Our current projects include:

Bethesda Project  www.bethesdaproject.org 

Parish contact persons:  Michele Howard 610-296-7719;  

 or MaryAnn Flynn 610-647-3213.

 Casserole Collection

Our casserole network makes casseroles (pans and recipes are always available in the Narthex) which are delivered to Bethesda Project by volunteers once per week.  These casseroles are vital to both the shelter and those in residences.  You can help by making casseroles and/or by delivering casseroles. Once made, casseroles can be placed in the freezer in the Mechanical Room of the church (down the hall past the restrooms).

Bethesda Shelter Help

More than 175 homeless men each day are offered food, showers, clothing and shelter every day of the year.  St. Norbert provides new underwear, socks, t-shirts, and travel-sized toiletries for the men. Items are placed in the Narthex and taken to Bethesda by volunteers. We also collect towels (new and used) for the showers.  You can help by purchasing underwear and socks, collecting toiletries from hotels when you travel or donating or purchasing towels. Drivers to deliver the items are welcome.  In the winter, we collect warm coats, hats, gloves, scarves, and sweaters.  These are collected once per month on Outreach Weekend.

Bethesda Residence Help

St. Norbert volunteers visit residents at Bethesda Broad Street and Bethesda Bainbridge each week.  We strive to become part of their family.  We celebrate birthdays once per month, provide a meal and give each resident a gift for their birthday.  On other weeks, we visit, play games, and provide snacks.  You can help by becoming a regular visitor, providing a meal (needed greatly on weekends), becoming a Birthday Angel, serving food at Thanksgiving, providing Christmas gifts from the Giving Tree, making casseroles, and volunteering and attending the yearly St. Norbert fundraiser for Bethesda held each November.

 Aid for Friends (www.aidforffriends.org).

Aid For Friends' mission is to serve needy, isolated shut-ins, primarily the frail elderly with free daily home-cooked meals delivered weekly by empathetic volunteer visitors. The goal is to enhance the quality of life for our homebound "clients/friends" and to help them maintain their cherished independence by supporting their determination to remain in their own homes for as long as possible.  You can help by picking up a packet of dinner trays from the bottom shelf of the table in the Narthex of the Church. Cook an extra portion of your own dinner meals. Put that portion in a tray and freeze it. When you have 4 or 5 frozen dinners take them to the Aid for Friends freezer in the Mechanical Room of the Church. Invite Christ into your home by cooking an extra portion! Contact  Ruth Finley at 610-644-1655, ext. 16 or   for more information.

Weekly Food Collection (www.stgabrielparish.org)

Our sister parish in the Gray’s Ferry section of Philadelphia, St. Gabriel’s Parish, runs a food cupboard for the poorest of residents in that area.  St. Norbert supports the cupboard financially (through your pink Parish Outreach envelopes) and now provides a weekly food collection.  We also have special Thanksgiving and Christmas Turkey and Ham collections.  For the last two years, we have provided more than 800 Turkeys and Hams at Thanksgiving and at Christmas.  You can help by donating the much needed food each month, helping take the bags in the back of Church to the volunteer driver cars on Sunday following the 11:30 Mass, becoming a driver to deliver the food to St. Gabriel’s, and/or by taking part in the Thanksgiving and Christmas collection.  Look for information in the bulletin.  Placing a donation in the monthly Outreach envelopes also helps to purchase food to supplement the donations. Parish contact persons: 

Weekly and Thanksgiving and Christmas collection:  Ed and Lori Grady 610-644-4999 .  Forrest and Victoria Fisher 610-296-8022

 Clothing and Small Household Item Collection

Our monthly collection serves both St. Francis de Sales Church and The Second Mile Thrift Shop. You can help by dropping off your gently used clothing and small household items each Outreach weekend at the Father Burke Hall (the school gym), and by helping load the truck following the 11:30 Mass on Outreach weekend. Parish contact: Michele Howard 610-296-7719;

              Pajama Buddy Project

This project provides new pajamas to each child who arrives at any emergency shelter program in Chester County.  Each child receives a new pair of pj’s, and an age appropriate book which is placed in a hand-made fleece bag.  Many children arrive at these shelters with only the clothes they have on.  You can help by sewing pajama bags and/or donating pajamas and gently used books at our annual spring pajama collection.  This is a great family project. Parish contact person:  Michele Howard 610-296-7719  . 

Back Pack Collection

Every August we collect back packs filled with gently used books, new books, black composition books and other school supplies for the children at St. Gabriel's School in Gray’s Ferry.  These back packs are distributed not only to children at St. Gabe's, but also to other children in the area.  You can help by looking for the notice in the bulletin in August and filling a back pack for another child as you fill one for your own children.  It’s a great family activity. Parish contact person:  Michele Howard  610-296-7719   .

Christmas Giving Tree

For more than 20 years St. Norbert has sponsored a Christmas Giving Tree filled with ornaments with names of children, shut-ins, families, and organizations.  Each year more than 650 gifts are collected and distributed.  You can help by joining the Giving Tree Committee (notice is in the bulletin), taking an ornament and purchasing the gift stated, collecting gifts each Sunday after Masses, and/or delivering the gifts to the appropriate agency. Parish contact person:  Anita Savoy 610-296-0417   .