Giving Tree Ministry: So Many Ways to Make a Difference!
The Giving Tree Ministry’s goal is to support local nonprofit organizations by collecting needed and requested items during the Advent season. We also support these organizations as requested throughout the year by providing time and talent for specific projects.
The organizations we supported in 2025 include: Adopt-A-Family - We provided gifts and gift cards to 28 families in need to help make their Christmas more joyful. We partnered with St. Vincent DePaul Society to find households who support. This provided an opportunity to adopt a whole family. We also brought Christmas to 29 seniors at Aspen Point Nursing Home that do not have family support. St. Cletus offers a communion service there every Thursday. Birthright St. Charles: provides aid to mothers throughout their pregnancy as well as necessary items for babies and mom after birth. Birthright gives us a list of needed items and we collect diapers, sleepers, diaper bags, lotions, nursing supplies and other items to help care for these precious babies and their moms. A very full pickup truck and large SUV delivered the baby and new mom items you donated, in addition to the $1,900 we collected in monetary donations. Our delivery was highly anticipated as their inventory was running low. The Foster Adoption Support Team (FAST): This St. Charles County based organization is dedicated to creating a lasting and direct impact on the lives of children and their families involved in the state foster care system. We supply toys, gift cards, clothes, make-up mirrors, curing irons, fishing poles, skateboards, etc. to make their holidays special and full of joy. Three carloads of gifts were delivered to FAST Connection at Mid Rivers Mall, plus over $3,400 in gift cards and monetary donations. Your generosity supports more than 400 foster children and their families in St Charles County. Pirate ships complete with little pirates donated and taken to FAST to help make the holidays a little more fun for our precious children in foster care. Gwendolyn's Gifts, Their mission is to provide emotional and financial support to families of children on palliative and hospice care in the St. Louis region and surrounding areas. Gwendolyn’s Circle also provides help with funeral expenses for children. This is our first year supporting Gwendolyn’s Gifts and we will be providing contents for smile bags delivered to children’s hospitals in the St. Louis area. Their gift bag Amazon wish list can be found here. Your donations helped fill 100 Smile Bags with stuffies, inspirational ornaments, books and Target gift cards that were delivered to Children’s and Cardinal Glennon Hospitals on December 18. Our committee was blessed to help assemble the bags in our Parish Hall. We also collected $1,800 in monetary donations and extra Target gift cards that will go to families of children on hospice and palliative care, or help cover funeral expenses. St. Cletus School: We collected more than $6,800 in tuition assistance and $4,800 in meal assistance for more than 20 families in need. |
Commitment:
All of these organizations are very close to St. Cletus and we are committed to supporting them at Christmas and throughout the year. Both FAST and Gwendolyn’s Gifts were started and continue to be supported by dedicated St. Cletus parishioners. They provide much needed support to children and their families that can use emotional and financial support. Birthright provides the support needed for a new mom to choose life and love. St. Cletus School is teaching our future leaders to love and serve God as they build the academic and faith foundation to be successful. Our committee receives a list of needed items from each organization and then prepares ornaments for the tree. We decorate the tree in front of the Gathering Space on November 21. Parishioners take the ornaments, purchase items, and return them to church (affixed with the ornament). Our volunteers collect and organize the gifts and deliver them to the benefitting organizations before Christmas. 
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