St. Ambrose Society-Refresh and Renew

“A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed”     Proverbs 11:25

“A Letter to St. Ambrose”

TO:                  St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan   

FROM:            The Families & Friends of St. Ambrose Catholic Church on The Hill

Dear St. Ambrose:

One year ago, you told us “If you have two shirts in your closet, one belongs to you and the other to the man with no shirt.”     You will be happy to know, we have done just that!  June 30^th marks the end of one full year of serving our homeless neighbors through the St. Ambrose Society’s REFRESH & RENEW ministry! 

While you are the patron saint of beekeepers, we have been as busy as bees, purging not only our closets to provide clothing for men, women, and children, but answering the call to provide the specific things our shelters have asked for.  Here’s what we’ve accomplished:

• 25,482 total items were collected, sorted, folded, and distributed. Our parishioners were so generous and spread the word to friends and family – we began serving 6 centers, shelters, and homes; now we serve 17!
• 3,000+ hygiene items. Travel sizes were given to Bridge of Hope, who provides showers for people living on the street, Blessing Bags were designed by an eighth-grade student for his Confirmation project and shared with the quarantined men at Peter & Paul, colorful mesh bags were given to the women at Covenant House, Safe Haven and Haven of Grace. 
• Between October and February, we collected 604 coats, keeping our brothers and sisters at Churches on The Street, St. Vincent DePaul, St. Patrick Center – actually every Center received warm, dry coats. Safe Haven, a shelter for abused women and their children, each received a coat, matching scarf and gloves – 47 of them!
• Socks were THE most requested item at all of our Centers. We asked…and we received 1,898 pairs of socks.  A lot of sore, wet feet were comforted and dry this past winter! 
• Some clothing, shoes and coats we received were sent to Twice Blessed (Our Lady’s Inn), St. Augustine’s Community Center (the Wellston community), and ReFRESH (Foster Families and the Adoption Coalition). 100% of the proceeds from these resale shops, support the organization listed in parenthesis next to them. 

St. Ambrose, through your encouragement, we now notice the men and women standing with their cardboard sign on the highway ramps in a little different light.  We appreciate our warm, clean bed and hope the bedding we donated is comforting the mom with her child or the teen who was trafficked, but now in a safe home.  You have opened our eyes and our heart to those less fortunate.  Please know we will continue to support and care for our brothers and sisters throughout our community! 

If you can donate clothes or hygiene items to our Pantry, please contact

Bonnie Devoti at 314.223.1495 or [email protected]

Please continue to help our homeless neighbors by donating:

NEW or GENTLY USED (laundered and folded please): 

• summer clothing for men, women, and children
• ALWAYS needed…new socks
• ALWAYS needed…new underwear (Women M-XL &Men L- XL)

If you can donate clothes or hygiene items to our Pantry, please contact

Bonnie Devoti at 314.223.1495 or [email protected]

“If you have two shirts in your closet, one belongs to you and the other to the man with no shirt.”            
St. Ambrose

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