Become a Patron Saint

A letter from Executive Director Michele Quinn:

Another year has flown by, and it was filled with Challenges, Changes and Continued Compassion for refugees. Although it can be daunting, Saint's Place mission remains true:  to assist legal refugees resettling in Rochester by providing basic household setups, clothing, tutoring and other educational assistance. As a Patron Saint, you will provide crucial support for that work.

Challenges:

•  The surge of refugees arriving from over 15 different countries has strained our resources. In the last year, the number of refugees we served increased by 33%. In the coming year, we anticipate another increase of 40% more refugees for us to assist with home setups, clothing and educational needs.
• Finding enough furniture for all the homes we set up. We are averaging eight homes setups a week. 
• Securing enough money to purchase the beds, pillows, bedding and other necessities needed by the refugees. 
• A sufficient crew for our truck and van to pick up donations of furniture and deliver home setups. 

Changes:

• Early fall of 2023, Saint’s Place was faced with finding a new location to replace our home of 25 years at 46 South Main Street, Pittsford. We were blessed to have St. John of Rochester agree to allow us to relocate our offices, donation center and linen rooms to the North Wing of their Parish Center. St. John of Rochester is where we already have five classrooms that house our Clothing Closet and home setup room. We expect to be moving sometime in January 2025. 
• At the same time, we felt it was the right time to apply for our own 501(c)(3) faith-based charitable corporation. Our tax-exempt status was granted in early September, opening more avenues for us to apply for corporation and foundation grants. It also now allows donors to make contributions directly to “Saint’s Place, Inc.” which can be sent to our St. John of Rochester location at 10 Wickford Way, Fairport, NY 14450. Our EIN number is 99-3366465.
• New Executive Director - I was appointed the third Executive Director on July 1, 2024, due to Isabel Miller’s sickness and her death in August. As most of you know, I have been with the ministry for over 20 years in the Associate Director’s position.

Continued Compassion:

• Saint’s Place volunteers live Compassion week in and out. From folding and packing bedding and towels, to delivering furniture into second floor apartments despite hot muggy days or snow-covered roads, to greeting families at the Clothing Closet and assisting them to find age- and weather-appropriate clothing, to our one-on-one Tutoring and Educational Programs – Compassion is at work at Saint's Place.
• Saint’s Place was not only able to assist all these refugees, but our educational initiative grew because donors like yourself cared. Our unwavering commitment is fueled by your generosity. Every donation regardless of size has a huge impact on our ability to provide a warm welcome to those forced to flee their homeland.
• Your support empowers us to continue our work. Please join us in changing the lives of refugees, as they embrace a new beginning in our community. The impact of your generosity will be immediately felt by refugees forced to flee their homelands, leaving behind family, friends and possessions. 
• In a divided world , let’s unite in compassion for those newcomers seeking to live in peace and safety and eager for the opportunity to achieve a better future.

With sincere appreciation of your support,

Michele Quinn

Executive Director

Isabel Ann Miller (née McCall), 79, of Rochester, N.Y., died on Aug. 7, 2024, following a brief battle with cancer.

She was born in New York City in 1945 to John A. McCall and Helen McCall (née Sullivan). Isabel will be remembered for her humor and the size of her heart. She touched many lives in her time, mentoring co-workers, advising young people in her volunteering, and helping countless refugees through her work with Saint’s Place. 

After graduating from Marymount Manhattan College, she worked in New York City, the bulk of her time at Jim Henson Productions, eventually becoming Executive Vice President of consumer products, developing toys, apparel and any number of other Muppet-branded goods. While she lived in Manhattan, she was deeply involved in her church, St. Jean Baptiste, and volunteered regularly.

Following her career in New York City, she moved to Rochester with her husband, Dick, to be closer to his family. Rather than retire, she began volunteering at Saint’s Place. After a few years of volunteering, she became more involved and was named Executive Director, a role she held until her illness this year. During her 15 years there, she and Saint’s Place’s many devoted volunteers helped hundreds of families fleeing dire circumstances make a home in Rochester, carrying forward the tenets of her deeply held faith. 

Isabel was predeceased by her husband of 48 years, Richard (Dick) Thomas Miller. She is survived by brothers Gilbert McCall and Anthony McCall, her daughter, Julie Miller, her son Douglas Miller, and her granddaughter Vesper Miller. 

She was a devoted wife, mother and sister and will be dearly missed by both her family and the many, many people whose lives she touched.

No prior calling. Isabel’s Memorial Mass will be held at 11 a.m. Friday, Aug. 16, at St. John of Rochester, 8 Wickford Way, Fairport. Interment private. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Saint’s Place; that organization was very dear to her heart. 

Saint’s Place, the refugee resettlement ministry, which since 1998 has provided household furnishings, personal items, clothing and tutoring services to refugees who come to the Rochester area, is consolidating its operations at St. John of Rochester parish, 8 Wickford Way, off Route 31 in Fairport. 

Legal refugees come to Rochester through the sponsorship of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and are provided housing and other services by the Catholic Family Center, recently consolidated with Catholic Charities. Saint’s Place then gets them settled in their new homes. Over the years the ministry has helped more than 32,000 refugees from war-torn countries.

In 2001 St. Louis parishioner, Colleen Knauf, brought the ministry from her home to the St. Louis parish in the Village of Pittsford at the invitation of her pastor, Fr. James Schwartz. Services were located in a house on the north end of the parish campus. In 2008, through the generosity of the St. John of Rochester parishioners and Pastor Fr. Peter Clifford, the clothing closet was moved to their parish and located in five classrooms of the former school, now the parish center.

In November 2023, St. Louis Pastor Fr. Mitchell “Mitch” Zygadlo formed a confidential committee to find a new home for the ministry because of limited space on campus and the parish’s need to consider options for the house used by the ministry.

Fr. Clifford commenced a discernment process with his Parish and Finance Councils and in February welcomed the transition of the ministry to the St. John of Rochester campus. The relocation is expected to take place this fall, when Saint’s Place will move its ministry offices and drop-off center from the white house at 46 S. Main St. in Pittsford to the St. John parish building on the church campus at 8 Wickford Way off Route 31 in Fairport.

In announcing this change, Fr. Clifford stated: “Saint’s Place will become a ministry of St. John of Rochester, with continuing sponsorship of St. Louis Church. Many details remain to be worked out; however it is our good fortune to have this space and be a part of supporting this ministry.” About half of the volunteers at Saint’s Place are members of St. John, Fr. Clifford noted. 

“A Finance team and Facilities team have been formed with both SJR and Saint’s Place representation to both strategize, plan and prepare for the move,” Fr. Clifford said. “At this time everything is in process and no final decisions are in place. One of the necessary and important pieces of this will be creating a ‘donation drop-off site.’ Currently this happens at 46 S. Main on the St. Louis campus. The Facilities Team is working on options, costs and impact of this essential part of the ministry. Additionally, Saint’s Place is in the process of forming a 501c3 not-for-profit corporate structure, which will make them legally independent and open important options for funding grants from foundations.”

The Saint’s Place Super Sale, the organization’s major fundraiser of the year, will move from the St. Louis Church campus in Pittsford to the parish center at St. John of Rochester Church in Fairport and be held from Aug. 7-10. This change will have a lot of advantages for shoppers, with all the sale items located on one floor in the air-conditioned gym in the parish center, and plenty of onsite parking. Previously the sale took over much of the St. Louis School and was located on two floors in various classrooms and the gym. 

“Moving to the St. John parish center makes perfect sense to aid the public with dropping off their donations,” said Isabel Miller, executive director of Saint’s Place. “Donors will no longer have to navigate the small driveway and parking lot that we currently have in Pittsford. Instead, they’ll have a large parking lot and access for dropping off donations.” 

“The house at 46 S. Main St. worked well for the Saint’s Place ministry for many years,” said Fr. Zygadlo. “We appreciate the parish of St. John for helping us find this solution. Our parish will continue to support Saint’s Place as many of our parishioners are loyal volunteers.”

Matthew O’Connor, chairman of the Advisory Board of Saint’s Place, summed up the changes as follows. “As the ministry’s Clothing Closet is already located at St. John of Rochester, and the Annual Super Sale will be there in August, transferring the remainder of Saint’s Place operations there in the fall makes perfect sense. The relocation will not only allow for increased efficiency and more usable space for staff, volunteers and refugees, but also provide both parishes an opportunity to determine the best use of campus buildings.”

Saint’s Place is on track to help a record 1,500 refugees between July 2023 and July 2024 this fiscal year, with many now coming from Afghanistan, Congo and Syria. Michele Quinn, associate director of the ministry, said she expects that trend to continue.  

Knights of Columbus - McQuaid Council  - 200 new kids winter coats

Church of the Assumption and Resurrection - coat collection with over 250 coats collected

Knitters from so many groups

Shoppers who selected gifts from our Angel Trees and our Amazon Wish List

St. Louis School - coat drive

St. Louis Youth Group hosted Christmas Sale for Saint’s Place

Mrs. Scarfone’s  Kindergarten - filled Christmas stockings

Radio Press Club of Rochester – collection of needed items and financial donation

United Methodist Church of N. Chili United Women in Faith – collections and financial contribution

St. Catherine’s Church - mitten collection

St. John of Rochester -  coat collection

Toys for Tots  - Project Kade donated over 150 new toys

Pirate Toys - over 100 new toys

Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints - an angel tree with over 100 gifts

Knights of Columbus Trinity Council #4618 Webster 22 - new kids coats

Webster Schroeder High School - lots of new bedding, hats, gloves and toiletries

Canandaigua National Bank - Angel Tree

Bethlehem Lutheran ( Fairport) - collection of  cleaning products and bedding

Jensen Hughes Co. -  coat collection

The Highlands  - Pittsford 

Heritage Munyakuri arrived alone in Rochester in March 2007, after having traveled 8,000 miles. It was the first time the 20-year-old Congolese man had seen snow. “Am I going to be able to live in this country?” he wondered. “It was very cold.”

The shock of a snowy Rochester winter was alleviated by the warm welcome he received, especially when he arrived at the Saint’s Place Clothing Closet. “I got a brown jacket, it was very warm, and I loved it so much,” he recalls with a big smile. Today, Heritage is married and the father of four children. He is the pastor of a local church that he founded, and he works for World Relief Western New York, helping newly arriving Ukrainians.  Heritage is pictured above with his family. 

In 1998, St. Louis Church parishioner Colleen Knauf started Saint’s Place in her garage, serving a few Somali families who had arrived in Rochester with nothing but the clothing on their backs. As Saint’s Place celebrates its 25th anniversary, we marvel that Colleen’s initial effort has resulted in helping more than 31,000 refugees by providing clothing, household goods (including new beds and mattresses), and school supplies. 

Today, Saint’s Place operates the largest clothing closet in the Rochester area, located on the campus of St. John of Rochester Church in Fairport. The agency also has a large truck, a new van, a warehouse with more than 7,000 square feet, and more than 120 active volunteers and another 100 for special projects. Saint’s Place is a joint ministry of St. Louis Church in Pittsford and St. John of Rochester Church. 

Refugees arrive legally from the four corners of the world through the U.S. State Department working with Catholic Charities Family and Community Services in Rochester and World Relief of Western New York. In 2022, Saint’s Place also assisted 350 Ukrainians displaced from the war and who arrived in Rochester. 

Saint’s Place expects to help hundreds more Ukrainians in 2023, along with hundreds of refugees from other countries including Afghanistan, Iraq, Congo, Venezuela, Haiti, Sudan and those displaced by the recent earthquake in Turkey and Syria. The agency is on track to welcome a record number of refugees, approximately 1,200 from July 2022 through June 2023. 

Founder Colleen Knauf, who remains active in the ministry, noted: “This year, as we celebrate our 25th anniversary of helping legal refugees acclimate to a new life in Rochester, we continue to answer our Christian call to ‘show hospitality to strangers,’ and we have no doubt that, as Paul wrote to the Hebrews, ‘in the process, we have entertained angels.’ At Saint’s Place, we live out Christ’s challenge: ‘What you do for the least of my brothers and sisters, you do for me.’ We are ever mindful that, in welcoming refugees, we are welcoming Christ and the Holy Family, who were also refugees, fleeing death and going to live in a strange land.”

“Over the years, the growth of Saint’s Place has been expansive,” Saint’s Place Executive Director Isabel Miller said. “We now have in place a sterling Educational Initiative Program; we are giving the refugees higher quality products such as washers and dryers that lessen their burden of costs of doing laundry, along with computers to help acclimate them to our society. All of these good works over the years are due to our volunteers and the Holy Spirit guiding us.” 

Saint’s Place continues to help refugees further their education to lift them out of poverty through its Educational Initiative Program. Since the program launched in 2018, Saint’s Place has awarded more than $240,000 in scholarships for college and vocational training, textbooks and school fees, along with laptops and tools for graduates going into the trades. 

To celebrate Saint’s Place anniversary, events are scheduled as follows:
 

Saturday, June 3: Bishop Salvatore Matano of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester will celebrate mass at 4:30 p.m. at St. Louis Church, 64 S. Main St., Pittsford. During the mass, the Bishop will bless the volunteers of Saint’s Place. After the mass, there will be a reception in the St. Louis School gym with refreshments and a large display of photos and other items related to the history of Saint’s Place.

Sunday, June 4: Father Peter Clifford will celebrate mass at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. at St. John of Rochester, 8 Wickford Way, Fairport to mark Saint’s Place’s 25thanniversary. He will bless the Saint’s Place volunteers during the masses, and he will bless the new van after each Mass. Following both masses will be tours of the Saint’s Place Clothing Closet located on the church campus. Ukrainian pastries will be served.

The public is invited to all of these events, which are free. 

Saint's Place has been working closely with Rochester International Academy for many years.  Located on Edgerton Park in the city of Rochester, RIA is designed to facilitate the cultural and academic transition of newly arrived English Language Learners through rigorous language instruction and interdisciplinary learning in collaboration with families and community.  Their current enrollment includes 318 refugee students.

Saint's Place has two volunteers who work with the RIA families and their social workers to identify ways we can help these families.   Families from RIA frequently visit our Clothing Closet for winter clothing and school supplies and for several years, Saint's Place has provided school uniforms for the students.

This year, we donated khaki pants and the shirts you see in the photo above.  In December of 2019, we are giving another 100 RIA hoodies for the older students.

Rochester International Academy is a wonderful, welcoming place for students who are learning a new language and adapting to a new culture and environment.  We are privileged to work with them.