Sisters of the Good Shepherd completed the sale and transfer of its LA Shelter to Catholic Charities of Los Angeles in October 2019. Msgr. Cox, Executive Director of Catholic Charities of Los Angeles, oversaw the sale. He has assured us of his “desire that Catholic Charities does justice to the Sisters’ love and dedication for the Good Shepherd Shelter.” He also expresses his “gratitude to the Sisters for handing over such a wonderful program.”
In addition to the transfer of the LA Shelter, Sisters in Los Angeles celebrated other accomplishments in 2019. They established an endowment fund to ensure the shelter’s long-term sustainability and growth. And they saw the shelter become the first domestic violence shelter in the United States licensed to provide credit building lending circles to survivors.
LA Shelter annual gala
The LA Shelter closed out National Domestic Violence Awareness Month on October 26, 2019, with its annual gala. Sisters of the Good Shepherd Province of Mid- North America received the GSS Legacy Award at the gala. The award pays homage to the history of service by the Sisters who have served in Los Angeles for more than 100 years.
The event also honored Cristina Franco for her 25 years of work at the shelter. It honored Nina MacLeay for 22 years of volunteer service in granting every shelter resident’s holiday wishes.
Because of the generosity of its donors, The LA Shelter raised more than $250,000. It was the most successful gala to date. Funds raised will help support the new Lending Circles initiative. View gala photos on Facebook at https://bit.ly/2Slwbei and watch the GSS Legacy Award tribute on Youtube at https://bit.ly/2SmhBmU
Lending Circles Program
Mission Asset Fund (MAF) is a nationwide network of financial providers. MAF helps people who live in the financial shadows become stable. In October MAF selected the LA Shelter as the first domestic violence shelter in the U.S. to participate in its lending circles program.
The Lending Circles program is a fresh take on social lending. Women in the LA Shelter or after-care programs can contribute each month to a lending circle. They receive a rotating payout through the circles. Each contribution they make is reported to the three main credit bureaus as an interest free loan payment. In this way, the women are able to build their savings and increase their credit scores.
The program has profound implications on survivors, as financial insecurity is the number one reason abused women stay in or return to a violent relationship.
LA records move to St. Louis
Province Center archivist Monte Abbott and his small team of workers have finished the rough sorting of all of the records from Los Angeles. They have moved most of the records into folders and boxes that are stable for archival purposes and are now being stored in the Province Center’s temperature controlled archival vault.
“I continue incorporating those materials into our existing collection by creating finding aids and expanding our filing system,” Monte said.
These include school and administration records, as well as the LA Province’s international/Pacific part of its collection and photos and records of the local community.
“Records from each of the LA ministries and houses are filling in important areas of Good Shepherd history,” Monte said.
You can read more stories about the LA Shelter in the blog section of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd website.