Delores Johansen and Sr Regina Goeldel DABlodgettStJohn

Our good works on our March 11 Service Day brought many smiles and supported West Michigan organizations that serve the needs of others. Click on the photo and enjoy our slide show.

The Dominican Sisters~Grand Rapids founded an orphanage in Grand Rapids and managed it and cared for children beginning in 1889. It was one of their earliest ministries. St. John Orphanage Asylum is now D.A. Blodgett-St. Johns.

During National Catholic Sisters Week #NCSW, friends and employees of the congregation will volunteer at D.A. Blodgett-St. Johns on Leonard Street, NE. Volunteers will learn some of the history of how Sisters provided care and housing to children, and will help accomplish some projects at the organization that serves the needs of children and youth in West Michigan through adoption, counseling, foster care, residential care, and mentoring.

Our #NCSW Days of Service will also support the needs of other organizations. More than 100 Sisters, Associates, employees, Dominican Chapel-Marywood Sunday Assembly participants and friends of the congregation will also be of service at other organizations. Our Service Day  projects are supported by a mini-grant from #NCSW.

On March 14, we will support Catholic Charities West Michigan Soup On, DA Blodgett-St. Johns, Help Pregnancy Crisis Aid, Feeding America West Michigan, In the Image, Kid’s Food Basket, and San Juan Diego Academy.

On May 11, volunteers will help spruce up the grounds, spread mulch, and clean gravestones across Marywood Campus Grounds, Marywood Prairie Habitat, Instruments of Hope St. Francis of Assisi Sculpture Garden, and St Andrew Cemetery.

National Catholic Sisters Week is a program of the National Catholic Sisters Project, funded by a grant from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation and headquartered at Alverno College in Milwaukee, Wis.

National Catholic Sisters Week was launched in 2014 as an official component of National Women History’s Month, which runs through March. The week is intended to raise awareness of the profound impact of women religious and, in particular, to connect them with young women through a myriad of cross-country events held March 8-14. Since its inception, Molly Hazelton has headed the National Catholic Sisters Week team, which is based at the Minneapolis campus of Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota.

The week honors the nation’s 45,000 Catholic sisters and all who have gone before – founders of schools and hospitals, artists and activists, leaders and spiritual guides for all walks of life. “In a time when there isn’t much good news, we need to share stories of how Catholic sisters can heal our church and unite our country,” Hazelton said. “Raising awareness of their ministries can inspire the masses – and that’s exactly what we aim to do.”

To learn more about NCSW, visit nationalcatholicsistersproject.org. Follow NCSW on our social-media channels (Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest) and use #NCSW2019 to engage.

St Johns Orphanage in Grand Rapids was founded by the Dominican Sisters~Grand Rapids after a call from Bishop Richter in 1888. St. Johns Orphanage opened in 1889.

Service Day DA Blodgett St John's

Originally St. Johns Orphanage, D.A. Blodgett-St. Johns continues to serve the needs of children and teens in West Michigan. For the past four years during National Catholic Sisters Week #NCSW, Dominican Sisters, Associates and employees volunteer time and service to D.A. Blodgett-St. Johns.