Vol. I, No. 1 Winter 1999
On December 21, 1998, fifty organizations received Annunciation Grants from the Incarnate Word Foundation (IWF). Outreach to the ill and elderly, programs for at-risk youth, and housing for people in need were a few of the initiatives that will benefit from these grants. In all, a total of $200,000 was awarded to agencies working in St. Louis City and surrounding Missouri counties, rural Missouri, and East St. Louis.
"The Annunciation Grants are designed to support a broad range of agencies that are crucial if we are to develop healthy communities," according to Sr. Cathy Vetter, CCVI, IWF Board chairperson. "These grants are just of the beginning of the foundation’s work to foster programs that promote physical, psychological, spiritual and community wellness."
The Annunciation Grants represent the smaller of the foundation’s two grant programs, and are limited to grants of $10,000 or less. This smaller grant program will be the conduit for determining and awarding the Incarnate Word Foundation’s larger grants. "The foundation’s Board is undertaking a strategic planning process that will determine the focus for the larger grant program," indicated Bridget McDermott Flood, IWF executive director. "We want to identify opportunities that will have a significant positive impact on the health of the region."
Annunciation Grants Fall 1998
Health Issue – At-Risk Youth
Carver House
Christian Activity Center
Episcopal City Mission
Girls, Inc.
Good Samaritan Service Center
Guardian Angels Settlement Association
Herbert Hoover Boys Club
Mentor St. Louis
Midtown Catholic Community Center
Shelter the Children
Health Issue – Child Abuse/Neglect
Our Little Haven
Salvation Army
St. Louis Crisis Nursery
Health Issue – Community Health/Wellness
Clifton Heights Senior Center
Family Care Health Center
Friendly Temple
Gault Foundation
St. Mary Magdalen
Health Issue – Day Care
Catholic Day Care Center
Health Issue – Developmentally Disabled
Holy Family School
Vogelweid Learning Center
Health Issue – Domestic Violence
Catholic Family Counseling
Woman’s Place
Health Issue - Education
Cardinal Carberry Living Center
Vincent Gray Alternative High School
Health Issue - Employment
Carondelet Community Betterment Federation
Fr. Tolton Catholic Community Center
\Women in Charge
Health Issue – HIV/AIDS
Family Wellness Program
St. Louis Effort for AIDS
Vincent House
Health Issue – Hospice
Whole Health Outreach
Health Issue - Housing
Habitat for Humanity
Holy Angels Shelte
Jefferson County Rescue Mission
Places for People
St. Joachim and Ann
Health Issue - Immigration
Immigrant & Refugee Women’s Program
Resurrection Church
St. Louis Inter-Faith Committee on Latin America
Health Issue - Incarceration
Project COPE
Health Issue – Maternal/Child Health
Almost Home
Our Lady’s Inn
Health Issue – Mental Health
Hopewell Center
Lutheran Family & Children Services
Health Issue – Neighborhood Revitalization
St. Matthew Parish
WomanSpirit, Inc.
Health Issue - Spirituality
Incarnate Word Academy
Pallottine Renewal Center
Health Issue - Violence
Institute for Peace and Justice
The Incarnate Word Foundation makes its Board room available to non-profit organizations for meetings, strategic planning sessions, etc. There is no charge, and the room accommodates up to 14 people comfortably. The room is equipped with a dry erase board, overhead projector, and VCR, and is available during regular business hours. To check on availability, please call Jackie Metzler at 314-621-4090.
When applying for grants, it’s a good idea to learn about the foundation’s goals and mission. To help with this, the Incarnate Word Foundation hosts orientation sessions. More than 240 individuals attended the Fall orientation sessions.
The Spring orientation is scheduled for:
March 8, 1999
9:00 – 10:30 a.m.
Cardinal Ritter Institute, The Crusader Room
4483 Lindell Blvd.
The orientation is free of charge. Seating is limited, however. Please call Jackie Metzler at 621-4090 to make your reservation. You must make a reservation in order to attend.
| Annunciation Grants | Applications must be postmarked by April 25, 1999. Please contact the foundation office if you need an application. |
Just imagine what Mary was actually saying in the words, ‘I am the handmaid of the Lord. Let what you have said be done to me.’ (Luke 1:38) She was saying, ‘I don’t know what this all means, but I trust that good things will happen.’ She trusted so deeply that her waiting was open to all possibilities. And she did not want to control them. She believed that when she listened carefully, she could trust what was going to happen.
To wait open-endedly is an enormously radical attitude toward life. So is to trust that something will happen to us that is far beyond our imaginings. So, too, is giving up control over our future and letting God define our life, trusting that God molds us according to God’s love and not according to our fear. The spiritual life is a life in which we wait, actively present to the moment, trusting that new things will happen to us, new things that are far beyond our own imagination, fantasy, or prediction. That, indeed, is a very radical stance toward life in a world preoccupied with control.
Seed of Hope: A Henri Nouwen Reader. Robert Durback, ed., page 105.
In its role as a convenor, the foundation sponsors a continuing series of roundtable dialogues. Each roundtable features a speaker, and includes 8 – 10 participants from the civic, social service, academic and government arenas. The Fall roundtables were as follows:
| Overview of Collaboration | Sr. Marianna Coyle, SC President of SC Ministry Corp. featured speaker |
| Collaboration and the Elderly | Dr. Terry McGuire Vice President for Mission Services Alexian Brothers Health System featured speaker |
| Collaboration and Infant Mortality | Sharon Wallace Executive Director, MCHS-IMP, a collaborative infant mortality project in Detroit featured speaker |
The roundtable program gives the foundation’s staff and Board the opportunity to hear from those in the field about what helps and hinders collaborative solutions to key issues facing our community," said Bridget McDermott Flood, IWF executive director. "It’s a great way to bring people together on neutral turf to brainstorm the possibilities of how we can better serve those in need."
Dr. Barbara Arrington, Associate Dean, Saint Louis University School of Public Health, serves as the roundtable moderator. The roundtable reports are authored by Judy Cassidy, editor, Health Progress. The 1999 roundtable series is just beginning. Thus far, the foundation is planning to host roundtables relating to immigration/refugee issues, domestic violence, and youth programs.
Concise reports from the Fall 1998 series are now available and will be sent to leaders in the non-profit, philanthropic, civic, and governmental arenas. If you are interested in receiving a copy of any of these reports, please contact the foundation office.
On January 28th, the foundation hosted a public policy luncheon with civic leaders and non-profit agency advocacy staff to discuss how IWF might structure its participation in the public policy arena. Board members H.C. Milford and Sr. Cathy Vetter also joined in the dialogue. In addition to identifying a variety of public policy issues at the state and local level, the group also talked about the role foundations can have in promoting public discourse on key policy issues.
The group recommended that IWF:
These ideas will be presented to the IWF Board as part of their strategic planning process.
Recently, IWF visited with staff at Midtown Catholic Community Services to learn more about T.O.T.A.L Drug Free Youth, a leadership program designed to educate children in grades K-12 about alcohol and drug prevention. Through the use of safe, organized programs that encourage creativity, self-esteem, non-violent conflict resolution, and team-building, Midtown CCS introduces these children to cooking, music and art. Midtown CCS serves the McRee Town, Shaw and Forest Park Southeast neighborhoods in St. Louis City.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Sr. Cathy Vetter, CCVI ,Chairperson
Linda Allin
Joseph Blasko, Jr.
Joseph Burke
Sr. Berncie Coreil, DC
Catherine Dulle
June McAllister Fowler
Sr. Mary Kay McKenzie, CCVI
H.C. Milford
Sr. Mary Pezold, CCVI
STAFF
Bridget McDermott Flood, Executive Director
Jacqueline Metzler, Executive Assistant
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