Hope Flows

#GoodNews

Over the past year IHM has enjoyed a growing partnership with Hope Flows, a nonprofit group from the Evangel church on Terrill Road.

Hope Flows secures pallets of food, snacks and drinks and shares it with various organizations in our area. We were blessed to be chosen to work with them and have accepted 30+ pallets of food over the past few months. This past week we accepted 10 huge pallets. IHM volunteers have developed a list of local charities that distribute food directly to people in need. This week we were honored to distribute food to the following organizations:

IHM Food Bank,

St. Bartholomew Food Bank

St.John’s Food Kitchen in Newark

Family Promise in Plainfield

Veterans at Valley Brook in Lyons VA Hospital

St. Theresa’s Food Bank in Kenilworth

Zion Baptist Church in Roselle Park

JCC of Middlesex County

Plainfield Senior Center

Plainfield Wellness Center (Homeless)

Baptist Church of Roselle

Valerie’s Kitchen in Plainfield

St. Vincent Society in North Plainfield

Elizabeth Coalition to House the Homeless

This partnership between IHM and Hope Flows has helped us develop a community of like-minded organizations committed to providing help to those most in need. This is all in addition to the great work that our own food bank conducts week in and week out serving the most needy in our community.

If you are interested in getting involved, please contact the office for more information. Call 908-889-2100 or office@ihmparish.net

Geraldine Keogh

OCIA Class of 2026

We are filled with joy as we celebrate the Confirmation of three of our OCIA (Order of Christian Initiation for Adults) students! Two of them, Christopher Gibbons and Eduardo Crespo, were confirmed on May 9th, during the Saturday Vigil; following another student, Carlos Santa, who received the sacrament on April 26th at the 10:00am Mass. These students have spent the last nine months in weekly preparation, guided by their catechist, Heba Fortunato. We also look forward to next year as we continue to support our current catechumen—including the spouse of one of our newly confirmed—as she navigates her two-year path toward entering the Church. Please join us in welcoming them and keeping them in your prayers!

Senior Tea Party 2026

#GoodNews Our 5th Annual Senior Tea Party on Saturday May 16th was a great success, with over 80 guests in attendance from Scotch Plains, Fanwood and beyond!

They arrived dressed for the occasion in beautiful dresses, hats and some even wore gloves. Our honored guests enjoyed 6 different types of tea sandwiches, scones, cookies, chocolates and fancy pastries, smoothies and an assortment of teas.

We are especially grateful to John Addisano for preforming great musical hits from the 50s & 60s and including current hits. It was lovely seeing everyone up dancing and enjoying the music. A special thank you to John’s wife Kathy for all the extra little touches that she brought for our celebration.

There are not enough words to thank our Parish Life team for all their hard work, decorating the tables, preparing the food and serving our guests. Mary Frances, Regina R, Deb, Margaret, Regina O’C, Kathy, June and Emma, our High School volunteers.

Everyone went home with large shopping bags loaded with breads, pastries, homemade soup and leftover tea sandwiches, it was a beautiful end to a great event! As always, a special thanks goes out to Fr. Mike and Fr. Rob. They are always so supportive of these initiatives to help support our wider IHM community.

Gratefully

Geraldine Keogh

Good Scout Award Winners 2026

Warmest congratulations to Fr. Mike on receiving the Good Scout Award yesterday at The Westwood! This honor is a true reflection of your dedication, integrity, and unwavering commitment to serving others. Your leadership and example continue to inspire those around you, and this recognition is richly deserved. May this achievement be one of many more to come as you keep making a positive difference in your community. Shout out to fellow Good Scout Award winners Susan Hamlette-Mayers, Julie Murphy, Greg Roser, Greg Ruffa and Bill Sherman!

Discipleship Spotlight: Glenn Vaughn & Greg Ruffa

Three cheers for our local superheroes Glenn Vaughn! Greg Ruffa and the Sisters of Charity! Aside from his weekly service at our Food Pantry. Glenn consistently brings treats and supplies to the Sisters in Plainfield. He's also taking our veterans along on his adventures. Here we have our good friend (veteran, artist and fellow Good Scout Award Winner) Greg Ruffa gifting the Sisters this beautiful portrait of Mother Teresa! What an amazing group of people! These are the kind of influencers that deserve all the attention and admiration from our community. THANK YOU GLENN! THANK YOU GREG! THANK YOU SISTERS!

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