What's in a Number?

The Passaic Neighborhood Center for Women exists to provide a safe, peaceful, welcoming place where women can become empowered by sharing their needs and being connected to the relationships and resources to fulfill their needs. This is the mission we keep in our sight every single minute of every single day.

While our mission is not about numbers, statistics or accounting, it is very nice to be able to tell you this:  On Tuesday, August 5, we reached the 1,000-visit  mark since opening our doors.  Our team of women, staff and volunteers made this possible!  Our diocese, religious communities, parishes and other benefactors made this possible!  We are grateful to be able to continue to do God's work in the city of Passaic.  We are happy to share this news with you.

City Green's Blog "Spotlight"

Please click here to read a wonderful blog post by Claudia Urdanivia, one of our "garden angels" and Program Operations Manager at City Green.  We are so fortunate to be working with Claudia and everyone at City Green in our first small attempt at urban farming!  This is one of many collaborative efforts that blesses the ministry of the Passaic Neighborhood Center for Women.

"Green Thumbs in the City"

Thanks to Cecile San Agustin and everyone at The Beacon for the front-page coverage of our gardeners -- "Green Thumbs in the City."  Click here to read the article.

Week in Review

Although summertime bids us to slow down a bit, the programs at the Passaic Neighborhood Center for Women continue throughout the summer months.  On Tuesday, a few more quilters completed their summer project, "Fun in the Sun."

As the quilters wind down their summer projects, they will be gearing up to begin their outreach projects in the fall, which will consist of devoting one class per month to making pillow cases for children in pediatric oncology wards, small pillows for postoperative care of breast cancer survivors and small quilts for newborns in neonatal intensive care units.  (Please contact us if you'd like to donate toward this cause.) Of course, they'll also begin their holiday quilting projects!

On Wednesday, our gardeners harvested together, with the help of Claudia from City Green and Sister Mary Irene, who has assisted the women to coordinate the project.  We also welcomed Cecile San Agustin, a reporter for The Beacon, the newspaper of the Diocese of Paterson, NJ, who took photos of the garden and gardeners and will write an article for an upcoming issue of the newspaper.  In this photo, you see a collection of the herbs and vegetables before the women divided them among themselves.

We look forward to reaping the benefits of the tomato plants and to planting a few more crops in August.  We also hope that the success of this year's garden will spark more interest for next year.  Click here to go to City Green's new blog, which will provide more information about the great work done by that organization (and where you'll also see a photo of the garden at the Passaic Neighborhood Center for Women).

On Thursday, we continued preparations for our first anniversary celebration.  Here you see some of the women who cut out the letters that will decorate our front fence to announce "Happy Anniversary."

We look forward to so much:  Beginning a new English class on August 4, welcoming the 1,000th visit by our women (which will occur sometime in August) and beginning our art class in October.  These are just a few of many "happenings" that will occur between now and the end of the year.  Stay tuned for more.  Thank you for being a part of this collaborative journey!

Thank you, Council of Catholic Women!

On June 28, the Passaic-Clifton District Council of Catholic Women held its final Mass and luncheon.  The members invited Sister Ann Marie to attend to accept the Council's donation to the Passaic Neighborhood Center for Women.  We are grateful to the Council for this donation and for its 70 years of service to the Church of Clifton and Passaic.  Click here to read Cecile San Agustin's article about the ceremonies in the Beacon.  Thanks to the Beacon for its great coverage of this event.

Great Article about SSJ Welcome Center from CatholicPhilly.com

Click here to read an article about the Sisters of St. Joseph Welcome Center, now in its 11th year of serving the poor of the Kensington section of Philadelphia.  The SSJ Welcome Center and Josephine's Place in Elizabeth, NJ and the Women's Connection in Cincinnati, OH are precursors to other neighborhood centers, such as the Passaic Neighborhood Center for Women.  We are grateful to these Centers for leading the way.

"Fun in the Sun"

Our quilters continue to work on their "Fun in the Sun" project under the direction of Sr. Patricia Reynolds, SC.