In Our New Home!
On Friday and Saturday, February 15 and 16, we moved into our new home in the newly renovated, beautiful church building (immediately next door to where we are now). We have a new phone number (585-270-8626) a new addition to our mailing address (414 Lexington Ave. Building A). 
The phones are located on our desk. We do have a new volunteer, thankfully, doing many of the necessary things that need to be done in an office. Thank you Kathy (yes another Kathy). All of our current activities will continue and some new will be added. Our hours of operation will continue as posted to the left of this article.
In our new residence we will have working bathrooms, a good sized, accommodating kitchen facility, extra ESL class space, a dedicated pre-school space and teen sitting areas with library, etc. for their convenience.
The daytime adult ed capabilities will be increased by, my estimation, five times what we have now available. Nazareth College will utilize this space on Wednesdays for their formal youth program. (See pictures and follow us on Facebook/Mary’s Place). Watch for our Open House April 25th.
Another feature of the building, if you will allow me a personal sharing, is the beautiful rendering of Mary, the mother of Jesus and thru whom we dedicate our outreach to Jesus in the name of Mary, this same mother. She avails herself to all our people as a portrayal of the one who loved and nurtured Jesus in His time here on earth. Being a mother myself (and grandma and great grandma, sister and daughter) I can appreciate the love, patience and caring for all His people of all faiths and nationalities that I read into the serenity portrayed in her face. As you enter the building she is front and center. Take a look!
We have many people to thank for our beautiful newly-renovated space. First amongst these is the Catholic community. Sacred Heart Cathedral and others affiliated with the Rochester Catholic Diocese have committed to thousands of dollars of support given to us each year which allows us to stay resident in our new ‘home’ and to continue reaching out from amidst the neighborhood of those we serve. 
Many other churches of various denominations provide the money, support and donations-in-kind which allow us to serve hundreds of new refugees each year and to continue to support the last four years of refugees that have come thru Mary’s Place (approximately 400 to 500 in number each year) as they work so diligently to get employment for the adults, education for the youth, safety-clothing-tutoring and food for their children and assistance to become the self-supporting people they are striving to become.
I would be remiss at this point to not thank the returning refugees who assist us every day in accepting donations, tutoring and keeping our place clean and maintained. Thank you Hla Win and your crew of Burmese and Nepalese who continue, day after day, to help! Thank you to Cara, our wonderful, extremely talented AmeriCorp-Vista worker, and her crew of excellent interns and college student volunteers. Thank you to LeCesse Construction Company and their people for their continued gracious and caring, bending over backwards, consideration of Mary’s Place and all our people and the needs of these people while they reconstruct the site.
Again, thanks to all our volunteers and supporters!
Please come visit us, take a look at what we are doing and intend to do, find a niche for yourself within our walls and join the Mary’s Place family. You don’t need to commit to regular hours to be of help but if you can you will greatly enrich our programs. We have need for building monitors, kitchen angels, tutors, companions/mentors to our young folks, tutors, art and music (all sorts) enthusiasts, pre-school helpers, specialty people (knitting, woodwork, sewing, cooking, science projects, drama and voice people), office help, clothing helpers, development, resource and planning people and preschool resource people.
Please check us out regularly on this site and come join us if it works for you.
God bless! -- Kathy
Prayer for Women Refugees
By: Jane Deren
On the road, seeking safe shelter;
In makeshift tents, feeding children;
In resettlement centers, rebuilding community;
In strange neighborhoods, looking for a compassionate face:
Long lines of women refugees,
Thousands, millions, all searching for that grace called home.
Grant them healing and wholeness, God of the vulnerable.
As you cherished Mary, cherish these women.
Grant us eyes to see them and the will to reach out,
So they may know they are not forgotten
But are welcomed in the global community, Sisters to us all.
Education for Justice Website, Center of Concern
Refugees
- 1.4 million people have become refugees outside their own countries.
- 26 million people have been displaced within their own countries.
May we realize that, in our interconnected world, we are linked with all displaced persons by our common humanity.
