Your generosity...our service - Adrian Dominican Sisters
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Your generosity...our service
Adrian Dominican Sisters Office of Development Newsletter / August 2021
A Special Note from Amy
Summer greetings to you from Adrian and
welcome to our August newsletter! We hope
you find this issue both informative and
inspiring as we share good news from our
Motherhouse Campus.
First off, we send our deep and abundant gratitude to
you for answering the call to help us purchase new bedroom
furnishings for our Sisters living in the Dominican Life Center. In
May, our good friend and donor Kathleen Jay generously offered
a $10,000 matching gift for every dollar we raised – and wow,
did our friends and donors respond! I’m happy to share that the
matching amount was met and surpassed in a very short time!
Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!
More good news is that our Motherhouse campus has started a soft
re-opening! Please visit our website, adriandominicans.org, for up-
to-date information. As details may change often and quickly, it’s
best to check before you make travel plans to Adrian.
Earlier this summer, we sent a survey to our donors via email. I’m
happy to report more than 200 of you responded! When asked
how we might support you as we continue to journey through
the pandemic, a majority requested prayers for themselves, their
family, and their friends. Please know that we hold you and your
loved ones in our prayers each day. In fact, at the beginning of
every Mass, we offer prayers specifically for our benefactors and
their intentions. We are so grateful for you and your friendship
that praying for you comes naturally.
If you are not currently receiving emails from us but would like to,
simply drop me a line at apalmer@adriandominicans.org and we’ll
add you to our email list. (Know that we only send about one email
per month.)
With open and grateful hearts, we send you our love and blessings!
Amy Palmer, MA, CFRE
Director, Office of Development
Donors Bring Practical Beauty to the Lives of Sisters in the DLC
Thank you so much for your generous response
to our Wish List campaign to raise funds for new
nightstands, dressers, and side chairs for the retired
Sisters in the Dominican Life Center (DLC). Through
your kindness and your care for the Sisters, we have
raised more than $106,000 – enough to purchase all of
these new furnishings.
The focus of the campaign was to replace the furniture
that has been in use in the bedrooms of the Sisters in
the DLC since 1965 or the early 1980s. The new night
stands feature a locking caster system, making them
Sister Mary Arnold Benedetto, OP, enjoys the furnishings in
not only sturdy but easy to move should the Sister need
her room in Maria, including her new dresser.
to move it to a different space.
Republic, so I funded some big projects there.” In
“Much of the old furniture is pretty worn out,” memory of Sister Juanita, Kathleen donated funds for
said Kathy Greenlee, Administrator of the DLC. a water filtration system at Espíritu Santo Fe y Alegría
“Something that’s 50 years old won’t work as well as School in El Cruce, a very poor area of the Dominican
newer furniture,” she added. Republic.
Kathy pointed out that the DLC is home to the retired Now retired, Kathleen continues to be generous
Sisters. “Just the appearance will be nicer. It’ll feel to the Adrian Dominican Sisters. She reviews the
more like home to them,” she said. “We’re providing Congregation’s wish list and supports projects that
an environment that’s more ergonomic and safer for interest her. The idea came to her to offer a matching
them,” she added. fund for the DLC furnishings project to encourage
other donations. “I’m moved because of how the Sisters
DLC resident Sister Mary Arnold Benedetto, OP, helped me in my life,” Kathleen said. “If it wasn’t for
is grateful for the new furniture. “I received a new them, how would I have graduated from college? I’m
chest of drawers and am very happy with it. I am very dedicated to helping the Sisters in their Mission.”
grateful to whomever made this available.”
The match was announced in the May edition of Your
Donations to the DLC furniture campaign were Generosity … our Service and was completed in just
strengthened by a $10,000 match offered by benefactor a short time. “Our benefactors are simply amazing,”
Kathleen Jay, whose connection to the Adrian said Amy Palmer, Director of Development. “We
Dominican Sisters dates to her teen years. At the are incredibly grateful to Kathleen for offering this
age of 17, she attended Siena Heights College (now generous match and to every single donor who gave
University) under the Special College Opportunities towards this project. The Sisters are blessed by your
for Exceptional Students (SCOPE) program. kindness and generosity! The new furnishings will
have such a positive impact on their daily lives!”
While serving on the Board of Siena Heights, Kathleen
befriended Sister Juanita Flores, OP, also serving Thank you for your own dedication and support of
on the Board. “After she passed away, I decided to the Adrian Dominican Sisters. You make the Mission
start contributing to the mission in the Dominican possible.
Donations to Ministry Trust Help Sisters in Ministry to People in Need
You may have noticed that when you donate to the
Adrian Dominican Sisters, you have the option
of supporting the Retirement Fund for Sisters or
supporting the ministries of Sisters who are still
engaged in formal ministry. The latter option involves
donations to the Congregation’s Ministry Trust Fund,
which in the 2021-2022 cycle gives grants to non-
profit organizations, grass roots groups, and social
service agencies in which an Adrian Dominican Sister
ministers, volunteers, or serves on the Board. For the
upcoming year, a total of 29 grants were awarded. Sister Patricia McCarty, OP Sister Patricia Reno, OP
Each agency receiving a grant has stories to tell of
The concept of the Ministry Trust dates back to the
people who have benefited from your support. In
Adrian Dominican Sisters’ 1968-1970 General Chapter,
Shelbyville in rural Kentucky, Sister Patricia Reno,
in which the delegation committed to ministering
OP, ministers with a vulnerable Latinx population at
to people who are disenfranchised. Sister Patricia
Centro Latino. Throughout the pandemic, she and
McCarty, OP, the first Director of Development for the
her staff have found creative ways to reach out: from
Adrian Dominican Sisters, began her work as Director
offering family packets containing grocery cards from a
of the Ministry Trust, officially established in 1995.
car in Centro Latino’s parking lot to hosting a two-week
summer camp, supporting children in their efforts to
Sister Patricia died in February 2021, but her rich
learn after spending three months of virtual classroom
legacy lives on in you. Through the years, your faithful
time. “I know some parents have been very diligent in
support has enabled Sisters to minister throughout the
making sure their kids did their work every day,” Sister
United States and in Mexico, Haiti, and the Dominican
Pat said. “But it’s not as good as being in school.”
Republic. Through your donations, Sisters have reached
out to women trying to re-create their lives after exiting
Now that COVID-19 vaccines are available, Centro
the prison system in Texas and in Illinois; to inner city
Latino has worked with the local hospital to provide
children in Detroit who need a safe place after school
two vaccination clinics to the people in the Shelbyville
to be engaged in the arts and to find alternatives to
area. About 40 people participated. Sister Pat said
violence; to grandmothers in rural Kentucky struggling
the people especially benefited from receiving the
to raise their grandchildren; to people who are
vaccines at Centro Latino. “They didn’t want to drive to
homeless or those with insecure housing in Florida and
Louisville,” she said. “Here they know that if they come
in the Pacific Northwest; and to the Native American
to our place or the church hall, they’re safe.”
population in Chicago, struggling to promote youth
leadership and improve the lives of all urban Native
Multiply these outreach stories by the 29 agencies
Americans.
receiving Ministry Trust grants this year, and you
can begin to have an idea of the impact that you have
on people throughout the United States and beyond.
Through your generous donations, you are changing
the lives for better of countless people – countless
sisters and brothers in Christ. Truly, you are a Partner
in Mission with the Adrian Dominican Sisters.
Children participate in Centro Latino’s 2020 Summer Camp,
helping them to work on their academic skills after three
months of remote learning.
Motherhouse Campus Begins to Reopen
Sister Jamie Phelps, OP, enjoys time at Killarney
House on the lake in the Irish Hills.
On July 12, 2021, a limited number of Co-workers
whose work doesn’t involve the direct care of the
Sisters began to return to their offices in the first phase
of reopening offices. Many have been working from
home, and many continue to do so.
On September 3, 2021, we anticipate Weber Retreat
and Conference Center will reopen for limited, in-
person programming and the campus grounds will be
There are signs of hope, joy, and resurrection as the open to the public.
Adrian Dominican Sisters begin the gradual process of
reopening the Motherhouse to Sisters, Co-workers, and Please check our website, www.adriandominicans.org,
visitors. The Motherhouse was abruptly closed to visitors for the latest news on our reopening, as well as specific
– even Sisters who lived off campus and Co-workers protocols.
who were not directly involved in the care of the
resident Sisters – when the threat of COVID-19 became You have been faithful to us throughout the trying times
apparent in mid-March 2020. Now, the Motherhouse is of the pandemic. As the Motherhouse begins to reopen,
gradually re-opening, always with an eye to protecting we look forward with great joy to welcoming you to our
the vulnerable Sisters and Co-workers while easing the campus and to being with you in person again! Thank
restrictions originally mandated because of the virus. you for your support and for your understanding during
the pandemic, as we strive to keep the campus safe for
St. Catherine Chapel at the Motherhouse in Adrian is our vulnerable Sisters.
again filling up five days a week with Sisters who are
attending liturgies and responding enthusiastically in
prayer and song. Sisters who reside at the Dominican
Life Center (DLC) are also visiting Sisters who live in
buildings other than where they reside, and many are
once again enjoying meals together in the Maria Dining
Room.
And now visitors may make appointments to visit
Sisters living on campus. Family members, Sisters,
Associates, and friends may make an appointment to
visit a Sister by calling 517-266-4000. Only vaccinated
visitors are encouraged. Sisters again enjoy eating meals together in the Maria Dining Room.
Adrian Dominican Sisters Websites: www.adriandominicans.org Find us on social media:
Office of Development www.adslegacy.org
1257 East Siena Heights Drive Phone: 517-266-3480
Adrian, Michigan 49221
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