Catholic Daughters - Court 1387 Blog

Praying for Peace

183:834527382 (Yvette Weilacker) — Sun, 10 Sep 2023 06:28:49 GMT

Praying for Peace in 2022

With all of the challenges of this life, we must remember that God is in charge. Things are just starting to open up in California, but it seems we've got a long way to go before we can meet at large venues. So we will push forward with online fundraising and hope for the best. With the help of many, God will provide!

We just started a See's Candies fundraiser for the Easter season, and this will be immediately followed by a St. Patrick's Day "Zoom" Bingo fundraiser on March 20th which will give us an opportunity to get family and friends together for a fun afternoon online.

We are close to our goal of funding the Catholic high school scholarships for this year, and then we will see how much we can help a young lady with a calling to the religious life who needs to pay off her student debt through The Labouré Society before she can proceed. Her name is Erin Lyons , and her story of being called from her career as an ER nurse to the religious life is most compelling. Erin has chosen to enter the Sisters of the Holy Cross in Carrollton, Ohio. As a court, we will do what we can to support her vocation.

If you would like to hear Erin's story, watch her video on Labouré's website .

2021 Goals

183:834527382 (Yvette Weilacker) — Tue, 23 Feb 2021 03:26:34 GMT

Goals for 2021

Things are just starting to open up in California, but it seems we've got a long way to go before we can meet at large venues. So we will push on with online fundraising and hope for the best. With the help of many, God will provide!

We are close to our goal of funding the Catholic high school scholarships for this year, and then we will see how much we can help a young lady with a calling to the religious life who needs to pay off her student debt through The Labouré Society before can proceed. Her name is Erin Lyons , and her story of being called from her career as an ER nurse to the religious life is most compelling. Erin has chosen to enter the Sisters of the Holy Cross in Carrollton, Ohio. As a court, we will do what we can to support her vocation.

If you would like to hear Erin's story, watch her video on Labouré's website . We invite you to donate to her cause if you are able. God bless!

Virtual Bake Sale - Success!

183:834527382 (Yvette Weilacker) — Mon, 30 Nov 2020 21:13:25 GMT

Thanks to our Donors, we will feed many families!

The initial tally of funds collected from our Virtual Bake Sale shows over $1,000 in donations. Thank you!!!

Our Catholic Daughters court, like most of our courts, has very little or no overhead in conducting charitable campaigns such as this one. So we are happy to take the entire amount collected and split it 50/50 between His Hands Food Pantry in Upland and Mary's Mercy Center in San Bernardino.

If you can donate (non-expired) non-perishable food to either of these food banks, please contact them directly at the links above . Highly-prized items would be peanut butter, canned fruit or vegetables (with pop-top lids), Vienna sausages, and applesauce packets. If God has blessed you with an abundance, please consider sharing your resources with the less fortunate since all food banks are in dire need. More and more families have their breadwinners who are losing their jobs. WE ALL have to take the initiative . And many of these families are now at risk for losing their homes. As a Court we are looking into how we can support those families with their mortgages. If you know of any non-profit responding to this particular need, please use the "Contact Us" button at the foot of this page.

Again, thank you! And God bless you all!

Food Banks in Dire Need

Mon, 02 Nov 2020 08:09:32 GMT

Dear Friends and Benefactors,

We really need to bring to your attention to just how dire the situation is for parents and young people who have lost their jobs or have had their work hours reduced.

Food banks across the country have been closing down for lack of donations. And ones that remain open are struggling. A lot of this is caused by the pandemic-driven, government-mandated shutdowns and restrictions on businesses who employ so many people.

So if you are fortunate to have your job and/or business intact these days, please consider these things you can do to help those who are truly in need:

1. Give some of your time to serve at a food bank or soup kitchen

2. Collect any extra non-perishable food in your pantry, and take these to your local food bank

3. The next time you go to the grocery store, purchase some non-perishable food that you can take to your local food bank -- peanut butter, jam or jelly, canned food or fruit with pop-tops, oatmeal, rice, flour, pasta, spaghetti sauce, evaporated milk, boxed almond milk ...

4. Pray for the poor and those who are suffering with depression, addictions, mistreatment, and homelessness

5. And if you can't leave your home or it is easier to pull out your credit card, please consider donating through our Virtual Bake Sale so that our Catholic Daughters court can distribute the proceeds to our 2 local food banks: Mary's Mercy Center in San Bernardino, CA, and His Hands Food Pantry in Upland, CA

_________________________________

In Matthew 25:31-40 , Jesus spoke to his disciples about the final judgment of the nations. I am sure you are familiar with these lines:

"For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me ... And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.'"

Whether you can help or need help, God bless you all!

Keeping in touch

Thu, 08 Oct 2020 06:05:19 GMT

Keeping in touch

There are so many good reasons for us to communicate with everyone.
We will be announcing our activities, upcoming campaigns, and giving you things to ponder to help you cultivate your spirituality and bring you closer to God.

Here are some reasons why we are now making a blog part of our regular routine:

Blogging is an easy way to engage with our site visitors
Here we can show you what we are doing for our members, the community, and all of our benefactors
Blogging is a terrific form of communication!
When you subscribe to our blog, you can stay up to date and share this with others
And it is a natural way to build trust in our non-profit organization

Our Court is looking forward to sharing our journey with you. Check back soon!

God bless you!

How are you coping?

Wed, 07 Oct 2020 06:05:19 GMT

What you can do to cope with the pandemic?

Make a list of what you're grateful for

Look over this list when you're feeling low. You've heard this all before ... count your blessings. It helps!

Make a list of who you can call and see how they're doing?
Call your family, friends, even people you knew from work who you don't see these days. A phone call is better than a text, because you can hear their tone of voice. Ask if they need help with anything. Ask how they're feeling. Offer words of encouragement. Be a good listener. You'll find that reaching out can make YOU feel better.

Set daily goals for yourself
When you succeed in achieving a goal, be it a big one or a small one, make sure to pat yourself on the back.

Think positively
Positive thinking is a major factor in your well-being. So instead of mulling over things that didn’t go quite right, remind yourself of things that did.

Get 8 hours of rest each night
Keeping a regular routine should help to keep your mind, your mood, and your body in sync.

Pray the Rosary daily

It only takes about 20 minutes. Close your eyes and place yourself in the setting of each mystery of the Rosary as you say each Hail Mary. Play some Gregorian Chant at a low volume as you recite the Rosary. Remember, with each Hail Mary you send your Heavenly Mother a rose. Praying the Rosary daily will plant a most beautiful garden!

If you can, go to daily Mass
This is something that I am working on myself. I make sure to attend every Sunday, and last Thursday I went to a high Latin Mass on the Feast of St. Michael the Archangel. It was so solemn and beautiful! Being retired, there is no reason why I can't go on weekdays. Having given that some more thought, I've decided that I will make an effort to attend at least 2 weekdays. Especially now, we have SO much to pray for -- our elections, for peace in our nation and in the world, for our Church, and for the salvation of everyone around us. From my perspective, the Holy Mass is the greatest blessing of all. You can't get any closer to Jesus!

I hope this little list brings you closer to God. Remember, God is love!

God bless you all!

The pandemic challenge

Tue, 06 Oct 2020 06:05:19 GMT

The pandemic has been challenging for everyone , and non-profits are just as severely affected. Now, more than ever before, our Court's efforts need to double so that we can help even more people who have lost income, are suffering homelessness, and especially help those who may be losing hope.

God has a plan for each of us , and this is a fantastic opportunity to listen for His call to holiness. We want you to know that Court Our Lady of Fatima of the Catholic Daughters of the Americas are here to answer that call, and we invite you to join us.

The need to transition to a more digital platform has been weighing on my mind these past 2 years as Regent, and -- ready or not -- here we go!

Our first challenge in April and May was to conduct our court meetings by email. With various motions and nominations on the agenda, it took DAYS! So then our next task was figuring out videoconferencing. After trying a few options ... Zoom! Done! In between all of this, we made calls to members who are homebound and do not have computers or smartphones. It is so important to keep in touch with ALL of our members. We truly value them as our sisters in Christ.

Now, our summer break from meetings gave us time to regroup. And that left me with the task of trying to figure out how we would set up a Virtual Bake Sale which we had voted on in May. Searching for fundraising ideas online, I found and enlisted the help of Brice Sokolowski of CatholicFundraiser.net . Brice has been helping me wade through the ins and outs of online fundraising. He has been an invaluable resource. Check out his free guide: 10 Commandments of Catholic Fundraising .

So now I can look back and see how God has guided my life to this moment in time. Probably about 6 years ago, I learned how to build a Wordpress site out of necessity for a photo club I managed. (Thank you, Dale!) And this then led to building a few other sites before I saw the need to build one for our Court 4 years ago. And as God would have it , this past May our web host, IONOS, called and offered me a sweet deal if we would switch to their new website builder which included eCommerce -- 3 months free, and now only $20/month (plus the yearly domain fee). Yes, when God closes a door, He opens a window. So now we are set up to take credit and debit cards for membership dues and donations. Everything is falling into place nicely.

Now, I can honestly tell you that our overhead was pretty low before the pandemic hit, and now it's even lower! God is good!

Firmly planning our path forward, I went to work on the new website and set up an online campaign -- a Virtual Bake Sale. The proceeds will help supply our 2 local food banks: Mary's Mercy Center in San Bernardino, CA, and His Hands Food Pantry in Upland, CA. They have seen a tremendous increase in their food lines since the pandemic shutdown.

It's all pretty amazing, because our only out-of-pocket for the Virtual Bake Sale will be postage for the recipe cards and masks that we mail out. To explain how the bake sale works ... anyone donating $100 or more will receive a "cupcake-design" mask which will be made by our members. The first recipe cards will be typed up, laminated, and mailed out this week -- all materials donated by our members. We hope to feed a lot of families!

Our Court members are the real champions of this campaign , because they will be spreading the word by phone, text, mail, email, and social media. And YOU can be our champions, too! If you can offer us a donation through this Campaign, that would be wonderful! And if you can't do that right now, could you help us by spreading the word about our apostolate and our Virtual Bake Sale by sharing our website address at catholicdaughtersontario.org , or by sharing our Facebook page ?

We thank you in advance for helping us share our Virtual Bake Sale so that we can help feed those in need.

God bless you all!