FCSLA In the Community: Join Hands Day

OLOAA and FCSLA Join in "Operation Helping Hands"

Each spring students at Our Lady of the Angels Academy, Lansford, team up with the First Catholic Slovak Ladies Association to support a project for a needy cause. This year the team effort was extended to help Father James Sandy and his St. Mary's Orphanage and School in Sierra Leone, West Africa, by collecting much needed clothing and school supplies for the children of St. Mary's. The collected items will be sent to St. Mary's in August through the efforts of the "One Love Foundation," based in Summit Hill.

The "One Love Foundation" supports St. Mary's Orphanage, St. Theresa's and St. Peter's schools in Gerihun, Sierra Leone, West Africa, and the more than 300 children displaced by years of Civil War. The village of Gerihun has no running water or electricity, and the area is infested with mosquitoes which transmit malaria. The children are the most vulnerable.

"One Love" ships 40 ft. cargo containers to Father Sandy's Orphanage that are filled to the brim with donated items. The total cost to ship these containers from the eastern U.S. to the final destination exceeds $8000. FCSLA Lansford Branches #140 and #46, Coaldale Branches #417 and #318, and Nesquehoning Branches #410 and #321 provided a generous monetary donation to help defray the high cost of container shipping.

For more information about the "One Love Foundation," see their website at
Shown in the photo are (front, from left) FCSLA participants and members Samantha McCarthy, Anthony Stianchie, Adam Gilbert, Brayden Webb, Rachel Chuma, Taylor Paton, and Ethan Vermillion; (back, from left) Louise Dunstan (Financial Secretary/Treasurer, FCSLA #140), Mary Ciganek (Vice President, FCSLA #140) Maria Stianchie (One Love Foundation), Veronica Bazik (President, FCSLA #140), and Sister Regina Elinich, IHM (Principal, OLOAA).

Learn more about FCSLA in the community.