• Saint Francis’ Own Pulls Double Duty in the Army Reserves

    April 9, 2021 · Hi-Lites,Ministry News

    Around this time last year, COVID-19 was mostly an ominous-sounding word hinting at a danger that the world was just beginning to discover. As the numbers climbed, healthcare workers watched anxiously and prepared, while scientists scrambled to learn more about this disease. In March 2020, none of us were sure what the virus was capable of. Into this risky and uncertain situation moved the 1908th Medical Detachment of the U.S. Army Reserve, based at Topeka, Kansas. Mobilized as part of the Urban Augmented Medical Task Force, they spent nearly four months in Texas, New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts providing behavioral mental health support to civilian patients and front-line healthcare workers in local hospitals. One of those soldiers was Sgt. Donald Holliday, a behavioral health social worker and an employee of Saint Francis Ministries.


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    HiLites 2021: Spring e-zine

    April 2, 2021 · Hi-Lites,Newsletters

    Welcome to the first edition of our redesigned Hi-Lites electronic magazine, or e-zine! You'll find 40+ pages of compelling stories, thought-provoking articles and highlight of people who are making a difference.


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    Adoption grows and heals: ‘Everyone knew we would be the ones to step up’

    January 15, 2021 · Foster Care / Adoption,Foster Family Features,Ministry News

    Joseph’s younger sister, Vanessa, passed away four days after giving birth in December 2018. At her death, her two daughters from a previous relationship went to live with their birth father’s family. Four days after her mother passed, Alexis turned 10 years old. The girls entered foster care in January 2018, and in April, they came to live with Joseph and Tonya as a kinship placement. None of their lives would be the same – and yet, they were all the better for it.


    Empty nesters: The family that farms together, fosters together

    January 7, 2021 · Foster Family Features

    Every morning, Jim Zamrzla heads out the door to work on the 5,000 acres he and Stephanie farm near Holyrood, Kansas. They raised three boys and a girl on that land, each of them learning the importance of chipping in and helping out to support the needs of the family. So, when their daughter and youngest child, Taylor, prepared to leave home, the couple wondered just how much their lives would change – and how quiet their house would soon become.


    Forever family is covered in God’s fingerprints

    November 16, 2020 · Foster Family Features

    Their story begins a mere three years ago, or eight, if you consider how long Shiyrah and Shadow spent trying locked door after locked door. When they finally found the one that opened, they discovered God’s fingerprints all over it. This month, the six of them formally become one, a Williams family on paper as well as in their hearts.


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    Finding Shelter: Taking care of human trafficking survivors

    October 17, 2020 · Ministry News

    Anti-human trafficking agencies throughout the country graciously shared their resources and time in a survey conducted by Saint Francis Ministries to produce a listing of the number of beds available to survivors of Commercial Sex Exploitation and Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children, or CSE/C. This listing is designed to be a resource to communities, nonprofits, and government leaders who are working to develop stronger networks of support for survivors and to connect them with these services.