Girls Scouts Wins CANstruction for the Food Pantry

#GoodNews Girl Scout Troop 40393 just finished dropping off all the cans from CANstruction at the IHM Food Pantry! We made sure to sort them based on the signs posted on the tables and shelves. BIG THANKS to Troop Leader Jennifer Golinski for the assist. And of course, BIG THANKS to the girls! Keep up the good work!

The best way you can help is by gathering food items from your home, friends, neighbors or co-workers and bringing the food to our donation crate behind the church. Check out our website for a listing of acceptable food items and details about the pantry. https://ihmparish.net/food-pantry

IHM Food Pantry is located at 1571 Martine Ave in Scotch Plains. We're open on Wednesdays from 10-11:30 am. We are also open every second Sunday of the month from 10-11:30am. Next Sunday Pantry is this Sunday March 8th. These are rough times, but we call all make it if we work together. Thank you!

Girl Scouts Making Soup For Our Elders

“The snow could stop these Girl Scout Ambassadors coming together to make delicious soup for our seniors and area emergency shelters. They represent Troop 40792 and are juniors in High School. They made a Tuscan White Bean soup from scratch and delivered it right on time for it to be served to those in need on this snowy day. We are very grateful to them. Well done Girls! A big thank you to their leaders.“

Thank you
Geraldine

IHM Soup Celebration 2026

Thank you very much for all your help recruiting volunteers for our Soup Celebration.  It was an amazing success with 26 volunteers coming out to help. We made over 430 servings of soup, 280 sandwiches and 100 Tuna Fish rolls. Our volunteers came from both parishes, Girl Scouts and people from the community.

We made so many new friends, the atmosphere was incredible, fun and energetic. The soups and sandwiches will go to our community seniors, the emergency Code Blue shelter and two other shelters in Plainfield. A big thank you to Glenn Vaughn for sourcing all of the ingredients used last night. They were all donated from local stores including Target, ShopRite and Acme.

We would also like to thank all the folk that made delicious soup at home and dropped it off, we are so grateful!

Sincerely
Marlaina and Geraldine

Pope Leo XIV's LIVE Digital Encounter with U.S. Youth

Pope Leo XIV’s historic LIVE digital encounter with American youth at the National Catholic Youth Conference (NCYC 2025) in Indianapolis! This event featured Pope Leo’s heartfelt dialogue with teenagers, sharing questions, hopes, and stories from Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, in front of over 16,000 young people. Streamed live worldwide by EWTN, in a coordinated effort with Vatican Media, discover inspiring moments and spiritual unity as Pope Leo XIV addresses the future of the Catholic Church in the U.S..​​

Thank You McGinn Elementary School!

We just received a HUGE food donation for our Thanksgiving Food Drive. Perfect timing, since our previous Food Pantry Day nearly wiped us out. BIG THANKS to Pooja and Jamie from McGinn Elementary School @ Scotch Plains-Fanwood Public Schools for organizing this collection. And BIG THANKS to Families of Faith Captain John McGuire for putting everything together behind the scenes. IHM Food Pantry is open every Wednesday and 2nd Sunday of every month from 10am until 11:30am. Located at 1571 Martine Ave in Scotch Plains, NJ. More details available at this link: https://ihmparish.net/food-pantry

Sisters of Life Return to IHM

Thanks again to the Sisters of Life for visiting IHM Parish! (with a surprise celebrity cameo from Bishop Elias R Lorenzo ) Thanks to Families of Faith leader John McGuire & the Parish Life Ministry for assembling a delicious pasta dinner. And thanks to our parishioners and guests for joining us. It was a beautiful evening and you're welcome back at the parish anytime.

Eva Angel Saves the Food Pantry

Here’s a bit of #GoodNews from the Food Pantry. A BIG THANK YOU TO EVA ANGEL from the Junior Girl Scouts for creating hand-drawn posters and collecting food for our Food Pantry. Isn’t that amazing? Attached is Eva's Food Pantry Flyer that she posted around town as part of her Girl Scouts Junior Take Action Project. She was able to post/hand out 25 flyers to local businesses. Eva's super excited to help out and raise awareness for the food pantry and plans to post more flyers and drop off some food donations to us next week as well. Thank you, Eva!!!

The IHM Food Pantry is open every Wednesday and every 2nd Sunday of the month from 10am-11:30am. If you would like to donate food to our Food Pantry, please drop off shelf-stable foods and place them in the wooden crate behind the church. Visit our web page for more details: www.ihmparish.net/food-pantry

Statement from Cardinal Tobin on Minneapolis Tragedy

“Along with Cardinal Tobin the parish community of Immaculate Heart of Mary is heartbroken over the tragedy this morning in Minneapolis and will continue to pray for all who have been effected. May our children experience the peaceful grace of our lord through their loving parents and community.” - Fr. Michael Ward

I ask the faithful of the Archdiocese of Newark to join me in prayer for all those affected by today’s tragic shooting at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis. What should have been a joyful beginning to a new academic year was instead shattered by senseless violence.

We hold close in prayer the children, families, teachers and parish community of Annunciation. We also extend our support to Archbishop Bernard Hebda, who once served the faithful of Newark as our Coadjutor Archbishop, and to all in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis as they shepherd their flock through this time of grief.

No child should ever face fear in a place of learning and worship, and no parent should endure the loss of a child to violence. We commend the victims to the mercy of Christ, who alone can heal broken hearts, and I ask the faithful here in New Jersey to stand with them in prayer and solidarity.

As our own Catholic schools begin this year, we renew our commitment to providing safe, hope-filled environments for every student. We remain deeply grateful to all who work tirelessly to protect our children and communities.

May Christ our Redeemer bring comfort to the grieving and peace to all who mourn.

Welcome Fr. Charles Leshipan!

Thank you for welcoming us in your parish on the weekend of July 27, 2025. The missionary who will be visiting your parish is Fr. Charles Leshipan, mxy. He belongs to the Yarumal Mission Society. He is a missionary priest who has served the people of God in Cambodia since his ordination. He is originally from Kenya-East Africa.

The goal of the Yarumal Mission Society is to witness the Gospel of Jesus Christ among people and cultures where the Gospel is not yet fully preached. To carry out our pastoral programs and social projects, our missionaries depend very much on the generosity of the Christians from parishes they visit.

Our support for Charles and his missions, is a sign that reminds us of our baptismal vocation: We are all missionaries of Christ. Please be generous. Thank you for visiting Fr. Charles! Good luck on your mission.

http://www.semisiones.org

Food Pantry Summer Update

This is the mighty little team of rising 8th grade students that helped unpack 7 pallets of donated goods on Monday July 21st, 2025. They were amazingly organized and efficient, with Deacon Bob and Deacon Colm’s help we got it done in little over an hour.

The same day, we distributed much needed cleaning supplies and food to St Barts, the senior citizens complex and Park Hotel in Plainfield and to St Theresa’s in Kenilworth. We have folks coming from St Mary’s Parish in Plainfield, St Vincent De Paul in North Plainfield and St John’s Food Pantry in Newark all getting shipments later in the week.

Some of the items will be distributed by our own food pantry and used to give food and cleaning supplies to our local senior community. This will be done by newly formed collaboration with St Barts on a Care and Support Ministry.

None of this would be possible without the generosity of our friends at Evangel Church on Terrill Road. Their new program Hope Flows is what is making this all possible. We are blessed to belong to such a giving community.

Thank you
Geraldine