St. Francis Community Services

Our Adopt a Family for Christmas distribution is underway right now! (We didn't have a tree this year, but it didn't stop us from pretending ) We were excited to transition to a format that honors our client families’ wishes this year, where each person in the household gets a giftcard to the store of their choice for presents and household essentials.

Our attorneys have been hard at work this year keeping people safe and housed during COVID! One of our clients, Leyah, lost her job in the Spring due to the pandemic. By this fall, Leyah’s landlord had filed a lawsuit for rent and possession that would evict her from her home. Our staff attorney, Tiffany Norris, was able to intervene in her case and negotiate with both the landlord and the court to give Leyah more time to complete her CARES Act application, receive her funds, and pay the rent she owed to her landlord. By ensuring the case was dismissed with prejudice, Norris made sure the landlord cannot re-sue Leyah for rent and possession in the future on the same case, and so that she is less at risk of future eviction. Read the whole story here: https://sfcsstl.org/remaininghoused/

We’ve always been proud that Pope Francis shares so much in common with our own namesake, St. Francis, who continually challenges our world to be in solidarity with anyone who is marginalized. We enjoyed Pope Francis’ recent reflection as we contemplate justice, hope, and new life during this Advent season! This is a moment to dream big, to rethink our priorities what we value, what we want, what we seek and to commit to act in our daily life on what we have dreamed of. We need economies that give to all access to the fruits of creation, to the basic needs of life: to land, lodging and labor. We need a politics that can integrate and dialogue with the poor, the excluded and the vulnerable, that gives people a say in the decisions that affect their lives.