Newsletter, June 2020

President’s Letter

Greetings Mission Circle Supporters, We pray that this letter finds you safe and healthy at home. Like the rest of the country, Mission Circle has had to curtail many of our activities, but we want to let you know that our mission continues—as well as our need for support from you.

The girls who normally live at Casa Eudes in Tijuana have been sent back to their families for the time being. We keep in contact with Madre Ana Berta, and she and the Sisters are all doing well. They keep in touch with all the girls and the girls are doing well too. The girls’ families stop by Casa Eudes every so often to get groceries. The girls who are in our Futures Program, by which we fund their college education, are also taking English classes to improve their job prospects. The Futures Program continues to support the girls not just financially but through weekly communications to make sure they’re healthy and doing well during this pandemic. At the moment any studies taking place as part of this program are being conducted online. The Madres had a meeting with a representative from DIF (Desarrollo Integral de la Familia)—the Mexican public institution of social assistance that focuses on strengthening and developing the welfare of the Mexican families—to discuss the protocols to follow once the girls return to Casa Eudes. So far there’s no date for when that will happen or when schools will open again, but at least they are planning!  Both nationally and locally, there is a great need for food donations. Catholic Charities is holding an emergency Food Distribution Program at St. Leo Mission in Solana Beach every week. You can learn details about how to donate food or money on the St. James website, at  stjamesandleo.org , or contact the program coordinator Jannet Diaz at  jdiaz@stjames-stleo.com .    Even though many of our hands-on activities are limited right now, Mission Circle continues to provide critical financial support for activities such as Casa Eudes and the Futures Program that funds the girls’ college education. We need your donations as much as ever! Thank you for your support. Stay safe, and God bless.

Working Together to Help Those in Need

Do you like to bake desserts?   Want to provide a dinner for those who are currently living in their cars?

“Cookies, brownies, muffins and sweet breads just miraculously appear on my doorstep Mondays and Fridays,” Kathy Faller says with a smile in her voice. “It makes delivering them to Jewish Family Services (JFS) one deliciously sweet-scented car ride.”

Mission Circle members Kathy Faller and Stephanie Kowack oversee a group of volunteers who bake home-made desserts on Mondays and Fridays for people at 4 Safe Parking lots in San Diego County. The lots are part of a program maintained and operated by JFS. The desserts sweeten the lives of people living in their vehicles at the parking lots. Safe Parking gives unsheltered individuals and families a safe welcoming environment. The program also provides meaningful resources, tools, dignified support, meals and snacks to help families stabilize and transition back into permanent housing. Various groups, including the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of San Dieguito (UUFSD) where Faller is a member, provide dinners for the parking lots while Faller and Kowack have been handling desserts on Mondays and Fridays. The parking lots have room for 120 cars so a lot of sweet treats are needed each Monday and Friday, Faller says. If you would like to contribute some home-made desserts (cookies, brownies, muffins, sweet breads, etc.), please bake a minimum of 2 dozen items, wrap them individually in sandwich bags and drop them off on Monday or Friday before 4 pm in front of Faller’s home (604 Santa Helena, Solana Beach).                One night a week Faller and the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of San Dieguito (UUFSD) deliver dinner to the people currently living in their cars at the Safe Parking site in Encinitas. The dinners are provided through donations: the UUFSD contributes half of the $140 cost to provide dinner for one night so $70 in donations are needed each week for the program to continue. The dinners are purchased from Jorge’s restaurant in Encinitas. If you or your organization would like to know more, contact Faller at 858-254-2008.               To me, Faller says, one of the best things about being involved in the Safe Parking effort is that it is such an interdenominational effort. “We are all working together to help support vulnerable people living in difficult situations and keep them nourished.” For more information on the Safe Parking Program, go to https://www.jfssd.org/our-services/adults-families/safe-parking-program/ and if your organization would like to provide dinner: https://jfssd.galaxydigital.com/need/detail/?need_id=515807

Emergency Food Distribution Program at St. Leo Mission

Food Donations and Volunteer Shoppers Needed

Food Donations Needed . The Emergency Food Distribution Program at St. Leo Mission, in cooperation with Catholic Charities, is providing much needed food assistance for local families every week. To supplement the canned foods each family receives, the St James-St. Leo Catholic Community is holding a weekly food drive to collect hundreds of pounds of:   dried pinto beans white rice cooking oil fideo pasta breakfast cereal eggs milk juice fresh vegetables and fruit   Food donations can be dropped off at St. Leo Mission, 936 Genevieve St., Solana Beach, every Tuesday through Friday by using the drive-thru between 6:00-8:00 PM. Online food donations can be sent directly to St. Leo Mission. Cash and Checks (made out to St. James-St. Leo Catholic Community) are also appreciated and can be dropped off at St. Leo between 6:00-8:00 PM Tuesdays-Fridays or mailed to St. James-St. Leo Catholic Community, c/o Deacon Peter Hodsdon, 625 S. Nardo Ave., Solana Beach, CA 92075. Please write “Food Distribution Program” on the memo line of your check.   Weekly Shoppers Needed.  Volunteer shoppers are also needed to buy supplemental food items from local stores. Shoppers will be reimbursed for the purchases.  If you are interested in helping, please contact Jannet Diaz at   jdiaz@stjames-stleo.com .   If you are in need or know someone who is in need of food assistance:  Contact Catholic Charities at  https://ccdsd.org/efdn/ .   All recipients must pre-register with Catholic Charities at https://www.ccdsd.org/food-pick-up   If you have questions, please contact the coordinator Jannet Diaz at jdiaz@stjames-stleo.com .  Thank you for your generosity! Every bag or box of food you donate will provide families with food to put on their table.

If you have questions, please contact the coordinator Jannet Diaz at jdiaz@stjames-stleo.com .  Thank you for your generosity! Every bag or box of food you donate will provide families with food to put on their table

(top) St. James-St. Leo Facilities Manager (below) Our dedicated volunteers make it all happen

Donations Program

New Guidelines for Donating Gently Used Items

Please call before leaving donations . Our sheds are full and volunteers are not regularly attending them, so please do not drop off any items at the donation sheds or at St. James Church.  Currently, we are only taking gently used items for San Diego families in crisis. If you have items you think these families can use, please first call Kathy Faller at 858-254-2008 to confirm they are items we can use. Saturday workdays are also postponed until July. Thank you for your understanding and support!

Shout Out To Grads

Graduations normally stir up lots of emotions for graduates and their families. Whether it be high-school or college senior class students or those moving on from elementary school or middle school, it is a time that we celebrate with joy and great pride for the graduates. It is a wonderful occasion to reminisce sweet memories, and prayerfully anticipate great things for our graduate’s future!  Commencement ceremonies are a wonderful opportunity to celebrate these academic milestones with their classmates and to receive well deserved accolades from teachers and parents.  Undoubtedly, during this challenging time our 2020 graduates are moving ahead without the opportunity to celebrate their well-deserved rite of passage!  Volunteers and supporters of Mission Circle have championed nourishing young minds for years through programs such as St. Leo Tutoring, and Casa Eudes Futures Program, and by connecting young volunteers to local outreach programs.  So, to all graduates near and far we extend our heartfelt congratulations and offer this prayer.  Lord, knowing that you understand their disappointment, we lift these students up to you…  We pray that at this time, when our world is anxious, fearful and uncertain that you fill our graduates with your courage and strength so that they may be a light to their friends and neighbors in this uncertain time. Place upon their hearts the reality that adversity can teach them that they can rise beyond their environment and become a catalyst for positive and productive change.       Lord, we ask for your wisdom and clear direction over their lives, that you would give them understanding beyond their years. We thank you for your desire to be a loving Father to each of these graduates. Thank you for grace unexpected and unforeseen that you will pour out on each of them. Thank you for guiding them and teaching them in the way they should go and directing their steps. We ask that you open doors that need to be opened and allow the gifts that you have so graciously placed inside their lives to grow, develop, and flourish for your greater glory!  Be a lamp for their feet, and a light to their path. Shine over them. Fill them with your spirit. Bless them with your favor and peace. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Mission Circle Website

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