Benedictine Outreach of Caldwell

Farmway Village honors longtime educator Stang at local ceremony

Caldwell migrant village gets bigger community center

Sister Bernadette receives Humanitarian Award

This means more than "to give them fish" but "to teach them to fish."

This was accomplished through:  

• Literacy classes - in both English & Spanish
• Assistance in acquiring GED (General Equivalency Diploma)
• Computer classes
• ESL classes (English as a Second Language)
• Assistance in acquiring citizenship
• Girl & Boy Scouts
• Preparing for 1st Communion

Sister Angela was appointed by Bishop Trienen to do a survey of the Nampa/Caldwell area in 1970 and to develop an outreach program for the Mexican Migrants of the area.  Sister Angela was hired on the Pastoral staff of St. Mary's Parish in Caldwell.  She devoted four years to Hispanic ministry in Caldwell and the surrounding area.  Sister Aquinas Schaecher joined her and they worked together for 2 years.

In 1990 Sister Benita Hassler was invited to start an English as a Second Language Program at JJHS.  For nine years she taught at Jefferson and CAHS and did volunteer teaching at the Farmway Village Migrant Labor Camp and in Caldwell homes during the summer months. Sisters Barbara Gonzales and Esther Velazquez also worked for St. Mary's Parish during these years.

In 1995 Sisters Bernadette Stang,  Regina O'Connell and Carolyn Miguel began their ministry in Caldwell.  In 1997 Sr. Bernice Wessels directed the Benedictine Outreach Services.  Through the Caldwell School District, an after-school program was set up at Farmway Village, directed by Sister Bernadette.  The "escuelita" became the center of outreach to adults and children alike. Sister Bernadette trains many volunteers each year who help her in the nationally recognized public school program.  She is also involved in several other Outreach services and has received numerous awards. 

In 1999 Sister Benita retired from 20 years of teaching ESL and Spanish in the Rupert, where she was named Idaho
Foreign Language Teacher of the Year 1984 and Caldwell public schools and began full-time volunteer teaching of those who could not continue their education through regular channels.  She offered courses in ESL, basic computer skills and GED classes.  She returned to the Monastery in May 2005, having helped over 280 applicants from the people of Farmway Village, Caldwell, Nampa, Greenleaf, Homedale, Boise, Wilder, Parma, Jerome, Twin Falls and Kuna.

From October 2004 to March 2005, Sister Benita  started a Saturday program for the Wilder Public School District at the Family Learning Center (Sylvia Blain, director) teaching computer basics to families with children in the Wider schools. She set up a network to "resurrect" their used computers and showed them a way to give them homes where they would be put to good use to improve lives.

A valued aspect of the program was getting donated used computers into homes of instructed adults studying computer basics with Sister Benita. From September 1999 until May 2005 when she returned to the Monastery because of eye problems, over 160 families in the area are now practicing computer skills in their own homes on their own computers, often inviting their neighbors in to share and pass on what they know. John Irwin of Spokane and Kermit Cudd of Caldwell have donated invaluable time and effort, finding and fixing used computers that Sister Benita put in homes, helped by other generous friends of the Benedictine Outreach in Caldwell.

In 2006 Sr. Bernadette returned to the Monastery and this chapter of service from the Monastery came to an end.