St. Nicholas youth raising funds, items for Bishop Dudley Hospitality House

This holiday season, St. Nicholas Catholic Church’s confirmation class is doing their part to help out the less fortunate within the region.

Together with confirmation students from St. Magdalen’s in Lennox, the group of nearly 50 are seeking items and monetary donations to benefit the Bishop Dudley Hospitality House in Sioux Falls. Donation boxes are in place at both parishes, and students are also looking to expand donation centers to Tea City Hall and Sunshine Foods in Tea.

In addition to monetary donations, the Bishop Dudley Hospitality House is also looking for such items as reading glasses, copy paper, stamps, large disposable surgical gloves (non-latex preferred), men’s and women’s underwear, bras, large thermal underwear, Kleenex, toilet paper, 13 gallon and 39 gallon garbage bags, foot powder, Neosporin, large Band-Aids, razors, aerosol deodorant, egg or elbow macaroni noodles, coffee, six ounce Styrofoam coffee cups, napkins, paper towels, cream of chicken or mushroom soup and laundry soap. Gift cards to Franklin Foods, Hy-Vee, Sam’s Club and Walmart are also very much appreciated.

The Bishop Dudley Hospitality House is both a daytime and overnight emergency shelter for displaced and vulnerable residents of Sioux Falls. The facility has room for 80 men, 20 women and as many as seven families, and is located at 101 N. Indiana Ave. A wide range of other social service providers offer additional essential programs aimed at providing a helping hand to those who need it.

The most recent studies within the Sioux Falls community confirm that more than 600 men, women and children are without a home. That’s where the Bishop Dudley Hospitality House comes in.

It offers a safe, secure and warm place to reset and start the road back to a more stable, long-term living situation.

Set in downtown Sioux Falls, the Hospitality House is within a short walk of numerous agencies that provide programs for the needy, supporting the proven plan to work in partnership with existing agencies to coordinate many services under a single roof.

According to confirmation student and Tea Area High School freshman Katie Hayworth, the project started November 19th and will run past Christmas.

Hayworth says the goal of the project is “to help those in need and learn the value of something so simple as [a] fresh shower and shampoo.”