The weekend of April 29, 2017 held a difficult time for many residents of the greater St. Louis area: rainstorms swelled the tributaries of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, causing disastrous flooding. Many of these same areas had experienced similar damage just over a year prior in the winter...

At St. Francis Community Services’ Southside Center location, Site Director and Therapist Meredith Rataj guides a mom through a small sea of Christmas packages to her family’s gifts. While staff try to determine if the many packages will fit in her car, the mother has other reflections. Looking at...

This 2018 Christmas season, St. Francis Community Services’ Bilingual Youth Program is sharing their musical talents through a holiday concert at Cardinal Ritter Senior Services. As a special treat, children got a visit from Santa at SFCS’ Southside location before the concert, receiving candy canes and sharing what they...

The Southside Center location of St. Francis Community Services is holding its annual Christmas Adopt-a-Family program. Each year individuals, schools, churches, and businesses “adopt” immigrant families we serve to help make their holiday season brighter, providing gifts and household essentials. This year we have more than 170 families in...

The staff attorneys at SFCS Catholic Legal Assistance Ministry recently were contacted by a grandmother, “Lottie,” seeking help in obtaining guardianship of her four-month old grandson who had been in her care since the day the child came home from the hospital. Our client’s daughter, the child’s mother, passed...

“Anna” was widowed at the age of 30 with two small children. Already on the brink of poverty and emotional collapse, her small house was extensively damaged later that same year during the severe flooding of December 2015. Anna was completely overwhelmed, and could not afford to pay for the repairs....

On June 17th, more than 400 guests gathered for a fun and meaningful evening at the Ballpark Hilton St. Louis for our 2nd annual summertime gala, Seeds of Hope.  Thanks to the generosity of many supporters, we were able to raise funds to help continue our important work with vulnerable youth,...

“Mrs. J” is a 68 year old senior who speaks very little English and has no transportation. She had been working at a factory in St. Louis for 13 years. Due to some serious health issues, she had to quit working at the end of July. Ms. J did...

Congratulations to Rosetta, who was presented with St. Francis Community Services’ second annual Sr. Betty Brucker, FSM Memorial Scholarship on March 8th, 2017. This scholarship is intended to provides assistance to a student pursuing . Rosetta is a graduating senior at a St. Louis area high school. She has dreamed of becoming...

Southside Center has been working with Olivia and her family for over two years on a wide range of issues that have come up. Initially, Olivia reached out to the bilingual mental health department after a Spanish-speaking nun at her church referred her to our program. Her daughter, Jasmin, was suffering...