Reflecting on our Hilton Grant

Reflections on receiving our $1 million grant from the Conrad Hilton Foundation.

Sr. Susan Francois, CSJP writes…

On a Monday afternoon in April 2013, I was shopping at Target on the South Side of Chicago with Sarah Kohles, OSF, another member of the Giving Voice Core Team. My phone pinged as we were standing in the checkout line, and I looked down to find a message with the subject line: “Conrad N. Hilton Foundation.” I am pretty sure I screamed aloud. Sarah and I stepped out of the checkout line as I read the message aloud to her. It was from Program Officer Brad Myers.  He described the foundation’s five-year strategy to address religious life, including supporting new vocations in the United State. “I have had my eye on your ministry for some time now,” he wrote. As it happened, we had a Core Team call scheduled for that evening and the next day, Core Team Member Leslie Keener, CDP wrote back to Brad to schedule our first conversation. The rest as they say is history!

In the photo, Sr. Susan is on the left and Sr. Sarah is on the right.