Global Impact Stories

She’s always helping people with medical conditions and emergencies.

“My wife and I will always support Sister Ursula and the Sisters of the Poor in Abakaliki! The charity and mission work that she is doing is incredible and amazing. She’s always helping people with medical conditions and emergencies. She provides food and clothes and basic needs for the poor and helps all the children. We have a special place in our hearts for the poor as my wife and I raised 6 children with just one income. We were always just getting by. But being poor here in the U.S. is nothing compared to what Sister Ursula sees day in and day out in Africa. May God continue to bless her and bring her the funding that she needs to continue her Godly work on Earth!”

-Patrick V. and Jennifer D. Hopkins

This was all possible with a dream, an idea, a plan, and many people who have helped.

“John and I were approached by Andy and Lisa Fender, asking us if we would consider an opportunity to help the people of Abakaliki, Nigeria.  They presented us with an idea that had come from several meetings with a group supporting Sister Ursula showing us what they wanted to do to help with the building of a convent and clinic in Abakaliki.  This great dream of Sister Ursula and the committee would help the very, very poor people of Abakaliki.  We didn’t see how they would be able to accomplish their goal but we didn’t think too much about it at the time.  We talked about it and thought that we would make a donation and that would be it.  Then we were invited to come to Jefferson City to hear a presentation from Sister Ursula.  We were shown plans on how we could help even more. Over the next few years we were updated by Sister Ursula as she achieved her dream.  During the next year as plans were being made to finalize how far they had come, they updated us with photographs of the progress that had been made.   It was truly heart warming to see that so much had been done and it looked like they were going to achieve their goal.  This was all possible with a Dream, an idea, a plan and many people who helped.   God has truly blessed us with the opportunity, in a small way, to help the very poor of Abakaliki.  Thanking God for bringing Sister Ursula and the committee into our lives, we have been truly blessed.”

-John and Carole Wikoff

Why I Donate to the Sisters of the Poor Foundation.

“I have known Sister Ursula of the Sisters of the Poor, I would say, for close to twenty years. I believe in, trust and support the mission she and the Sisters have undertaken in taking care of and ministering to the poorest of the poor in Abakaliki, Nigeria. They give assistance to the desperately poor, those who are medically and emotionally challenged. The Sisters of the Poor are helping people with abnormalities of all kinds. They are educating the people in the Catholic Faith, trying, not only, to take care of their physical needs, but also their spiritual needs as well. I feel the Sisters of the Poor are echoing, in their own way, the ministry of Mother Teresa of Calcutta and her Sisters. How wonderful! The people of the area of Abakaliki, Nigeria do not have abundant financial resources available to take care of the needs the Sisters face, so they have to look elsewhere. I feel very blest to be able to donate to help those who cannot help themselves; to provide financial support where it is desperately needed. Scripture says, we honor Jesus when we help the poor.

I donate to the Sisters of the Poor Foundation because of their ministry to the poorest of the poor, the destitute. Each person the Sisters minister to is Jesus in disguise. If I and others did not donate to assist the people the Sisters of the Poor minister to, the situation in Abakaliki would be even more destitute, more sickness, more starvation, and more death. We cannot simply ignore those in need when we have all that we need.

Isaiah 25: 4 – “…For you have been a refuge to the poor, a refuge to the needy in their distress; Shelter from the rain, shade from the heat.””

-Deacon Fred Schmitz