A few days before the 2019 Chicago Marathon, I got a call from Sarah, my friend/co-worker/mentor.

“I just spoke with this nun. She is awesome. You have to do a video with her.”

Sarah always has great story judgement, but I was still a little hesitant. One of my best friends is a priest, but he’s also a nerdy Star Wars fan who is bad at texting. How ‘cool’ could a nun possibly be?

Well, meet Sister Stephanie:

Sister Stephanie’s smile is contagious, her passion for her community is unmatched, and she just so happens to have a marathon PR nearly 20 minutes faster than mine. After attending mass with Sister, meeting members of her charity team, and seeing the West Humboldt Park community firsthand, this Catholic son of social workers was compelled to help.

That’s why I’ll be running the 2020 edition of the race to help raise money for Mission of Our Lady of the Angels. Below is a breakdown of who Mission of Our Lady of the Angels are and what services will be directly funded by your donations.

Thank you for your help, and God bless.

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Team Mission of Our Lady of the Angels will be fundraising through the 2020 Bank of America Chicago Marathon and Shamrock Shuffle!

Mission of Our Lady of the Angels exists to provide material and spiritual support to the West Humboldt Park, Chicago- one of the most challenged neighborhoods in the United States. The Mission feeds about 1000 families a month, provides additional material and pastoral support to families, youth, and senior citizens, and, most importantly, brings the love of Christ to a neighborhood desperately in need of hope. 

Funds raised from Team OLA 2020 will be used to complete the renovation & begin the programing out of the Mission's new outreach center to the poor in West Humboldt Park, Chicago. The new outreach center will provide the very needed space for the Mission's donation storage/ distribution, a handicapped accessible kitchen/ dining room, meeting space for neighborhood and retreat groups, and a 45+ bedroom retreat center for volunteers and retreat guests. We are very excited to be opening this facility in 2020!

Information about the Mission at www.missionola.com

Information about the outreach center renovation project at https://missionola.com/school.html 

We need your help to complete this project! Be part of the miracle that is TEAM OLA!

The Mission is a 501(c)(3) and relies entirely on the donations of private donors.