall health of our local communities. The prevalence of diabetes in Iowa has increased steadily since 1990 to a present rate of 6.7 percent, and people with diabetes often have as many as three to five other chronic conditions.” Health professionals are confident that the program will eventually help people with diabetes in the community live longer and healthier lives.

Sister Ladonna Kassmeyer is the sister sponsor of the grant, and serves on the hospital’s foundation board.

Family literacy program educates teen parents

For teenagers suddenly facing the responsibility of parenthood, education may fall to the wayside. Learning Together Family Literacy empowers teen parents to complete their high school education, which enables them to better support their families and provide positive role models for their children. With the help of an FSPA ministry grant, as well as many other funding sources, the program provides both parenting and academic support for teenage parents.

The program is based on the belief that education is the most effective prevention against school dropout, drug abuse and poverty. The project serves families in La Crosse County in Wisconsin and beyond, pinpointing candidates through an assessment which measures literacy, economic and parenting needs.

Sister Rochelle Potaracke is a board member of Learning Together Family Literacy and is the sister sponsor of the grant. “This program empowers teen parents to complete their high school education, which enables them to better support their families and provide positive role models for their children,” she explains. “Family Literacy teen classes empower the teen parents to take a leadership role in the future of their family, become active participants in the social and educational development of their children, and strengthen their ability to move beyond welfare support to positive participation in society.”

From 2005-2006, the program helped 44 adult learners, half of whom were teen parents. Of the entire group, 80 percent were single parents. One third of the program graduates obtained their high school degrees and 83 percent found jobs or improved upon their employment.

“The mission of Learning Together Family Literacy is to reduce the number of children living in poverty,” says Helen Davig, family literacy director. “By providing high quality educational services that produce positive results, Learning Together Family Literacy strengthens families and breaks the cycle of undereducation.”

Water projects improve quality of life for poor communities

Many of us take for granted the clean, readily accessible water available to us. We turn on a faucet, and water emerges, ready for washing dishes and clothes, filling drinking glasses, and cooking. In the community of Xepatzac, Quiche, Guatemala, clean water is a precious commodity, realized only recently, thanks in part to an FSPA Ministry Grant.

Until recently, the poor Guatemalan village of 75 families, a total of 450 people, drew all of their water from a cloudy pool surrounded by weeds. Women would fill plastic jugs, then carry them a great distance back to town. They washed their clothes and bathed in a nearby stream. Global Partners: Running Waters, Inc., sought to raise enough money to install the pipes and pumps necessary to bring potable water to the community. As an honorary board member of the organization, Sister Marie Des Jarlais sponsored a Ministry Grant request to help make that dream a reality, along with Jan Gregorcich, SSND, the founder of Global Partners Running Waters.

In a farming village like this one in Guatemala, remote and poor with limited medical resources, clean water eases hardships and improves the health of the people. For people who don’t have access to clean water, chronic diarrhea, illness and the untimely deaths of children are common. Having access to potable water truly changes lives, explains Sister Marie Des Jarlais, particularly for women. “The burden for getting water, taking care of the home, all the things that receive no pay but take tremendous amounts of time, falls on women.” Water projects like the one in Guatemala allow women to quickly access clean water for drinking, cooking and bathing, which in turn frees them up to do other work.

The Guatemala water project isn’t the only such effort embraced by the FSPA. The situation was similar in Azacualpa, department of Sonsonate, El Salvador, and the FSPA fulfilled a Ministry Grant request for a similar potable water project. The effect of bringing clean water to these poor, rural communities cannot be underestimated.

Sister Marie says for donors, the Ministry Grant efforts allow them to stay true to the message from Jesus in the Scriptures, “Whatever you do to the least, you do to me.” She explains, “This is a chance to help people who, through no fault of their own, have absolutely no resources, have been abandoned by probably their governments, but are contributing members to society.”

Scholarships help local college students maintain self-sufficiency

For low income non-traditional college students, even the slightest financial derailment can throw off their plans to earn a degree. Organizers of the Self-Sufficiency Program, based at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, recognize this fact, and in 2004 they established a scholarship fund to help address the problem. Last year, an FSPA Ministry Grant was awarded to the program, known as the Locally Grown SSP Scholarship Fund. Through the scholarship fund, needy students receive a $300 grant to help them cover their expenses, like car repairs, food or childcare.

Leona Bournes is among the students who have benefited from the program. She’s raising four children, including three of her own and her niece, and works part-time at Chileda as house director, overseeing the house and the needs of the children. She also substitute teaches there, when necessary. Bournes is looking ahead, long-term, and knows that an education will help her achieve her goals. The Locally Grown Scholarship, she says, is a great help toward earning her degree in education with a minor in special education. “Education is my outlet for me to get out and to build a stepping stone for my children so they can see, hey, ‘If Mom can do it, I can do it too.’”

The Self-Sufficiency Program’s purpose is to prepare low-income parents to become successful college students. It includes a two-semester not-for-credit program and weekly gatherings with other students. The hope is to increase retention rates and help the students become successful. The Locally Grown Scholarship is a part of that, says interim program direction Sandra Mc Anany, “It gives them the chance to explore their educational goals and dreams and it also is a great environment to build up their self-confidence.”

Bournes says without the grant, “It would be a struggle for me mentally and financially.” She says, “I’m just blessed that I have the opportunity to be in the program.”

This fall, the program is providing 15 of the Locally Grown Scholarships to students, says Mc Anany, “It’s a real diverse group of students, and the scholarships go to all three colleges in the area, so it’s not just UW-L students that benefit from this.”

To date, the Self-Sufficiency Program has helped more than 100 students, and the Locally Grown Scholarship has been awarded to 20 students. Mc Anany says they are already seeing success, as retention rates have improved. “The donation from the Franciscan Sisters was the key to getting the scholarship fund off and running. That base of support allowed us to provide scholarships while we were involved in other fundraising efforts,” Mc Anany explains.

Open Door Café feeds hundreds of hungry, elderly and alone in Milwaukee

The Open Door Café at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Milwaukee feeds lunch to 175 to 200 hungry men, women and children each day, and more than 300 on Sundays. Of the people they feed, half live in homeless shelters while an additional 21% stay with friends or family and 29% remain unsheltered. Men comprise about 75% of the population they serve and more than 25% are battling mental illness. The lack of affordable housing in the city of Milwaukee is a major source for such a large number of poor and homeless. When asked, guests reveal that they were one paycheck away from living on the street, and they suddenly lost their job. Now they live on the streets, under bridges, behind bushes and/or in one of the few homeless shelters in Milwaukee. Others have enough money to pay for a room in a dangerous part of the city but not enough for food. The Open Door Café provides one good, hot and nutritious meal a day.

“The Open Door Café provides a welcome respite for these men and women,” says Emily John, director of outreach and development for the Open Door ministry of the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist. “We know that it is not enough to give a person a hot meal, but we know that this ministry is a good start and we are proud that we can offer a good meal six days a week.”

The Open Door Café is possible with the help of a pool of 250 volunteers. Five regular volunteers, who are former clients and are poor themselves, are given a minimal stipend for kitchen and dining room duties. The Ministry Grant awarded to the Open Door Café project helps support these stipends and bus fare for the workers. “This work and small stipend helps them with work experience and also gives them a sense of success and purpose. This is integral to the mission of the Door Ministry . . . for those who once had need, to serve those still in need,” explains John. The Ministry Grant also helps organizers purchase food supplies.

A hot lunch is a great gift, but The Open Door Café is about more than just filling a stomach. Guests can take advantage of the services of a nurse practitioner and a social worker from the St. Ben’s Clinic every Tuesday. A Sister of Charity of St. Joan Antida facilitates weekly Bible studies, spiritual guidance and crisis management. And perhaps most importantly, the café provides a safe place where the poor and homeless can find support with others who are poor and homeless as well. “We have heard time and time again from both volunteers and guests that the spirit here is loving and just. Everyone has an enjoyable time when they come here. We strive to treat everyone as if each was Jesus. After all, we are all made in the image and likeness of God.

“We are truly grateful for your commitment to providing for the poor and powerless of our community. Without your generous donation, we would not be able to fulfill our mission of feeding the poor,” says John. “You and your community are always in our prayers and in our hearts.”

Farmers and faith groups team up

Family farms have always been highly valued by the FSPA, in part because many members were raised on family farms. FSPA members readily appreciate the joys and challenges that come with the family farming lifestyle. Sister Betty Daugherty offers an equally compelling reason why the FSPA support family farms, "In our area the rural population is in crisis. Standing with the smaller farmer is a justice issue."

For these reasons and more, Sister Betty sponsored a Ministry Grant request by the Churches' Center for Land and People (CCLP). Organized in the 1980s, CCLP works to achieve economic justice, earth stewardship and community for farming people. CCLP collaborates with seven religious denominations to support farmers and rural communities in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin. FSPA are one of the CCLP sponsors, and Sister Betty has served on the board for the past eight years.

Tony Ends, farmer and executive director of CCLP, requested FSPA Ministry Grant support for a new partnership project called Harvest of Hope. Harvest of Hope is an emergency fund that helps farmers when they cannot meet the essential needs of their farming operations. Ends suggests, "Almost everyone who's worked the land has struggled through bleak times when everything seemed to break down at once, when drought strangled crops and stressed livestock, when there wasn't enough to pay the bills."

The emergency fund, which originated in the Madison, Wis., Christian community, and has provided more than 1,075 gifts totaling $610,000 to Wisconsin farm families since 1986, was depleted after the drought of 2002 and winter of 2003. The new project being launched in partnership with CCLP, will provide a system to replenish the emergency funds and support family farm operations.

	Dela Ends of Scotch Hill Farm prepares milk soap for Harvest of Hope sales. Photo courtesy of Scotch Hill Farm

In the next year, Harvest of Hope will coordinate ten benefit sales in farmers' markets and parish halls. Groups of small farmers will sell their products directly at these benefit sales. Products might include meats, cheeses, woolen goods, honey, milk, soap, jams or canned goods. At least 10 percent of every item sold at these sales will be given to the Harvest of Hope emergency fund.

Ends points out, "Besides giving farmers a new outlet for their goods, these benefit sales will serve as a model for urban and suburban churches of the significance and importance of direct market relationships with producers." Host churches and farm vendors will work to continue the sales as annual, semi-annual or even monthly events.

During the pilot project the benefit sales will be held in different Wisconsin metro areas. Then CCLP will attempt to spread the model to Iowa, Illinois and Minnesota. FSPA Ministry Grant funds will be combined with other funds to cover first-year operational costs for this pilot. CCLP is looking for Harvest of Hope benefit sale host parishes right now. Ends says, "This is how we can creatively proclaim where the church is in relation to the ongoing farm crisis."

Sister Betty echoes this notion. "This is one way the voices of the church can support farmers. This project is a place where churches, religious women and farmers are collaborating."

For more information on Churches' Center for Land and People contact Tony Ends at cclp@mwci.net or call 608-748-4411, ext 805.

Metro parish gives homeless more than a meal
by Patricia Tekippe, FSPA

"But we don't have to live that way anymore, do we?" I overheard Mel saying to Harvey as I picked up a cup of coffee in the kitchen at Cabrini House.

Over a snack they had been telling each other sad tales of life and death on the street, close calls they had each had, and the names of some others who didn't survive that last bottle or that last snowstorm.

Cabrini House offers transitional housing to 23 people at a time, women and men who are at the end of their rope, but, as the saying goes, have decided "to tie a knot in it and hang on." Many have histories of treatment for chemical dependencies and/or mental illness.

	Cabrini House Photo courtesy of Cabrini House

St. Frances Cabrini Parish in Minneapolis started Cabrini House about 15 years ago as an emergency shelter for homeless people. Initially Cabrini House was run by parish volunteers in the parish social hall. After conversations with folks who needed emergency housing month after month, the parish realized that personal issues needed to be faced by the homeless people if they were to be successful in stabilizing their lives.

At that point Cabrini House was formed as a non-profit, with paid staff trained to help residents look honestly at their own issues and find the resources to grow well. Skills in independent living, such as eating a balanced diet and paying bills on time, are also addressed.

"I surprised myself at how well I'm doing in school, after being out for 30 years," Daniel told me when the school year started. Now he's determined to work hard and keep up his B average at the community college. Education and job training are key in preparing residents for long-term stability. Resumé preparation and interviewing skills are right up there, too.

My own skills in teaching and in pastoral ministry come into play every day at Cabrini House. Sometimes a small bit of help with a math problem or in clarifying the structure of a paragraph offers big encouragement to someone who has never had a parent show interest in schoolwork.

I am inspired by the determination and the struggle for spiritual growth by the residents. Last week Ray was smoking at the picnic table on the front lawn, looking troubled. Alluding to the numerous challenges he had recently faced, he said, "I'm doing spiritual warfare; tell God I'm not Job."

Sister Patricia Tekippe has been on staff at Cabrini House for five years. All names have been changed for this article.

Grants promote children's emotional well-being

As a school social worker in the public school system serving the Tohono O'odham Nation, Sister Janet Dalton knows that many issues impact a child's ability to learn. This past year she sought FSPA Ministry Grant funding to address some of the unmet needs of children on the reservation.

	The Man in the Maze, above, is an important Tohono O’odham symbol. The figure seeks a deeper meaning of life. The center of the circle stands for that deeper meaning. The journey through life is often puzzling and difficult, but the people must struggle and work hard to reach that deeper meaning. This symbol is often used on baskets and jewelry.

One grant established a special needs fund for children in kindergarten through third grade. Sister Janet has helped children and their families with a variety of diverse needs. In one situation she arranged to purchase of firewood for a family that had no source of heat in the home. In another case, the grant provided contemporary clothes for a boy allowing him to dress more like his peers. "Our goal in meeting some of these basic needs is to make the lives of the children and their caretakers less stressful. This help impacts the child's self-esteem and makes it easier for the child to stay in school," Sister Janet commented.

A second grant will establish a new grief counseling program to focus on the psychological and emotional losses many children face. Sister Janet explains that a large number of children of the Tohono O'odham Nation have suffered painful losses of their parents or other close family members because of disease, accidents, violence or suicide. (The O'odham have the highest rate of adult-onset diabetes in the world with half of the population suffering from the disease.)

She notes the children are frequently angry and depressed about their absent parent. Their sadness may come out in anger as they lash out at other children, skip school, or turn to drugs to ease their sorrow or pain. "The grief counseling program is being created as a way to help these children become emotionally healthy individuals."

	Sister Janet Dalton, right, talks with three students who lost a parent in car accidents. Photo courtesy of Janet Dalton, FSPA

Grant funding will allow Sister Janet to build a day-long program where up to 200 children (first through twelfth graders) will come together to process their grief issues. In small groups of similar age children, they will talk about their loss and receive grief-related education and information on area resources. The children will also be encouraged to address their feelings through creative expressions such as drawing, writing or music.

The O'odham reservation covers almost 3 million acres, and the children live in 83 different isolated rural villages, making transportation a major obstacle. "The FSPA Ministry Grant will cover basic costs of the program such as transportation and meals," Sister Janet says. "Area counselors will be recruited to provide the actual programming and counseling services for the children."

"This program will provide children with the opportunity to meet in a safe environment and talk with others who share similar experiences. We want to help them understand their own feelings and instill hope for their future."

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