News

The Wish List giving goes on

By Patricia Kasten
Compass Associate Editor

	from February 24, 2006 issue: • 2006 Lenten Giving/Easter Joy Wish List

A retired religious sister wanted inmates at the Oshkosh Correction Institution to have decent altar linens for their prison Masses. So she sewed a dozen or so purificators - the cloths used to clean the cup during Communion.

The anonymous sister donated the purificators to Sr. Susan Clark, SSND, a chaplain at the prison, after reading about the need for the altar linens in the Lent/Easter Wish List project of The Compass.

The Wish List was started in 1993 to link donors (Compass readers) with some of the lesser-known organizations that help the poor, elderly, sick and disadvantaged in the diocesan area. Since its inception, 60 community groups and organizations have requested aid and received more than 200 donations of items ranging from vans to computers to decking to wheelchairs, canned food and bedding.

Besides the purificators, Sr. Susan received donated subscriptions to U.S. Catholic magazine and The National Catholic Reporter newspaper.

The St. Vincent de Paul House of Hope - a Green Bay house for pregnant or single mothers (ages 18-24) - "did well in the batteries and laundry department," according to director Jennifer Allen. The batteries are for baby monitors. Allen is still hoping for donated car seats.

Half the organizations that made requests this year, received donations. And even those that didn't have wishes filled this year are grateful for past donations.

"We're looking forward to next year," said Judy Cleveland, director of Marion House, a group home for teen mothers in Green Bay. "And tell them we're really enjoying our deck!" (Marion House requested a deck for their house in 2004 and the deck and labor to build it were donated by the husband of a reader.)

Sr. Fran Bangert, director of Wellspring - an outreach center for women in downtown Green Bay - understands that it's been a hard year for potential donors, which may explain why more requests couldn't be filled.

"People are without jobs," she said, "so money is tight. There are so many needs that people don't know where to put what money they have."

While Wellspring didn't receive a computer or the paper cutter they need, they're grateful for donations from past years like a coffee maker and a used computer printer.

Other donations this year included:

• Menasha's Mount Tabor Center, a retreat center focusing on youth, receiving 10 new mattresses for their twin beds.

• Antigo's LeRoyer Hospice getting enough donations to buy 45 booklets that help families who have a lost loved one.

• Elizabeth Ministry, based in Appleton, heard from people volunteering to be mentors to women and families, especially in the area of natural family planning.

• The Bridge-between Retreat Center in rural Denmark receiving donations of stamps and colored paper and an offer for a water softener.

Fr. Martin Carr in Oshkosh also received donations of over-the-counter cold medication for the St. Francis Free Clinic, and children's books, toothpaste and toothbrushes for the Bethlehem Inn Shelter.

"People have said, many times," Fr. Carr said, "that they have read about us in The Compass."

(The Lent/Easter Wish List runs every year around Ash Wednesday and is carried on The Compass website at www.thecompassnews.org. The 2006 Wish List can be found at www.thecompassnews.org/compass/2006-02-24/wishlist.shtml#wishlist. If you know of a group or project that might be a good fit for the Wish List, email information about it - including a contact person - to compassnews@gbdioc.org)