Authored by Anthony Pietropaoli, MD and the Stewardship Team, the following article was first published in the June 9, 2024 St. Louis Church bulletin.
It is an all too common experience. Many of us have been there.
Your loved one is hospitalized with a life-threatening illness. Your life is turned upside down as you spend many hours and late nights in the hospital. You feel helpless, anxious, and afraid. Sadness, disorientation, and confusion permeate your mind and spirit. You feel alone. You are physically exhausted, cold, and hungry.
During vulnerable times like these, the kind words or gestures of a stranger can have enormous power.
The Stewardship Team is launching a parish-wide Hospital Ministry initiative to support people facing these circumstances. Through your support and generosity, St. Louis will provide gift bags to family members of desperately ill patients, partnering with the Social Work and Family Services Department at UR Medicine’s Strong Memorial Hospital. Intensive care social workers will identify family members of severely ill patients, specifically the family members with far distances to travel, financial need, or other hardships.
The gift bags will contain practical items such as parking passes, cafeteria and coffee shop gift cards, and gift shop vouchers where they can obtain those forgotten essentials (i.e., a decent toothbrush, other toiletries, a pack of gum, etc.). Most importantly, the gift bag will include a prayer and a few words of kindness and fellowship from our community. We will let them know St. Louis Parishioners are praying for them; we will let them know they are not alone.
Please consider supporting this new and innovative ministry with a financial donation. It is a small way for us to participate in a corporal work of mercy: visiting the sick. To give ... visit stlouischurch.org/hospital-ministry, or place a check payable to St. Louis Church with “Hospital Ministry” in the memo line in one of the collection boxes located at church entrances. No donation is too small! Thank you in advance for your kindness and generosity!