2017 Sister Mary Feeds the Hungry

Hello Friends.  As we approach the Holiday Season I have personally been practicing appreciation for the gifts that I have in my life.  Family, friends, opportunities and resources - too many gifts to enumerate.  And yet it is so easy to get caught up in the challenges of the day - even the trivia - that drain our energy and foul our mood.  

Here's a quick way to put a smile on your face.  Imagine the look on a homeless veterans face as she lines up for a home cooked Turkey dinner - "thank you sir - may I have more gravy please sir".  Or the relief on a fathers face as he receives the centerpiece of a Thanksgiving Feast from Sister Mary at the East 117th Street Soup Kitchen in East Harlem - a beautiful 12 pound turkey, purchased by you, a caring stranger.  And the innocent euphoria of the young child waiting for hours on line in the cold at the same soup kitchen to receive a new, nicely wrapped toy and a bag of food for Christmas.  This is real life for so many. 

Hopefully you are smiling. And please do NOT underestimate your ability to profoundly shift the mood and outlook of people with far less than we have.  You did it last year - let's please do it again!

Here's the catch - I procrastinated on activating this years campaign and Sister is getting a bit....eager to know the results of the campaign. :-)

We need your donations ASAP in order to lock in a large turkey order (100's of turkeys in the 10-12 pound range) from Restaurant Depot in the Bronx and our friend Ramon who runs the meat department there.

Remember that 100% of the funds go to the purchase of turkeys and Christmas gifts for the poorest of Harlem as well as to fee homeless veterans. 

Sister Mary and the Fraternite Notre Dame - http://www.fraternitenotredame.com - tirelessly serve those who are forgotten.

And Paul T. encouraged me to run the campaign again this year - THANKS MAN!

Thanks to all of you.

Peace and Love,

Jim Catalano

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2016 Campaign:

Hi everyone. Jim Catalano here.

My family and I met one of the Sisters when we lived in East Harlem in 2000. She and her order, Fraternité Notre Dame , operated a thrift shop on our street and we met while making donations. The nuns that dedicate their lives to aiding the poor are remarkable in their stamina and complete selfless commitment to doing God's work.

Each day the sisters serve hundreds of meals to hungry families. During the holidays the sisters give out several hundred turkeys so that needy families can have a traditional feast and at Christmas almost 1000 children wait on line outside one of the community kitchens for a new, wrapped Christmas present. For many of these kids, this will be their only gift. Throughout the year, the sisters chaperon many young children on educational and recreational field trips that they would otherwise never have access to.

Further, the sisters serve hundreds of meals to US military veterans in need, many of them homeless. The sisters work literally never ceases as they toil for 14-18 hours per day.

In addition to the support that my family and I offer the sisters throughtout the year, I'm asking for your generous support on behalf of the hero nuns of Fraternite Notre Dame. Truly every donation will make a difference and impacts so many.

**100% of the funds collected will transferred to Sister Mary Magdalen. AND IT WILL BE A SURPRISE as she has no idea that this campaign exists!!

Thank you all in advance for your support.

Peace & Love,

Jim

Fraternité Notre Dame