News

Compass Wish List readers spread joy around

By Patricia Kasten
Compass Associate Editor

The St. Vincent de Paul-sponsored house for pregnant and/or single mothers in Green Bay has a couple of new cribs thanks, to Compass readers.

	2007 Wish List: • Lenten Giving/Easter Joy Wish List     (from February 23, 2007 issue)

House of Hope in Green Bay serves pregnant and single mothers, ages 18-24, and their children. They have up to 10 families at a time and need new cribs. Development director Jennifer Allen said she couldn't believe the response to The Compass' annual Lent/Easter Wish List.

"Right after the article came out," Allen said," within a week and that first crib was here. It was like 'Boom'; we asked for cribs and we got cribs."

They also got laundry soap, which is a great need since they had 43 babies in the house last year.

The Lenten Giving/Easter Joy 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. Over these 14 years, 272 requests were made through the Wish List. On average, at least half of the agencies requesting help have received it each year since 1993.

The Bridge-Between Retreat Center in rural Denmark sells homemade jams and jellies from its own gardens on its converted barn. They asked for and received jelly jars and sugar for their "Saints Preserve Us" products. Kathy Melville, office manager, said they received "numerous calls and people were coming out to donate jars."

Antigo's Horizon Adult Day Care, asked for a sewing machine. The one they received will help the seniors there make more hats, mittens and scarves for schools in Langlade County.

Wellspring, a downtown Green Bay drop-in center, sponsored by the Sisters of St. Francis of the Holy Cross at Bay Settlement, assists 200 women a month. Sr. Fran Bangert, director, asked for volunteers to provide "a listening ear and a non-judgmental heart." One person responded and will join the team this month.

Chaplain Sr. Susan Clark of Oshkosh Correctional Institution, does not have state funds available for many of her spirituality projects. Yet there 321 men registered as Catholics in the prison. She always needs donations of song books, missalettes, communion hosts and Catholic reading material. This year she received a couple additional subscriptions to The Compass.

StreetLights Outreach in Green Bay is a nighttime outreach providing a presence to the homeless and marginalized in at-risk neighborhoods of Green Bay. They provide food and beverages each week, and also sponsor block parties, attended by up to 150 people. For these parties, they needed portable tail-gate style grills with propane tanks. Tony Pichler, who volunteers with Streetlights, said that they received one grill from someone who read about the need in The Compass. They used donated funds to buy two others. "We used to haul our own grills in," Pichler said. "These grills fold down and roll on wheels. It's really slick."

Elizabeth Ministry International helps women and families during child-bearing years. Local parish chapters - across the U.S., Canada, Europe and Asia - provide mentors and resources. They opened a new center this past year in a former convent in Kaukauna and needed several things to help in the renovations. Compass readers helped, and they now have new carpet in the library and chapel, more office supplies and volunteer computer help. They also received one sponsor for the retreat center bedrooms, and hope to get several more.

Other places that made requests are not always able to track their donations. People anonymously drop off items that were on the wish list, but do not mention The Compass. The Love Life project in Green Bay, which provides supplies - especially diapers - to low income families, did receive a couple of calls and some donated clothing. Others such as Green Bay's NEW Community Shelter did receive some of the requested canned fruit and vegetables; Marion House group home for mothers received some of the diapers and garbage bags they requested.

In the past, Marion House has received generous responses from the Wish List, including a washer and dryer and a large deck in 2004. Director Judy Cleveland was, of course, disappointed to get no response this year, but grateful for the past. And, she added that it seemed like a down year for donations and that, in general, people have more economic worries right now and cannot donate as much. She's looking forward to next year's Wish List.

The Place 2B in Oshkosh has received responses to their requests every year. However, Fr. Marty Carr, who passed away on June 17, was not able to let us know of his response this year. Last year, the priest who worked for 33 years with the poor told us of how "people have said, many times that they have read about us in The Compass."

(The Lent/Easter Wish List runs every year from Ash Wednesday through Pentecost and is carried on The Compass website at www.thecompassnews.org. 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)