Connections Fall/Winter 2010 (PDF) - Sisters of St. Joseph of ...

ide down the long country road to Sacred
Heart Parish and Family Center in Camden
and you’ll find Sister Donna Gunn
building community. Walk by
the faded Main Street storefronts of Okolona and into
EXCEL, Inc. and you’ll find Sister Liz Brown
building bridges. Drive up to the sienna dirt and towers
of scaffolding at the future site of St. Matthew’s Church
in Ripley and you’ll find Sister Kate Regan building
a place to call home. Three sisters, three towns, one
mission: strengthening church and community for the
people of Mississippi.
Sister Donna Gunn, CSJ
Sister Donna Gunn, CSJ
Building community
The new electronic sign that marks
the campus of Sacred Heart Parish
and Family Center in Camden stands
as a beacon to the people of northeast
Madison County. Just a few years ago
the school was closing and the church
dwindling. Thanks to the dedicated
parishioners and the support of home
missioners, the parish now lives as the
heart of this rural Mississippi community.
And Sister Donna Gunn, CSJ is
keeping the beat.
As Sacred Heart’s special project
coordinator since 2007, Gunn oversees
a wide array of outreach programs that
provide much needed services to this
impoverished region. Those programs
include after-school and summer
activities for youth, meals and housing
repair for seniors, and financial literacy
education and tax prep assistance—all
designed to empower people and to help
them live with dignity.
Visit the center on any given day
and you will witness Gunn’s hands-on
brand of leadership. She writes federal
grant applications for home repairs and
then visits with an elderly woman
whose porch has collapsed. She
organizes the Individual Development
Account savings program and then
works on a personal budget with one
of its participants. She helps the youth
director plan a summer trip to St. Louis
and then pats a student on the back for
a job well done.
Sister Liz Brown, CSJ
Sister Kate Regan, CSJ
Co n n e c t i o n s • Fa l l/Wi n t e r 2010
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