An Afternoon with Christina Baker Kline: Success!

We are so very grateful to everyone who supported our first fundraising luncheon, "An Afternoon with Christina Baker Kline."  We are grateful to all who attended, donated, sponsored, planned, carried out and prayed for our luncheon at the Rockaway River Country Club in Denville, NJ on September 24, 2019.  New York Times bestselling author, Christina Baker Kline, gave a stimulating presentation to all 100+ women who attended.  Here is a slideshow containing some photos of the event by our photographer, Jean Orlandi.  (Email subscribers:  If you do not see a video embedded in your email, please click here to access it.) 

Luncheon RSVP Deadline Approaching

Amidst this summer's vacations and other commitments, we hope that you remembered our September 1 RSVP deadline for our luncheon featuring New York Times bestselling author, Christina Baker Kline. See this post for more information, or visit our website.  We look forward to seeing you there!

Have you registered for our luncheon?

As we reported in this post, the Passaic Neighborhood Center for Women is hosting a luncheon featuring New York Times bestselling author, Christina Baker Kline.  If you have not yet received your invitation for the September 24 event, please let us know.  Or, visit our website for more information and to register. 

Speaking of our September 24 luncheon:  We are grateful to Rich Sokerka, Cecile Pagliarulo and everyone at The Beacon, the award-winning newspaper of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Paterson, NJ, for including this article in the August 15 edition.

We look forward to seeing you there.  If you cannot come, would you be interested in donating toward the luncheon or soliciting a company to sponsor the luncheon?  Please visit our website, ncwpassaic.org, or call Sister Ann Marie at  (973) 470-0844 for more information.

Thank you, Passaic County Board of Chosen Freeholders!

During a ceremony at the Passaic County Administration Building in Paterson on April 9, the Passaic County Board of Chosen Freeholders awarded the Passaic Neighborhood Center for Women a Dig In! Grant for the sixth consecutive year!  We are grateful to the County Freeholders and to everyone at City Green for their assistance in making our garden grow.  Here are some photos from the grant presentation:

County Freeholder Terry Duffy awards the grant to Sister Ann Marie,
while City Green Executive Director Jennifer Papa (left), and Community
Garden Coordinator Erin Maguire assist.

The grantees display their new Dig In! signs.

Thank you, Volunteers!

In celebration of National Volunteer Week, the Passaic Neighborhood Center for Women honored its volunteers at a luncheon prepared and served by our women.  As we enjoy some of the photos from today, we thank God for the presence of our volunteers and ask God to bless them abundantly.

Save the Date

We are excited to announce that the final celebration of the Center's fifth anniversary year will be a special luncheon on September 24, 2019.  Our speaker will be Christina Baker Kline, bestselling author of seven novels, including Orphan Train and, more recently, A Piece of the World, which explores the real-life  relationship between the artist Andrew Wyeth and the subject of his best-known painting, Christina's World.  An instant New York Times bestseller, A Piece of the World was awarded the 2018 New England Prize for Fiction, the 2018 Maine Literary Award, and a Silver Nautilus Award.  Kline's 2013 novel, Orphan Train, spent more than two years on the NYT bestseller list, including five weeks as #1, and was published in 40 countries.  Hundreds of communities, schools and universities have chosen Orphan Train as a "One Book, One Read" selection.

The Passaic Neighborhood Center for Women is honored to host Christina Baker Kline, and we hope you will consider joining us on Tuesday, September 24, 2019 for this special event.  Invitations will follow soon.  Until then, please save the date!

Spring Has Sprung

We are grateful to Liz and Marge for sharing their time and talent with our women today, as they made wreaths.  Here are a few photos that will help you to experience the spirit of springtime at the Passaic Neighborhood Center for Women:

The youngest attendee approves of our workshop!

We are One

Back in November, we attended the 4th anniversary celebration for Make the Road New Jersey in Elizabeth, NJ.  The staff members of "Make the Road" have been very helpful to our women during the organization's four years of existence, so it was important for us to celebrate with them and to thank them. We thought that the diversity of people representing Passaic at that celebration was so significant, that we took a photo.  In this photo, from left to right, are:  Passaic City Councilman Salim Patel, Sister Gerardine Tantsits, SCC (Administrative Assistant, Passaic Neighborhood Center for Women), Sister Ann Marie Paul, SCC (Director, Passaic Neighborhood Center for Women), and New Jersey State Assemblyman and Passaic City Council President, Gary Schaer.  A closer look at this photo reveals representation of three Abrahamic faiths -- (from left to right) Islam, Christianity and Judaism.

On Sunday, March 17, these same people, and hundreds of others, gathered in Passaic City Hall for an occasion which, while very different from a celebration, most definitely represented Passaic's diversity.

As you know, on Friday, March 15, we woke up to the news that two acts of terrorism were committed at the Al Noor Mosque and the Linwood Islamic Center in Christchurch, New Zealand, during Friday prayer services.  As we heard the news, our thoughts and prayers went immediately to the dead and the injured in New Zealand.  Upon hearing and seeing the increasingly tragic stories from New Zealand, we prayed not only for the victims there, but for our local Muslim brothers and sisters who would be waking up to the same news and who would soon be heading out to Friday prayer themselves.

Here at the Center, our thoughts and prayers turned especially to our neighbors across the street -- the Noble Leadership Academy, a school in Passaic that serves the Islamic community.  We prayed for their protection and we prayed that the parents, faculty, staff and administration would have the strength to guide the young students through this difficult time.

Two days later, we were able to pray WITH our neighbors, as we gathered in Passaic City Hall for an interfaith candlelight vigil organized by Councilman Patel to remember the victims of the attack in New Zealand.  Prayers were offered by representatives of various faith traditions, and several state and local government officials spoke.

An especially poignant moment of the vigil occurred between Sister Ann Marie Paul and Sister Amanny Khattab, the principal of Noble Leadership Academy.  During her prayer, Sister Ann Marie directly addressed the members of the school who were present and indicated that they were in our special prayers.  When Sister Amanny spoke, she began by thanking Sister Ann Marie.

Sister Ann Marie offers a prayer.

Sister Amanny thanks Sister Ann Marie for her prayers. 

Sister Amanny addresses the gathering.

At the end of the ceremony, someone suggested that perhaps we could replace the gruesome thoughts and images in our minds with the image of two Sisters -- one Muslim and one Catholic -- embracing.

More photos of the vigil and some of the speakers appear below.  These photos demonstrated clearly that we, though many, are one.  May God continue to bless the City of Passaic and all who minister here!

State and local government officials
and representatives of many faiths
recite the Pledge of Allegiance.

Passaic Councilman Salim Patel 

New Jersey's Attorney General, Gurbir S. Grewal

State Assemblyman and Passaic
City Council President, Gary Schaer

Mayor of Passaic, Hector C. Lora

Imam Wesley LeBron offers the closing prayer.

New Jersey's Commissioner of Health,
Shereef Elnahal, M.D.