Learn more about the 圣弗朗西斯基金会’s work in the communities that we serve.
老虎咬伤 Summer Feeding Program
Caring 和 committed community volunteers gather weekly to help pack 和 deliver healthy, 为家庭提供营养食品. The 老虎咬伤 Summer Feeding Program, funded by 圣弗朗西斯基金会, helps families in need who can use a little extra support during the summer months.
谢谢 Schnucks, 德鲁里西南公司., 开普中心高中 和 杰佛逊小学 感谢你让这一切成为可能!
老虎咬人照片
杰弗逊背包计划
This annual program distributes food to students in need at 杰佛逊小学 School in 开普吉拉多市 during the school year. Initially, the food was packed into new backpacks for the students. 今天, the program has transitioned to provide food students can carry home in their current backpacks. From January 2018 to May 2020, 403 food-filled backpacks were distributed, benefiting 892 children. Funding for this program comes from The Friends of Saint Francis annual golf tournament.
为什么是杰斐逊小学?
Astoundingly one hundred percent of students at 杰佛逊小学 School meet the qualifications to receive free meals during the school year. 有了背包计划, students receive food to take home to ensure they have meals every weekend.
吉米Wilferth, Vice President of Foundation 和 Marketing at Saint Francis Healthcare System, 说 that the need does not stop just because school is out for the weekend 和 summer months.
“We have to step in 和 fill the gap for these kids,” Wilferth added. “And we need to love on them in this way so they can grow 和 mature into whatever God created them to be.”
The backpacks are filled with a variety of canned vegetables, 水果杯, 罐头汤, 辣椒, saltines 和 spaghetti in addition to cereal, 燕麦片, 烤面包糕点, apple juice 和 snack crackers.
“We have proven many times that the children who receive the backpacks are much more alert 和 focused because they had this food,杰米·琼斯, 杰佛逊小学 Parent Liaison, 说. “I’m so thankful because we could not do this without Saint Francis.”
A volunteer from The Friends delivers the backpacks to the school every Thursday during the school year. The kids go home with a backpack every Friday. The names of children are not labeled on any bags. Teachers receive lists of who should receive a bag 和 distribute the bags to the children as they leave school.
Ryan B和ermann, Manager 和 Physical Therapist in Outpatient Rehabilitation Services, volunteers with The Friends. He says seeing the children’s faces when he distributes the backpacks is very fulfilling.
“Our work at Saint Francis is truly a ministry,” B和ermann 说. “We touch many lives each 和 every day within [the Medical Center’s] walls, however our ministry extends much farther than that. Being able to serve our community in this way, 尤其是儿童, is exactly what being the h和s 和 feet of Christ is all about. We are comm和ed by Christ to take care of these individuals 和 I am honored to work for an organization that underst和s that.”
去年夏天, The Friends provided more than 67,000 meals for Jefferson students 和 their families through the 老虎咬伤 Summer Feeding Program. 整个夏天, boxes of food worth $100 were given to families who typically depend on school lunches 和 the backpack program. The Friends is once again providing the 老虎咬伤 Summer Feeding Program in 2020 through funds raised at The Friends of Saint Francis Golf Tournament.
Food 和 首页 Essentials Distribution Efforts
2021
- Mobile food pantry at Jackson R-II School District
2020
- $5,000 donation was made to Jackson R-II School District Food Pantry
- $1,430 donation to Jackson R-II School District to send enough food home with students on the last day of school to feed them through the start of summer school
- $2,500 donation to Eagle Closet to support its efforts in providing household 和 laundry supplies, clothes 和 food to students in need. Eagle Closet has three locations across New Madrid 和 serves all schools in its district.
塔花园
2020
- In partnership with Butler County Health Department, The Friends of Saint Francis purchased two tower gardens at $1,100. These indoor gardens provided 11,000 pounds of produce each in their first year. Using aeroponics — the same technology NASA uses — tower gardens grows plants with only water 和 nutrients rather than dirt, growing plants three times faster 和 producing 30 percent greater yields on average. The tower gardens are located at Twin Towers Senior Center 和 Karen West Head Start in Poplar Bluff.
