Sister Jerome’s Poor expands mission

Staff report

CANFIELD

Sister Jerome Corcoran began Sister Jerome’s Poor last year to help the area’s poor working families that lack basic necessities, and after helping many people, the organization is expanding its mission to include help with college.

The program received favorable responses and provided help to many needy people. The most-critical needs were groceries, utilities, clothing, gasoline and car repairs.

The organization believes that people who have worked hard deserve consideration in these difficult times with rising costs and high unemployment.

Sister Jerome’s Poor is changing its name to Sister Jerome’s Mission because it is adding a second goal: Mission College.

The new endeavor will provide mentoring and financial help to selected city high school graduates now in college or trade schools in order to enable them to complete the program and receive their diploma or trade license.

The college dropout rate for urban students in high, the mission said in a statement.

The first contribution to Mission College was made by the St. Ann Foundation of the Sisters of Charity for $5,000, and the second grant came from the Robert Bensen Meyer Foundation for $4,000, to begin a fund to address the need among urban students — assistance in meeting the challenges of college both academically and financially.

Contributions to the program to help families in need have come from the John Milton Costello Foundation, $2,000; the Zita and John DiYorio Foundation, $2,500; Charles T. George, $3,000; the H&B Foundation, $5,000; Nils and Kathy Johnson, $2,500; the Lillian Schermer Charitable Trust, $2,500; the Aimee and Lulu Seidel Foundation, $2,500; the Ursuline Sisters Ministry Fund, $5,000; and the Denise and John York Foundation, $5,000.

Other donors prefer to remain anonymous, the statement said.

The St. Vincent de Paul Society, through its collections from local parishes, provides food vouchers to Sister Jerome, the volunteer director of Sister Jerome’s Poor, to help with the increasing food crises in the area.