WHEN MAKING A DONATION ONLINE, PLEASE ENSURE THAT THE FUND IS “ROOTED SERVICE PROJECTS.” OTHERWISE YOUR DONTATION WILL GO SOMEWHERE ELSE!

WHEN MAKING A DONATION ONLINE, PLEASE ENSURE THAT THE FUND IS “ROOTED SERVICE PROJECTS.” OTHERWISE YOUR DONTATION WILL GO SOMEWHERE ELSE!

The Rooted program (6th-8th Grade Faith Formation at St. John Neumann Church) works together each year to engage in multiple service projects including our goal to provide 40,000 meals to the hungry and we need your support!

First, we would like to thank all of you who supported these efforts in the past.

• 2023 – So far this year, we’ve….
  • Packed and sent 41,400 meals to those in need around the world.
  • Purchased bracelets for the youth of our sister parish, Nino Jesus.
  • Made and donated 35 blankets to homeless shelters
  • Sent Christmas cards to the homebound of our parish.
• 2022 – In March, we packed and shipped 41,286 meals to youth and families struggling throughout the world. We packed 28 Boxes of Joy sent to youth in other countries (many of these youth have never before received a gift.) and took a trip to JK Community Farms to harvest food for local families.
• 2021 – Though we were not be able to do the food packing we had hoped, we still supported Cross Catholic and the communities they serve through their Box of Joy program (creating 25 gifts for youth). We took a trip to JK Community Farms and harvested over 400 pounds of potatoes for local families.
• 2020 / 2021 – Most of our fundraising and our food packing events were canceled due to public health concerns caused by the pandemic. Fortunately, due to the amazing support of our community, we were still able to donate $5,000 to Cross Catholic which provided about 20,000 meals to those in need (see below for an article with more details).
• 2019 – In March of 2019, we were able to pack over 40,000 meals, meet our goal of raising $10,000, and to provide Cross Catholic with a bit extra to support additional meals and shipping costs (see below for pictures).

Later this year, we plan to make another trip to JK Community Farms to plant/harvest food for those in need locally. We also plan to pack more Boxes of Joy to be sent globally to communities service by Cross Catholic Outreach.

Next year, we again plan to partner with Cross Catholic to pack 40,000+ meals which will mostly be sent to communities in Haiti and Guatemala. For some, this will be their only meal for the day. The cost of food and shipping for this project is around $0.33 per meal…which means we need to raise $13,200 in order to provide this needed service. If we are blessed enough to reach our goal, any extra will either be given to Cross Catholic Outreach to cover the cost of additional meals or will go towards other Rooted and Branching Out service efforts (such as those listed above) to support those in need.