While the Sisters are Away!
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There are A LOT of people who talk about how they would change the world if given the chance. While many people talk about "how" and "what" that impact looks like, Srs. Carol Weber, OP, and Judy Blake, CSJ, are changing and saving lives on a daily basis.
What has been going on:
In 2012, the MEDC launched the Community Ventures Program. Today the Center has 25 full-time employees working in various businesses: commercial sewing, landscaping, and their food pantry which serves over 2,000 poeople/month. N.E.W. Life is one of the first social enterprises in Michigan that has leveraged this incredible program. They are so innovative that Govenor Rick Snyder invited the Sisters to the 2014 State of the State address in Lansing.
The opportunity to expand:
It is an exciting time for the N.E.W. Life Center today - for their own businesses and the direction for the center.
N.E.W. Life will partner with Stormy Kromer to produce handmade clothing items. (in fact, the women of N.E.W. Life went on their first business trip to the factory in Ironwood, MI in August):
The men's program is expanding beyond landscaping with the help of Goyette Mechanical who will help create a pipeline of talent for the local trades organizations. Led by Tim Goyette and Sr. Judy, a new curriculum is being delivered to help individuals move into the high demand - well paying job opportunities in the trades industries.
N.E.W. Life is flourishing, however, there are still expenses. The sisters have begun a new program of life change to hire and train folks to be employed through their various business partners such as Northgate and Landaal Packaging.
Pope Francis has called on us to find a way to leverage the economy to provide opportunties for everyone. It is with this in mind, and in celebration of Sr. Carol Weber's 50th Anniversary as an Adrian Domican they are traveling to Washington, D.C. this week while the Pope visits there.
In their new group they are training 25 more men and women who want to change their lives.
Just enrolling in the program of life change does not guarantee anyone a job. It takes time and resources to help ensure the folks we are training are ready for that next step.
Why we are sustainable:
Once we have the individuals placed (or hired in our own) in companies - we provide support services for up to 24 months that assist and remove roadblocks that some folks have to remaining employed.
You can help us raise the $25,000 necessary to pay for these individuals to undergo N.E.W. Life's program of life change.
Help us support the center today!
The History of N.E.W. Life:
As we were distributing food and clothing to those in need on the streets of Flint, we were approached by a women pleading for new born baby clothes. This woman lived next to an abandoned house, where the mother had given birth, alone, in January, in Michigan. After finding the mother and newborn baby, she called 911 and got them both to the hospital.
She did not leave them there, but instead followed up on their condition. When visiting, the neighbor found that the hospital would not let them leave until the mother had clothing and a car seat for the infant, her reason for needing the baby clothes.
We found her clothes, a car seat, and paid for her bus trip to Hurley Hospital. As we drove away from this experience, we realized that God was challenging us to do more than supplying used clothes and food out to those on the streets of Flint. God was calling on us to do more for the women of Flint, Michigan. We were not sure what that challenge would entail, but we were being called to help the women in our area.
In March we received information from the Flint Public School System that the school by St. Luke Church was going to be vacated. Knowing that this building could not set empty, we went to the parishioners and asked them what to do with the building. Their immediate response was to use it in a way that would help the women and children in the area. Why, you ask, because they knew from the stories of their street ministry and and being out on the streets that this was needed and would help continue with their ministry.
Instead of doing what we thought would be best, we brought together the women that are serviced through our Parish Food Pantry to hear their suggestions and what they needed. Many of the women did not graduate from high school and through the conversation there were three main things that were needed:
• A safe place to meet
• Grow in their self-esteem
• Grow and further their education
Taking these ideas we sought professional assistance and developed a three-year program of life change for at-risk women. We began in September of 2000 with twelve women, all who were ready to improve their lives. Some of these ladies had problems reading in high school so they never finished. We began with a literacy program, helping them learn to read, they were able to improve their education and move toward obtaining a GED if they so desired. Other components of our program included sewing lessons, employment preparation, and increasing their soft skill.
OUR CHALLENGE
As our second group of women got ready to graduate from our program, the economy had gotten bad, but it was worse in Flint. A decision had to be made, do we keep our mission and programs going, if so how? We decided to keep the mission of helping at-risk women become self-sustainable, moving the program forward in a city where there were no apparent jobs. After much research we found that in Genesee County there was an abundance of medical facilities, a resource that we could use to help St. Luke N.E.W. Life Center self-sustainable. Since sewing was taught in our program, we decided to teach those who were interested to sew professionally, then learning how to sew scrubs, which we could turn around and sell to the medical community.
In 2012, with the help of several community partners we were able to develop an Employment Preparation Program to serve the structurally unemployable individuals in Flint, Michigan. This allowed us to hire the women full time, enabling us to fill the scrub orders we were receiving. We were encouraged to design a hospital gown that did not open down the back, working on that concept we designed three different hospital gowns that are now being sold. Used by doctors for exam gowns and Regional Medical Imaging for mammography gowns as well as other procedures at RMI.
In June of 2014, we expanded. Building on the skills of the men in our program, which included, lawn care, janitorial services, and building maintenance we now were able to offer a new business service which included lawn care and a janitorial service. One of our primary goals was to reduce the blight in the neighborhood, resulting in the lawn maintenance from Dayton Street to Sonny Street and Clio Road to Dupont Street. Due to the visibility of our workers out in the community, business has increased.
Working with the business community we look forward to expanding our mission and serving the at-risk individuals in Flint.
There are A LOT of people who talk about how they would change the world if given the chance. While many people talk about "how" and "what" that impact looks like, Srs. Carol Weber, OP, and Judy Blake, CSJ, are changing and saving lives on a daily basis.
What has been going on:
In 2012, the MEDC launched the Community Ventures Program. Today the Center has 25 full-time employees working in various businesses: commercial sewing, landscaping, and their food pantry which serves over 2,000 poeople/month. N.E.W. Life is one of the first social enterprises in Michigan that has leveraged this incredible program. They are so innovative that Govenor Rick Snyder invited the Sisters to the 2014 State of the State address in Lansing.
The opportunity to expand:
It is an exciting time for the N.E.W. Life Center today - for their own businesses and the direction for the center.
N.E.W. Life will partner with Stormy Kromer to produce handmade clothing items. (in fact, the women of N.E.W. Life went on their first business trip to the factory in Ironwood, MI in August):
The men's program is expanding beyond landscaping with the help of Goyette Mechanical who will help create a pipeline of talent for the local trades organizations. Led by Tim Goyette and Sr. Judy, a new curriculum is being delivered to help individuals move into the high demand - well paying job opportunities in the trades industries.
N.E.W. Life is flourishing, however, there are still expenses. The sisters have begun a new program of life change to hire and train folks to be employed through their various business partners such as Northgate and Landaal Packaging.
Pope Francis has called on us to find a way to leverage the economy to provide opportunties for everyone. It is with this in mind, and in celebration of Sr. Carol Weber's 50th Anniversary as an Adrian Domican they are traveling to Washington, D.C. this week while the Pope visits there.
In their new group they are training 25 more men and women who want to change their lives.
Just enrolling in the program of life change does not guarantee anyone a job. It takes time and resources to help ensure the folks we are training are ready for that next step.
Why we are sustainable:
Once we have the individuals placed (or hired in our own) in companies - we provide support services for up to 24 months that assist and remove roadblocks that some folks have to remaining employed.
You can help us raise the $25,000 necessary to pay for these individuals to undergo N.E.W. Life's program of life change.
Help us support the center today!
The History of N.E.W. Life:
As we were distributing food and clothing to those in need on the streets of Flint, we were approached by a women pleading for new born baby clothes. This woman lived next to an abandoned house, where the mother had given birth, alone, in January, in Michigan. After finding the mother and newborn baby, she called 911 and got them both to the hospital.
She did not leave them there, but instead followed up on their condition. When visiting, the neighbor found that the hospital would not let them leave until the mother had clothing and a car seat for the infant, her reason for needing the baby clothes.
We found her clothes, a car seat, and paid for her bus trip to Hurley Hospital. As we drove away from this experience, we realized that God was challenging us to do more than supplying used clothes and food out to those on the streets of Flint. God was calling on us to do more for the women of Flint, Michigan. We were not sure what that challenge would entail, but we were being called to help the women in our area.
In March we received information from the Flint Public School System that the school by St. Luke Church was going to be vacated. Knowing that this building could not set empty, we went to the parishioners and asked them what to do with the building. Their immediate response was to use it in a way that would help the women and children in the area. Why, you ask, because they knew from the stories of their street ministry and and being out on the streets that this was needed and would help continue with their ministry.
Instead of doing what we thought would be best, we brought together the women that are serviced through our Parish Food Pantry to hear their suggestions and what they needed. Many of the women did not graduate from high school and through the conversation there were three main things that were needed:
• A safe place to meet
• Grow in their self-esteem
• Grow and further their education
Taking these ideas we sought professional assistance and developed a three-year program of life change for at-risk women. We began in September of 2000 with twelve women, all who were ready to improve their lives. Some of these ladies had problems reading in high school so they never finished. We began with a literacy program, helping them learn to read, they were able to improve their education and move toward obtaining a GED if they so desired. Other components of our program included sewing lessons, employment preparation, and increasing their soft skill.
OUR CHALLENGE
As our second group of women got ready to graduate from our program, the economy had gotten bad, but it was worse in Flint. A decision had to be made, do we keep our mission and programs going, if so how? We decided to keep the mission of helping at-risk women become self-sustainable, moving the program forward in a city where there were no apparent jobs. After much research we found that in Genesee County there was an abundance of medical facilities, a resource that we could use to help St. Luke N.E.W. Life Center self-sustainable. Since sewing was taught in our program, we decided to teach those who were interested to sew professionally, then learning how to sew scrubs, which we could turn around and sell to the medical community.
In 2012, with the help of several community partners we were able to develop an Employment Preparation Program to serve the structurally unemployable individuals in Flint, Michigan. This allowed us to hire the women full time, enabling us to fill the scrub orders we were receiving. We were encouraged to design a hospital gown that did not open down the back, working on that concept we designed three different hospital gowns that are now being sold. Used by doctors for exam gowns and Regional Medical Imaging for mammography gowns as well as other procedures at RMI.
In June of 2014, we expanded. Building on the skills of the men in our program, which included, lawn care, janitorial services, and building maintenance we now were able to offer a new business service which included lawn care and a janitorial service. One of our primary goals was to reduce the blight in the neighborhood, resulting in the lawn maintenance from Dayton Street to Sonny Street and Clio Road to Dupont Street. Due to the visibility of our workers out in the community, business has increased.
Working with the business community we look forward to expanding our mission and serving the at-risk individuals in Flint.
Organizer and beneficiary
Judy Blake
Organizer
Flint, MI
Judy Blake
Beneficiary