Grateful for Three Years and Counting!

September 24 marks the third year since the Passaic Neighborhood Center for Women opened its doors.  Three years of serving the women of Passaic with the collaboration of so many people!  Three years of gratitude!  We spent this week expressing our gratitude to our staff and volunteers by giving them "Third Anniversary Gratitude" certificates.   We are so grateful for the work they do for the people of God in Passaic Here are some photos from the week.  (Email subscribers:  Click here to view the photos if you do not see them below.)

Nancy watches the children while their mothers take classes.

Sister Marcella, FSP, has given over 200 hours of volunteer service!

Sister Eleanor, SMIC,  has been a part of the Center since BEFORE it opened!

Sister Margaret, SMIC, has given over 100 hours of volunteer service! 

Claudia, our "right-hand" from City Green, is now also an English teacher at the Center!

Sister Pat, SC, has given over 300 hours of loving service!

Sister Gerardine, SCC -- once a volutneer, now a staff member.

Marie has gifted us with over 200 hours of service;
Sister Elaine, FSP, has been our Associate Director from the beginning.

Angela, a member of St. Anthony's Parish, Passaic, shares her joy with our children.

Our newest volunteer, Sister Patricia, MPF, teaches English at the Center.

Sharing Mercy at Good Shepherd

On Sunday, September 4, Sister Ann Marie gave a presentation, "Mother Teresa: A Saint of Mercy in the Year of Mercy"  at Good Shepherd Parish in Andover, NJ.  Coinciding with the canonization day  of Mother Teresa, the presentation focused on the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy,  its relationship to St. Teresa of Calcutta, and its meaning in our daily lives.  As always, Sister Ann Marie took this opportunity to share the good news about the Passaic Neighborhood Center for Women with this crowd of over 50 participants.  It is always good to be able to visit various parishes in the Paterson Diocese to thank the parishioners for their contributions to Partners in Faith, the diocese's capital campaign which had the Center as one of its case statements.  This Center would not exist without the Partners in Faith donors, to whom we are so very grateful.

In delving more deeply into Mother Teresa's life and ministry, we find that her way of ministry is similar to ours here in Passaic.  While we do not take a fourth vow of "giving wholehearted free service to the poorest of the poor," as the Missionaries of Charity do, we follow this directive to the best of our ability.  Our donors make this possible. Thank you!

We are grateful to Nick Berg, Evangelization Director at Good Shepherd, and to the entire parish family, for this invitation and the hospitality they shared on Sunday.

Here are some photos from the presentation at Good Shepherd:

Now on Facebook!

If any of our loyal blog readers have Facebook accounts, we are asking you to consider "liking" the page of the Passaic Neighborhood Center for Women.  Click here to go to the page.  Of course, we'll continue to post here on the blog, but the Facebook page will provide another way to tell the beautiful story of the Passaic Neighborhood Center for Women.  Thank you!