2025 Peace and Justice Grants awarded
Established in 2023 with the formation of the U.S. Province of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood, the Precious Blood Peace and Justice Grant Committee (P&J) unites the efforts of the former Kansas City and Cincinnati provinces. The committee accepts grant applications from individuals and institutions worldwide seeking support for social justice-focused initiatives. These projects aim to bring about systemic change, serve marginalized communities, offer direct assistance to those affected by poverty and injustice, and promote a more just and compassionate world.
Brother Rob Reuter, C.PP.S., administers the grants. “An advantage of being missionaries in a first world country is that we often have the financial resources to help others live the gospel, especially in terms of alleviating the causes and effects of poverty,” he says.
Since its formation three years ago, the committee has awarded a total of $500,000 in funding. Brother Rob says, “As a C.PP.S. committee, we are very proud of the diverse and creative projects we have been able to assist and the marginalized people those projects are able to help.”
The U.S. Province offers our sincere gratitude to the members of the P&J committee for their dedicated work: Br. Robert Reuter, C.PP.S.; Fr. Timothy Knepper, C.PP.S.; Gabino Zavala; Holly O’Hara; and Leo Barron. Read below for information about this year’s awardees.
Allen County Juvenile Detention Center
Lima, Ohio
Opportunities for engagement and experiential learning; improvements to the overall living environment. “Allen County Juvenile Detention has been a previous recipient of the Peace and Justice grant and on a recent tour of the facility they shared with me how they wisely used the funds from the grant. They painted and furnished meetings spaces to make them more welcoming, and they will be installing planter boxes for growing produce. St. Gaspar, our founder in his ministry, had a concern for those who were in prison. A grant to the Allen County Juvenile Treatment Program continues Gaspar’s legacy.”
Rev. Matthew Keller, C.PP.S.
Adorers Amani Girls Secondary School
Manyoni, Tanzania
Construction of a sick bay near the dormitory of the Adorers Amani Girls Secondary School in Tanzania, established by the Adorers of the Blood of Christ and serving 400 young women from poor families and marginalized groups.
St. Anna Parish Chickens and Supplies
Morogoro, Tanzania
Purchase of chickens and supplies for widows and poor women to be self-sustaining during months when agriculture is not possible.
African Self-Determination Foundation
Kansas City, Missouri
The African Self-Determination Foundation (ASDF) funds education expenses for indigent students in Togo, Africa, and neighboring countries.
Calumet College of Saint Joseph
Whiting, Indiana
Teaching and encouraging college students to get involved in social justice work and providing immediate relief to hungry people. The funds provide sack meals to people in need living on the south side of Chicago.
Benjamin Durchslag, LCSW
Chicago, Illinois
“Stronger Families” will provide clinical support to individuals, families, and communities by offering clinical therapy, small group therapeutic circles, and family therapy in the Back of the Yards community. “Healing work supported by Precious Blood spirituality; it speaks to the dignity of each person and the need to concentrate on healing and making whole rather than punishment and isolation.” Fr. David A. Kelly, C.PP.S.
Catholic Mobilizing Network
Washington, D.C.
Catholic Mobilizing Network will further its education and advocacy efforts to end the death penalty by mobilizing people to value life over death, stop executions, and ultimately serve the over 2,200 individuals on death row in the U.S., which represents a disproportionate number of vulnerable persons.
Precious Blood School
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Completion of two classrooms that will help 80 students from poor families.
Don Giovanni Merlini Parish
Dodoma, Tanzania
Construction of two classrooms to provide the basic right of education for children and ensure their safety, success, and prosperity.
Don Giovanni Merlini Vocation Center
Dodoma, Tanzania
Funds provide two families with piglets to allow pig farming to raise their own income.
Every Child Education Equity Project
East St. Louis, Illinois
Every Child Education Equity Project’s goal is systemic change in the educational system for children growing up in poverty through coalition and base-building, grassroots advocacy, community organizing, and public policy development.
Faith Hope Homeless Assistance Campus
Kansas City, Missouri
A unique issue in Kansas City is that we are the worst in the nation in housing the chronically homeless. This past winter, Hope Faith operated a Winter Shelter with an application from the city to build a year-round shelter on our campus.
“Besides providing direct services for the poor and marginalized, they work toward systemic change of unjust situations. It’s hard work, and every day brings its own challenges. But it is very rewarding to see the homeless move to sustainable living and a job that is worth their dignity. Hope Faith is indeed a ministry that is in keeping with our Precious Blood mission, ‘striving to serve all people, especially the poor, with care and compassion, hope and hospitality.’” Fr. John Wolf, C.PP.S.
Friends in Faith Kansas City Youth
Kansas City, Missouri
Friends in Faith KC is an organization focusing on youth, many of whom are struggling with mental health challenges and do not have trusting adult relationships to give them needed support. The teenage youth in this program are paired with adult volunteers to provide social and spiritual support.
Good Samaritan Food Pantry
Rensselaer, Indiana
The GSFP of Rensselaer gathers, stores, and shares food items and household goods to our neighbors in need. The GSFP is a bridge between America’s food bounty and those who cannot provide for themselves.
Malongwe Dispensary
Tabora, Tanzania
Funding for medicine and medical supplies. The facility provides health care for Malongwe and ten surrounding towns. Good health improves the quality of life.
Mkula Parish Block Machines
Morogoro, Tanzania
Job training and start-up costs for self-sufficiency for impoverished families.
Elizabeth New Life Center
Dayton, Ohio
The Strong Start program at ENLC’s Holy Family Prenatal Care medical clinic addresses prenatal health needs for pregnant women in Montgomery County, Ohio, who are demographically at risk for adverse birth outcomes and infant mortality.
“Since 1989, Elizabeth’s New Life Center has been providing compassionate pregnancy services and related programming, strong community partnerships, and leadership in the pregnancy resource community. This year, Holy Family Prenatal Care is celebrating its 25th year of offering medical care throughout pregnancy to low-income women. I enthusiastically support Elizabeth’s New Life Center and Holy Family Prenatal Care.” Fr. Angelo Anthony, C.PP.S.
Mwongozo St. Chibumagwa Mission
Tanzania
Improving life conditions for youths from impoverished families with the purchase of a peanut butter machine to sell a processed product at a higher value than raw material.
Immigration Ministry Archdiocese of Chicago
Chicago, Illinois
National Pastoral Migratoria participate in and coordinate responses to the migrant crises in urban and rural areas across the country. Leaders working in parishes mobilize critical training, dialogue, resources, and pastoral support to provide for the fundamental needs of thousands of migrants and asylee families in finding housing, transportation, employment, spiritual accompaniment, and needed resources on their journeys to rebuild their families’ lives.
Our Lady of Lourdes Church
India
Gaspar Nagar Village Parish is home to many poor Catholic families who live in poverty due to unemployment, lack of skills, and limited access to educational resources. Tuition centers, tailoring centers, and goat-rearing supplies will improve quality of life.
Padre Dino Pre and Primary School
Manyoni, Tanzania
Tuition, food, part of the teachers’ salaries, academic materials, sports and games equipment for 28 pupils.
Boundless Compassion
Rock Island, Illinois
The organization’s mission is to transform society to seek peace and reduce suffering by developing compassion. Our program intends to create a community of people committed to living and bringing compassion into their personal lives, community, and the world.
“We are grateful for the training that Boundless Compassion helps provide for volunteers at Harry Hynes Memorial Hospice. Many of our patients find themselves isolated and in need of compassionate support. Hospice volunteers generously give of themselves and their time to be with these patients as they are imminently approaching their death.” Rev. Thomas A. Welk, C.PP.S.
Precious Blood Ministry of Reconciliation
Chicago, Illinois
The Brandon Project is named after Brandon Powell, who was a PBMR participant murdered in 2018 at age 20. He was known for sending his money to his incarcerated friends, seeing to their needs. This project focuses on the needs of the incarcerated and recently released whose needs their families cannot provide for. It provides a more intensive coverage of PBMR’s wide-ranging approach to reconciliation and restorative justice.
Precious Blood Kitchen Renovation
Morogoro, Tanzania
Renovation of kitchen to provide hygenic food preparation and cooking space for the residents, who are elders with leprosy.
Prison Youth Ministry
Morogoro, Tanzania
Funding to support the prison ministry at Dakawa Youth Prison in Tanzania.
Radio Mwantaza
Dodoma, Tanzania
Backup electricity supply for Radio Mwantaza, which provides information and teachings of the Church and Precious Blood spirituality. One of the problems currently facing the radio is the lack of reliable electricity, which may be cut off for more than five hours at times.
RC Mission VTC Manyoni Tanzania
Manyoni, Tanzania
Construction of a bio-gas source and system at Roman Catholic Mission Vocational Training Centre in order to provide an affordable source of cooking fuel.
Safeguarding Minors and Vulnerable Adults
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Sponsorship of a seminar on safeguarding minors and vulnerable adults at Precious Blood Parish, Tegeta, in Bagamoyo Diocese.
St. Anna Catholic Parish
Manyoni, Tanzania
Funding for sports, games, and entertainment for parish children to support teaching of life values and elimination of tribal rivalries.
St. James Social Care
Chicago, Illinois
The St. James Social Care “full choice” pantry model provides clients with food items. Homebound seniors are able to request deliveries of groceries. The homeless are served lunch Monday through Thursday.
“This program is an exemplar demonstration of living the gospel command ‘to feed the hungry.’ The funds are used for direct service to poor people, to alleviate in a significant way the effects of their poverty. The program reaches out to the homeless, the working poor, and low-income elderly members in the local community. They also collaborate with other parish ministers to assist the large asylum community in Chicago.” Fr. William A. Nordenbrock, C.PP.S.
St. Gaspar Church: India Education and Works Project
India
“Funds to support families who live in poverty due to unemployment and lack of skills and access to educational resources. Tuition centers, tailoring centers, and goat-rearing supplies will improve quality of life.
St. Gaspar Vocational Training
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Provides vocational education opportunities specifically designed to address the unique needs and aspirations of girls in low-income communities, fostering a generation of empowered, skilled women.
St. Henry Cluster Mission Commission
St. Henry, Ohio
Installing canister-style high-capacity water purifiers at key locations in the Chatard community in Haiti will allow parishioners to obtain 99.99% pure drinking water for their families, reducing the risk of water-borne diseases like cholera, dysentery, and typhoid fever.
St. James the Less Parish
Columbus, Ohio
Textbooks, training materials, and funding for leadership retreats.
Sunflower Seed Oil Press Project
India
Empowering widows and single mothers by helping them to purchase and install a sunflower seed oil press machine.
St. Nicholas Parish Trauma Healing
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Develop faith-informed mental health support programs that address the psychological and spiritual effects of trauma within marginalized communities.
St. Kateri Center of Chicago
Chicago, Illinois
Provide urban Native American youth with leadership training and education in their Native American culture and faith in Christ, enriching their growing understanding of their culture, faith, and leadership. The St. Kateri Center serves to build a bridge between the Catholic Church and Native Americans.
“Every person in the Church deserves to see themselves as part of the gospel. The testimonies of St. Kateri Tekakwita and the stories of Native American Catholics stretches back to our earliest colonial period. Though the Church has come far from this period of colonization, the wounds of the Native American community persist because they are unacknowledged and unattended to.” V. Rev. Jeffrey Kirch, C.PP.S.
St. Vincent De Paul Conference
Dayton, Ohio
Help those in need by paying selected living expenses during a person’s/family’s time of crisis. The intent is not to sustain a family indefinitely, but to help at a crisis point, and offer hope/counsel to find their way forward, for example, helping persons caught up in job loss, disability, or other urgent situations not covered quickly by local agencies.
Sangre de Christo Health Care Project
La Labor, Guatemala
Sangre de Cristo Health Care Project is a community-based health care organization that provides comprehensive health care services along with health promotion, disease prevention, and creative health education in a poor area that has limited access to health care services.
Skills Development for Tribal Women
India
Certified tailoring training programs to improve employability of women in the indigenous tribal community of Bargur Hills facing entrenched poverty, low literacy, social discrimination, and minimal access to economic opportunities.
Social Service Center Diocese of Eluru
India
Construction of a new church and community hall to conduct catechism classes for children, meetings for youth, village elders, lay leaders, women, and men at the mission of Sankarapuram in the Diocese of Eluru.
Sojourner Truth House
Lake County, Indiana
The Day Center Program at Sojourner Truth House responds with compassionate support services to the needs of women and families experiencing homelessness. During the day when overnight shelters are closed, our participants receive intensive case management, counseling, food and meals, onsite child supervision, training in life skills and parenting, and employment and career services, at no cost.
Welcome the Stranger
Alameda, California
Welcome the Stranger (WTS) partners with a sister organization and non-profit corporation, Shelter in Peace (SIP), that acts as a master tenant to contract with landlords for affordable transitional housing for immigrant families.
“Providing safe spaces for our brothers and sisters in Christ is hallmark of Precious Blood spirituality. And one of the five ministry foci for ministry in our new province is advocating for the immigrant population. Never has there been more need to support organizations and communities who assist immigrant newcomers in our country. No other time than now do we need more to support newcomers and those who walk with them.”
Fr. David Matz, C.PP.S.
Wichita Women’s Initiative Network
Wichita, Kansas
The Domestic Violence Employment Program (DVEP) is designed to empower women who have experienced trauma and abuse, equipping them with the skills, confidence, and support needed to achieve economic self-sufficiency.