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Our History
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SAINTS IN OUR MIDST

             by Director, Colleen Knauf

I was one of the fortunate "team members" at St. Louis who sponsored a Somalian refugee family in 1998. It became very apparent to me that there were many needs of  arriving refugees entering the US from war-torn countries. I wondered what it would be  like if my own family had to be deported, displaced, transplanted........ to end up in a  strange country.

     

     At that time of my life, after raising five children and being very involved in  volunteerism for 25 years, I was ready to "live the easy life." My thoughts turned to golf,  lunch with friends and lots of time to read. Did I have a strong desire to begin a new  ministry warehousing furniture? NO! Throughout the summer, however, something was  stirring within me. I believe that the Holy Spirit was nudging me, filling my mind with  ideas of how to assist needy individuals, specifically refugees. I canceled my plans for  early retirement and turned my energy towards helping the needy. It's really all about  heart, mine is not bigger than anyone else's, but I listened to it. Thus, Saints Place began  and my life will never be the same.

     

     What we do in this joint ministry with the Catholic Family Center's Refugee  Resettlement Program, is collect donated furniture, household furnishings, and clothing.   We sort, clean, and store them until needed, then set up apartments in anticipation of the refugees arrival. While the collection and distribution of furniture is not an easy task, the idea is very simple.  Remember Robin Hood? We work on the same principal: we take from those who have more than they need and we give it to the poor. We ask people to give from their surplus, we don't ask for a sacrifice. We all have extras in our closets and attics to share.

    

     In our first year, we assisted over three hundred people from Bosnia, Kosovo, Vietnam, Cuba, Sierra-Leone, Nigeria, Sudan and Somalia. After three years, we are helping an average of five hundred refugees per year.  So many people have suffered in ways that we cannot imagine. I met a woman who had to flee her homeland after her family was tortured for their religious beliefs. Her two brothers, her mother, and her husband were all murdered by gunmen who run the country. She struggled to describe the horrors that she had experienced as I asked myself the question, "Why her, Lord, and not me?"

     

     We have not only provided comfortable homes, we have also given several cars to families to enable them to be more self-sufficient, and we have provided children with holiday gifts.  We also have an "emergency fund" set up to assist in purchasing shoes, medicine or other items not donated. In addition, we now have a tutoring program for children and adults who would otherwise be lost in the overwhelming transition of leaving their homelands and landing in a foreign country.

    

    

     Freedom House residents have been among our most valued volunteers, helping to move furniture each week. We, in turn, have provided Freedom House with men's clothing, winter coats, Christmas stockings filled with gloves, hats and toiletries. We have also donated used cars to men who have done well in the program and need transportation to work.  Through our association with Xerox, both Restart and Refugee Resettlement at the Catholic Family Center have been  the recipients of new copy machines. Liberty Manor, has sought our assistance when they have been in "crisis," without baby furniture and clothing. We donated a truck full to them and keep them in mind whenever we have an overflow.  We also share our donations with many other worthy organizations in the area on a regular basis. 

Our organization is completely dependent upon volunteers for all of our programs.  We are always in need of more assistance.  Please see our "How You Can Help" page to learn more.