Thank You for your Gifts of Love!!

The spirit of Advent is alive at St. Francis.  The generosity of our parish community is truly heart-warming.  More than 225 local families were sponsored, along with 92 women from Mt. St. Joseph.  We were also able to supply Mother of the Americas (formerly Our Lady of Tepeyac) with a record number of gift cards, toys and other donated items.  We were also able to provide gift cards to Holy Family in Waukegan, Mt. St. Joseph and Little Sisters of the Poor.  We also supplied Little Sister of the Poor with gift bags for all their residents and poinsettias for their chapel and residence halls. 

A shout out to the following:

  • Lake Zurich High School National Honor Society sponsored 12 families (60 people) this year. This is the 21st year that they have participated.

  • Lots of new hoodies, along with socks and underwear were donated and are being distributed to shelters in the Chicago area. Thank you to Pam Urban for coordinating this charity and helping keep those less fortunate warmer this winter.

  • Students in the Religious Education program assisted in the collection of gifts that parishioners dropped off on Friday and Saturday of Drop-off weekend.  

  • Girl Scout Troop 1728 oversaw a Girl Scout event that drew Girl Scouts in the Lake Zurich Service Unit. Over 100 pairs of pajamas were collected and donated to the Gift of Love and Mother of the Americas. 

  • The confirmation class of Rose Weismann was instrumental in helping us to distribute the gifts to St. Francis families on Sunday of Drop-off weekend.

Once again, the Ministry Center and maintenance staff provided invaluable support. They are unfailingly kind and considerate to all requests. The Gift of Love program could not succeed without them.

You may have heard the expression “it takes a village”.  What it really takes is a parish like St. Francis.

Thank You Saint Francis de Sales Parishioners!

On behalf of the parishioners of the Mother of the Americas Parish (former Our Lady of Tepeyac) and the Sharing Parish Ministry here at St. Francis, we would like to express our gratitude to the St. Francis Parishioners for all the gift cards that you gave us this past Christmas. We sent the unprecedented amount of $22,680 in gift cards. In addition, we sent:

  • Hats, gloves, scarves, and mittens (donated by the St. Francis de Sales students and the Religious Education students)

  • 4 big boxes of coats (donated by the Knights of Columbus)

  • Many gifts donated by Parishioners Mora and Ken Priess

  • Toys donated by the St. Francis School students

  • 10 bikes donated by parishioners and fixed by the Boy Scouts (Troop 309)

  • Food for the Food Pantry

Everything was distributed at the Mother of the Americas Parish, Food Pantry, High School, and Elementary School.

Our most sincere “Thank You” to Father Ryan and the Ministry Center Staff for always supporting this Ministry and allowing the friendship with the Mother of the Americas Parish to continue and flourish every year. 

You are all an example of God’s love, and this project would have not been possible without the help of so many. May God bless you abundantly, and may you have a wonderful 2023, full of happiness, peace, love, and good health!

Sincerely,

Jane Clery Patricia Linares

Chairperson, Gift of Love Chairperson, Mother of the Americas Ministry