Salina, Kansas – October 17, 2022 – Saint Francis Ministries announced today that Denny Marlin has joined the not-for-profit child and family provider as its new Executive Director of Marketing & Communications. Marlin will provide oversight, coordination, and leadership to both internal and external communications, as well as the organization’s marketing goals.
Salina, Kansas – October 24, 2022 – Saint Francis Ministries is one of 42 non-profit organizations to receive a 2023 Leadership Transformation Grant awarded by the Kansas Leadership Center. Partner organizations will use the grants to “create a culture that embraces change, tackles problems and seizes opportunities,” according to the KLC. At least 45 other Kansas organizations from community-minded business, education, faith, and government sectors were also selected.
Leadership development is important for the success of any organization, and at Saint Francis we believe that when a leader gets better, everybody wins. So, in the quest for excellence, we have built our own leader development program. The Saint Francis Ministries Leadership Center (SFMLC) was created to build solid leaders who function confidently and competently in an unpredictable world.
It’s probably no coincidence that Bullying Awareness and Domestic Violence Awareness occur within the same month. Both address assaults on human dignity. Both also have the capacity to inflict multiple types of trauma on the most vulnerable among us, particularly children and women. And since Saint Francis Ministries works hard to be fully trauma-informed, and since most of the people with whom we work are dealing with some form of trauma, we make a point to raise awareness about both bullying and domestic violence.
Truth be told, most of us have probably experienced bullying in some form. It’s virtually impossible to escape middle or high school without becoming the focus of a bully at some point. It might come in the form of a verbal put-down, an act of physical aggression, or even a social media post.
Run a quick Google search of “Saint Francis” or “St. Francis,” and look at the results. Odds are, you’ll see loads of links to churches, nonprofit organizations, hospitals, and others than have the 13th century Italian mystic as their namesake, St. Francis of Assisi. Why? What is it about him that inspires so many to consider Il Poverello (Italian for “the little poor one) both patron and model?
We may be winding down our month-long celebration of child welfare workers, but we’ll never tire of thanking those who work so hard to secure the safety of children and to help families heal and regain wholeness. Child Welfare Workforce Development Month may come once a year, but the mission continues year-round.
Among the many programs and services Saint Francis provides are those that support mental and behavioral health for young people and adults. That support is especially important because some of the people we serve might be at risk of self-harm.
September is National Child Welfare Workforce Development Month, so throughout the month, we plan to celebrate our employees and the vital work they do every day.
Saint Francis turns 77 years old today, which speaks to the extraordinary resilience and purpose of this ministry and the people who have dedicated themselves to the protection of children and families for more than seven decades.