DAUGHTERS OF CHARITY INTERNATIONAL PROJECT SERVICES
Tell the Story FY2023 Annual Report
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Tell the Story On the way they were assaulted, robbed of their belongings, and even extorted… They arrive with only what they can carry and without having eaten for days. With this project’s help, we can continue to receive them and provide food, medical care, hygiene items, clothing and shoes allowing them to rest and recover to continue on their journey. - Mexico
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Note: Throughout you will find quote boxes. These are quotes from DC Sisters and come to DC IPS via their grant reporting. Quotes from Sisters provide insight and help give context to their ministries and communities.
Contents 3
Greeting
4
Variety of Ministries
6
Mission and Process
8
FY23 by the Numbers
10 Major Factors Impacting Sisters 12
Focus - Ukraine
14 DC IPS Stories and HFS 16
Empowering Women and Children
18
Water, Sanitation & Hygiene (WASH)
20 Sisters and L4H 22 Communication Initiatives 23 Poem 24 Looking Ahead
October 2023
Dear Reader, We are here to Tell the Story of ministries and projects of Daughters of Charity as assisted by donations given through Daughters of Charity International Project Services (DC IPS). This report will provide insights into the Sisters’ concerns, responses, and results to the needs identified within their communities. These insights come through the filter of DC IPS as we send funds from donors like you to the Sisters so they can help people through their worst life experiences and into a better life trajectory. Our goal for every project is also our motto, “...decrease human suffering, increase human potential.” This report will provide an overview of how DC IPS helps to turn donations into action and results. The Sisters on the front lines have both burdens and joys and it is them we honor every day. 100% of your donations go straight into the Sisters’ hands to do the direct services needed to change lives. This overview is both a thank you and an invitation. Please accept our heartfelt gratitude for your support and an invitation to consider joining us in future project fundings. Together we can respond to the Gospel’s assurance, “whatever you did for one of these least brother of mine, you did for me.’” (Matthew 25: 40) May God bless you,
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Variety of Ministries DC IPS Sisters work within communities all over the world and are committed to providing care for those who are impoverished or in peril. This care results in access to necessary resources, improved health, better education, increased equality, or the creation of safe havens from predators and war. Their ministries vary greatly as do the projects they bring to DC IPS. Projects have included providing a vehicle to a health clinic, drilling a well so an entire village can access clean water, raising funds for food and medicine for refugees and their neighbors, and creating a safe space for learning. The Sisters rely on their communities to direct their efforts toward what is needed most.
Extend your mercy towards others, so that there can be no one in need whom you meet without helping. - St. Vincent de Paul
“I lived with the Daughters of Charity for 2 months with other mothers who have children who also live there. We felt like valued people. We came to understand what it is to be a free woman and listened to; I learned that we have rights and that we must fight for them. Thanks to them, I met God, and I realized that I have never been alone and that God has always been by my side to help me.” - Testimony from Colombia
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Sustainable Development Goals
Reduced Inequalities 12%
Quality Education 15%
No Poverty 13%
Affordable and Clean Energy Zero Hunger 2% Clean Water and 7% Sanitation 7% Climate Action 1% Decent Work and Economic Growth 8% Gender Equality 8%
Good Health and Well-Being 27%
FY23 projects addressed 10 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in 23 Countries
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Mission and Process
Mission Statement Daughters of Charity International Project Services (DC IPS) was established to help the Sisters in developing countries carry out their mission of service to those who are poor. DC IPS facilitates international funding and other resources, and develops relationships that support Daughters of Charity projects to minimize human suffering and foster sustainable solutions to global poverty at the local level.
DC IPS Process Local Sisters work in their communities and identify needs 6
Sisters seek funding through DC IPS to support their project
DC IPS raises funds through grants and donor gifts
100% of funds are sent to local Sisters who complete the project
Reports are sent to DC IPS outlining project outcomes and spending
Decrease human suffering, increase human potential
Each project requested is tailored to that location and the needs of that community. This approach and the Sisters’ commitment to creating sustainable solutions enables systemic change. Systemic change aims beyond providing food, shelter, and alleviating immediate needs. It enables people themselves to engage in the identification of the root causes of their poverty and to create strategies, including advocacy, to change those structures which keep them in poverty. This approach is further supported by the Sisters’ remaining within the community to continue assisting those in need over time. 7
FY23 by the Numbers People Served: 429,951 Adults 22,680 Children
48
new project applications received representing 32 countries
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50
projects funded representing 25 countries
112
projects evaluated representing 32 countries
Project Funding Sources
19%
Project-specific gifts
44%
Grant awards
20% Sponsor donation
17% General gifts 100% of every gift goes to a Daughters of Charity Project 9
Major Factors Impacting Sisters Over the past year, the Sisters have pivoted their ministries to respond to the emergent situations that darkened the face of their environment but have not dimmed the passion of their services. Some of the challenges included: rampant inflation, famines, natural disasters, COVID-19, wars, civil violence, and abandoned children.
y t i r u ec
COVID -19
Conflict and
wa rz
Water i ns
es n o
10
Extreme pover ty
Inflatio n
Children wi th d
ies or aband t i l i b on si a
ed
Natural disa st
s er
While innovating and responding during times of crisis, the Sisters continue to provide services that will move people out of the imprisonments of poverty. 11
Ukraine Relief
In February 2022, at the onset of the conflict in Ukraine, DC IPS received a simple email from a Sister located in Ukraine asking if there might be a possibility of help. Many Daughters of Charity ministries were established in the area and needed both support and resources. Undertaking our first crowd-funding campaign, we posted to social media and sent an email to donors to relay the critical needs of Sisters in Ukraine. A close collaborator, Ascension Health System, reprinted our email to their many employees. Very soon afterward, Daughters of Charity Ministries followed suit. The donations flooded in. To date, DC IPS has raised $600,536 specifically for Ukraine emergency relief efforts which have been directed to a multitude of services throughout the country and at the border. An astonishing 570 donor gifts have come in for this project, and we continue to receive and send funds to support their ongoing needs.
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4 Grants
Acquired for Ukraine relief efforts
$
600,536
Raised for a multitude of services
570
Donor gifts received for this project
“It seemed to us that a pandemic was the worst thing that could happen, but then came the war… Our first and basic goal became to ensure the safety of children. We thought about how to build a safe room. We adapted our basement and corridor so that during the time of sirens children could spend time there quite calmly.... We didn’t close the kindergarten for even one day. It was a huge risk, but we wanted to be with them in the most difficult moments.”
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We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your financial support, which has enabled us to help refugees and local people during the ongoing war. - Ukraine
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DC IPS Stories In April 2023 we initiated a quarterly email called “DC IPS Stories” which will highlights testimonials or information we receive in the grant evaluation reports. This first installment exemplifies the powerful impact of the Sisters’ ministries. Here’s a portion of a wonderfully expressive testimonial from a young woman who traveled from eastern Ukraine and found refuge with our Sisters in Poland.
War destroys EVERYTHING. It kills us physically and crushes us morally. And also, war kills the woman in woman. What were we like before the war? Beautiful, curious, a little reckless, thoughtful, romantic. We happily discussed hairstyles, manicures, shopping, children, and men. We had interests in new foods and world politics. We were wives, mothers, friends, daughters. We were ordinary women. War invaded our lives. Trampling our lives with dirty soldier’s boots. Explosion! Rubble! It’s not just material things that have fallen apart, but our lives have crumbled, our dreams, aspirations, ambitions. No one understands what the people feel. In one day, war took everything from us: the place where we were born and raised, where we built our family, where we raised our children. And not only did they take this place, they destroyed it: brick by brick. 14
We started to think how to survive. We went down to the cellar (28 people), in the dark, with candlelight. It was cold and wet. The house was shaking from bullets. Rockets hit shops and neighboring houses. People under the rubble looted food shops to survive. Food was prepared on a fire under the swish of bullets and rockets. Snow, a real winter, minus 10 degrees in March. Dead bodies everywhere. The dead were deposited in pits under the building. It was impossible to bury them. For the first few months we lived at the Sisters’ house – recovering from trauma. After 5 months we decided to stay in Poland, because there is no going back; we have nothing to go back to. Now, my children go to school, I have a job. Sisters helped us find a flat, provide us with essentials like the beds and a fridge. We are slowly organizing our life from the beginning.
EMERGENCY Emergency FUNDING Funding DC IPS and Conrad Hilton Fund for Sisters (HFS) align in a shared value of assisting those most in need. HFS Emergency Funding program had a profound impact at the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine. “The project allowed us to respond quickly to the urgent needs of refugees who were deprived of the basic necessities of life ... In the initial phase, we provided refugees with all the basic necessities: food, clothing hygiene items, medicines, blankets, etc. ... Thank you for your selfless and immediate response to this difficult situation. Refugees experience God’s goodness, and we helped them not to lose hope at a difficult time in their lives.” - Ukraine DC IPS is grateful to HFS for the Emergency Funding program. It is unique in the philanthropic arena and is greatly appreciated. The grant program and supportive HFS staff facilitated rapid assistance arriving in a time of great need.
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Empowering Women and Children
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The joy that this project brings is inexplicable, because so many poor children get their lives back thanks to this school, where they receive moral and spiritual support. - Burundi
Around the globe, Daughters of Charity are addressing issues of inequality, human trafficking, female genital mutilation, disability, homelessness, and poverty. By implementing projects which provide access to care, entrepreneurial training, or a safe haven from brutalities that have become the norm, Sisters are creating change where it is needed most. The goal is not simply to help women and children survive but to empower them to thrive and to build communities that support those who are most often marginalized and vulnerable. 16
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For example, 2,600 Clean Birth Kits have been sent to 11 different clinics in Nigeria to help reduce the child/maternal mortality rate. Additionally, the health protocols delivered at eight DC DREAM Center locations have made a dramatic impact in the treatment of HIV and AIDS, as well as malnutrition. The medical and nutrition protocols used at our DREAM Centers have resulted in miraculous strides and are a testament to the effectiveness of the protocol. In FY23, there was a 0% HIV transmission rate from mother to child in births which is a noteworthy success for the program.
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The children of the school no longer need to go down to the well in the garden to fetch water. They only have to turn on the tap of the overflow basin to have the water so clear. What a joy! - Madagascar
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Before and after of a child at the DREAM Center in Mozambique. Initially, suffering from malnourishment. After adhering to the nutrition protocol, he is healthy and thriving! 17
Water, Sanitation & Hygiene (WASH)
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Global Concerns
When the physically challenged came to hospital in their wheelchairs, they found the hospital environment accessible for their treatment. - Nigeria
1 in 4
lack basic water services
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1 in 3
lack handwashing amenities
1.8 billion at higher risk of infection
1 in 6
contract new infections during hospital stay
1 in 10
lack toilets or latrines
1 million
die annually due to unclean birth conditions https://iris.who.int/bitstream/handle/10665/ 337604/9789240017542-eng.pdf?sequence=1 18
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We are working hard towards making the project self-sustainable through planting of economic trees like oranges, palm trees, cocoa plantation, and a cassava farm all of which are now giving us some income for a way forward. - Nigeria
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The improved standards of hygiene have made more people from far away communities come to St. Catherine’s hospital to seek health care. - Nigeria
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Water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) are the foundation of safe, effective healthcare facilities, impacting every facet of quality, dignified patient care. From handwashing and woundcare to nutrition and cleaning, WASH is essential to prevent the most pressing health challenges. Most of us expect basic water and sanitation such as drinking water, clean toilets and bathing areas, but in thousands of health care facilities around the world, these basics are an unreachable dream. The Daughters of Charity are committed to addressing these issues through proven solutions like building handwashing stations, digging wells, installing water storage, and constructing toilets and latrines at health care facilities around the world.
FY23 Achievements
3
Healthcare Facilities
20
Handwashing Stations
9
Water and Collection Tanks
38
Toilets and Latrines
Improved WASH for Nearly 75,000 People 19
Mexico - Refugee Shelter
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They often arrive with only what they can carry and without having eaten for days. … With the project’s help, we can continue to receive them and provide food, medical care, hygiene items, clothing and shoes, allowing them to rest and recover to continue on their journey. ... They appreciate the care, companionship and support.
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na
Sr. Fele ke
Sr. Adr ia
Sr. Ma ria
Sisters
“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me into your home. I was naked and you gave me clothes” - Matthew 25:35-36
Albania - Medicines for the Poor
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This project is very important at this time for our mission, because the poverty in our country has become deeper, that’s why people see the medication project as God’s extended hand for them and their families. Therefore, they have the opportunity to buy food and other things instead of medicines.
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More than
65,000
adults and children received services from this project 20
This medicines project has created a network collaboration to care for the poorest of the poor
ch
Ethiopia - Water Project for School & Clinic
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Before, water came to us once a week and we collected water in containers. We would buy water from water trucks almost every day for the school, laboratory clinic and provincial house. Now, it is a miracle every time we open the tap. Life changed overnight. We have a small garden, school classrooms are washed, offices are clean, and children can flush toilets because of the generosity of funders and those who are concerned with how we live.
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1800 5000 students
patients
per year at the clinic now have reliable access to water
m
Sr. Nor
a Learning for Humanity (L4H), a Medicines for Humanity project, is a customized, online learning experience created for Catholic Sisters and their staff.
Cambodia - Urban Families Project
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The children of the poor and disadvantaged are being given a chance to succeed through the work of the Sisters and staff. This is the key to a better future for the children. Children are given early childhood development skills which are vital for future learning. The Sisters provide basic education and additional tutoring for the children who come to the centers. Many would stop attending school without the assistance from the program. The Sisters also deliver supplemental food and medical assistance to families.
DC IPS is collaborating with L4H to assist local Sisters in building capacity, strengthening health systems and empowering communities. Ongoing education enables ongoing growth. DC IPS has committed to subsidizing fees for DC Sisters to enroll in L4H classes. Available courses focus on training, skill-building, and mentoring for a variety of topics. Topics apply to work in healthcare, education, social work, poverty, and build skills in management and leadership. Thus far, DC Sisters have completed the Project Management, Health Care Management, Improving Nutrition Outcomes and Leadership courses.
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150
families received food, education, and micro enterprise training to improve their potential for better life. 21
Communication Initiatives Website DC IPS revitalized our website in Spring 2023. A major impetus for this update was the ability to communicate better with our audience. Several applications in the original design of the site were out of date which caused technical challenges and made the regular updating of information laborious and sometimes even crashed the site. We can now easily update project information and even show the progression of funds raised. From being introduced to a new collaborator, Little Leaf Designs, who expertly guided us through the process at a very reasonable price, to the ease of updating the site for DC IPS staff, the fresh new website is an all-around improvement in communications.
Social Media In FY23 DC IPS began weekly social media posts on Facebook and LinkedIn that synced up with our quarterly appeals, highlighted grant evaluation testimonials, and aligned with special days like World Water Day and Migrant/ Refugee Day. This regular regimen of posting has resulted in the following statistics: 25,980 impressions on LinkedIn, and 2,311 followers on Facebook. We will track these data points as we remain committed to this addition to our communications strategy.
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This poem was sent to DC IPS from a Sister who serves in the Tigray region of Ethiopia where for the past few years there was a gruesome civil war. Mercifully, there is now a peace accord. May you be blessed by her heartfelt benediction to DC IPS donors.
Thank you for being our light during this time of darkness We always pray for your safety, peace and happiness May God offer you the fruit of your generosity and kindness Loving others and showing compassion is the mystery of success... We love you and appreciate you for ever Your spirit is here with us together We remember you in our daily prayer May she shield you, Mary our mother, For the world is not fair As you are helping His people, may God become your helper May God Bless you
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Looking Ahead Help us continue to Tell the Story by funding future projects The effectiveness of the Daughters of Charity throughout nearly 400 years has been due to their desire to work within their community. It has always been and continues to be the involvement and sharing of gifts and talents of sponsors, donors, and volunteers that make the programs and activities of the Sisters possible. The Sisters give their skills and their lives, but without resources, their efforts can still fall short. Join DC IPS in supporting the many ministries of DC Sisters around the world. Their project applications come to us throughout the year and are added to our website. We encourage you to visit regularly to see the new projects we’re raising funds for. As you’ve seen in these pages, the needs are great. Any gift you send will impact lives. You will reach across the miles in a chain of effective love. Join with the Sisters to help God’s children. - Sister Mary Louise
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DAUGHTERS OF CHARITY INTERNATIONAL PROJECT SERVICES 18000 West Nine Mile Road, Suite 550 Southfield, Michigan 48075 USA daughtersIPS.org We are grateful to partners and collaborators who generously support DC IPS with design, printing, and mailing activities throughout the year. “Love one another, bear with one another, support one another, and be united in the Spirit of God.” – St Vincent de Paul