Every life matters: Deepening relationships with WINN
The Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration Ministry Grant Committee is providing a series of learning opportunities — presentations given by sister and affiliate ministry grant sponsors to introduce the investments they support and those who are putting them to work within their organizations.
These presentations are not just information sharing; they are occasions created for making connections and deepening relationships in the global communities served.
We invite you to watch the latest session, What I Need to Know Now, Inc. WINN is a mobile ministry in the Coulee Region missioned "to lovingly care for our unsheltered neighbors in the Coulee Region with empathy, compassion and understanding and accepts individuals as they are, where they are.”
About WINN
“Every life matters,” says Sue Graf, executive director of What I Need Now.
FSPA invests in WINN and supports our neighbors with a ministry grant sponsored by Mike Schnitzius, FSPA affiliate, who introduces us to Sue and starts the conversation about the organization’s mobile ministry. WINN does not operate out of a building that unsheltered residents must find their way to; rather, a cargo van makes its way to them with essentials like new socks, t-shirts, hoodies, footwear, hygiene items, ready-to-eat food and feminine hygiene products. Referrals for social services like health care, employment and housing agencies are given. WINN also collaborates with local law enforcement, the city of La Crosse and food banks to coordinate resources and best meet the needs of those the organization serves.
But perhaps the biggest benefit of the program is the relationships fostered with those unsheltered. “They get to know that people love and accept them, trust us, contact us. It’s hard to think that stopping with a van and meeting some basic needs is the only care that some folks have.”
Stay tuned for new sessions and learning opportunities about deepening relationships through
ministry grant investments, and watch more videos in the series here.
We invite you to experience past FSPA Ministry Grant Committee offerings.
Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration Eileen McKenzie presents WainLainjo, an organization guiding refugees and immigrants in their "journey towards success and social equity in Minnesota and the United States" with its West African Immigrants Assistance program:
Affiliate RaeAnn Thomas introduced us to For One Child of India, an organization missioned to provide educational opportunities for children to "transcend their current level of poverty and improve the financial circumstances of their own lives and the lives of their families":
Affiliate Mary Ellen Dunford presented Olivet Neighborhood Mission, an organization striving to bring members of the community together to provide services and spaces to meet changing need:
