Serving Those in Need

Starting two centuries ago with co-foundresses Julie Billiart and Françoise Blin de Bourdon, the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur have a long history of serving people living in poverty.

Today, Sisters continue that tradition in a variety of ways and in many venues.

Here are some of their stories.


Table of Plenty, Half Moon Bay, California

Sister Jeanette Braun, SNDdeN receives a hug from one of her favorite Table of Plenty guests.

Sister Jeanette Braun, SNDdeN, worked for many years as the director of this weekly supper for the hungry in the community retired in 2022.

"This program is so needed. Too many people in our area don't get enough to eat. We see moms with young children, the elderly and everyone in between."

Read more about Sister Jeanette's impact here.

Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless, Lynn, Massachusetts

Sister Linda Bessom, SNDdeN

Sister Linda Bessom, SNDdeN, is Senior Community Organizer for the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless.

Sister Linda represents the Coalition on the MACUCC's Task Force to End Homelessness.

Casa de la Cultura, Pajaro, California

Sister Rosa Dolores teaching in Pajaro

Since 2007, Sister Rosa Dolores Rodriquez, SNDdeN, has been the director of the Casa de la Cultura Center, which deals with the "poorest of the poor, and where everything is free or by donation. 

Casa de la Cultura Center is a heart that beats for the farm-working community. It is also a hospital for the sick, a pantry for the hungry, and a haven to empower the weary."

Malta House of Care Clinic, Hartford, Connecticut

Sister Betsy Flynn, SNDeN

Sister Betsy Flynn, SNDdeN, volunteers as a Portuguese translator for the Malta House of Care mobile medical clinic, which provides high-quality, free primary health care to uninsured adults.

City of Somerville Office of Immigrant Affairs, Somerville, Massachusetts

Sister Rita Raboin, SNDdeN with a young mother at child in Matamoros, Mexico.

Sister Rita Raboin, SNDdeN, works with Hispanic TPS-Temp Protective Status holders seeking paths to citizenship in Somerville, Massachusetts.

Bringing schools and medical care to rural Nicaraguan communities

Sister Sandy Price, SNDdeN

Sister Sandy Price, SNDdeN, retired in 2022 from a long mission, in which she helped start primary schools, trained teachers and provided health education for leaders in Nicaragua for many years.

She has also helped start programs for disabled children and adult literacy.

Providing support and counsel to young Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur

Sister Phyllis Cook, SNDdeN

Sister Phyllis Cook, SNDdeN, is based in Kenya, where she works at a local school. However, Sister Phyliss' greatest joy and most important role is to give support and counsel to Kenyan Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur.

When Sister Phyllis was contemplating returning to the U.S., the Kenyan Sisters pleaded with her to stay, because her experience as a long-time Sister of Notre Dame is an invaluable resource for them