Who Are the Providence Associates?

The Providence Associates are people from different backgrounds who all wish to share the Mission and the spirituality of the Sisters of Providence. They are women and men for whom Gospel values form the main force in their lives. After a period of orientation and discernment, they participate in a ceremony where they commit to share the Providence spirituality and to collaborate in the Mission of the Sisters of Providence.

The Associates are motivated by the same spirit and the same Charism as the Sisters of Providence, which is the gift of showing the Providence of God and the compassion of Our Mother of Sorrows. They demonstrate this by serving the poor and offering them compassionate love. They also let God be known and loved by the example of their lives and actions.

The Providence Associates Bulletin is published three times a year in three languages. It tells the main events of the various Providence Associates groups, as well as reflections and descriptions of some of their works.

Are you interested?

Pease contact the Providence Associate Coordinator and/or Liaison, who is closest to your home, by clicking on the appropriate dot on the map.

Providence Associates in the World:

In our time, the deep history of our Congregation resonates more and more with people, who recognize in themselves the grace of the same Providence Charism that they truly experience. They meet at different times for sharing, workshops, and lectures, but they also act directly within their local context. Here are some examples of their activities and achievements:

- Bernarda Morin Province

Table of the King at Comedor Emilia Gamelin

Maintaining a lovely tradition, five communities of Providence Associates prepared the Table of the King for the beneficiaries of Comedor Emilia Gamelin (Emilie Gamelin’s Dining Room) in Santiago, Chile on Saturday, December 17. The Comedor serves meals to homeless every day, and also offers a number of social-recreational activities.

The activity, which ended a year of service in 2016, was possible through the collaboration of volunteers and friends. They worked diligently so that all could live the event in a spirit of joyful simplicity. Provincial Superior Sister María Antonieta Trimpay and Providence Associates Coordinator Mrs. Herta Sandoval greeted all the brothers and sisters, in addition to the various artistic numbers and gifts. Chilean actor Rolando Valenzuela added a beautiful familial and Christian touch to the whole celebration through his animation.

- Émilie-Gamelin Province

Haiti Chewi Project

Haiti Chewi is a project of the Providence Associates, Sisters of Providence and other people to start a bakery in the parish of Sainte-Veronique de Welch in Torbeck, Haiti. Once established, the benefits of this work will be donated to the PA for their work in the same region.

In 2012, the Providence Associates of Montreal and Cameroon joined forces to build and maintain a chicken farm in Cameroon, the Providence Henhouse. Supported by the Sisters of Providence, this PA work is now a successful business with the capacity of distributing chickens, eggs and hygiene products to many people in need.

Inspired by this positive experience, the Providence Associates of Montreal and Haiti started the Haiti Chewi Project in October 2015, anticipating an expenditure of $5,000 for its start-up. Fundraising began with the sale of bread, pastries and other sweets. Other fundraising activities will take place during 2016; the largest was the Grand Bazaar and took place on May 14, 2016 in Montreal at the Mother House’s Providence Hall. Several attractions were planned for the bazaar: a theatrical piece, a magic show, singing, dancing, a flea market, a silent auction and, of course, a homemade pastry kiosk.

This is a common project that we hold dear. Inspired by Emilie Gamelin, we are confident we can make this project a success. We thank all those who are supporting us through their purchase of our products, donations and actions.

- Holy Angels Province

A Necessary Alternative Welcomed In Mercy

ANAWIM is a Hebrew word meaning “God’s Poor”.

ANAWIM Place provides food and outreach programs to the less fortunate people living in Edmonton’s inner city.

Under the sponsorship of the Sisters of Providence, ANAWIM Place opened its doors in November 1988 as an emergency resource for those in need. It operates as a food depot two days per week in cooperation with the Edmonton Food Bank.

Service to others at ANAWIM Place is rooted in compassionate love for the less fortunate, compassionate love which considers each person as a gift of God. Members of Holy Angels Province, with a host of volunteers, ensure ANAWIM’s success by operating the food depot each week.

Mother Joseph Province:

Collaboration in the Providence Mission

Providence Associates in Yakima, USA

We Providence Associates of Yakima, Washington (United States), form a group of very committed people who perform with love services in the spirit of Providence.

We have mainly collaborated in the Providence Mission by making the charism real, i.e. expressing the mysteries of the Providence God in work with the poor, both on a personal and group level.

More specifically, we have carried out the following works:

Visit and delivery of supplies to young drug addicts in the rehabilitation process.
Organization of a picnic for poor children and youth of the community (among whom were some homeless). In addition to providing food, fun activities and games were held, and some awards were given.
Eight families in need received a fifty-dollar gift card to buy food at a Mexican grocery store where members of the Hispanic community visit on a regular basis.
Visit to the sick to accompany them and give them the Eucharist.
In addition to the work we do for the benefit of the needy, we participate in activities that help us in our spiritual growth, among which we can mention the following:
A drive to Vancouver, WA, USA, to visit the cemetery and grave of Mother Joseph in order to pray and ask for her intercession, so her spirit of commitment to the poor may always remain alive in us.
Organizing and conducting the nine days of Las Posadas, an activity that allows us to participate in the popular religious practices of our community.

Also, to be able to cover the cost of the various activities, we run a food sale in San José Parish the fifth Sunday of some months.

Did you know?

Blessed Emilie Tavernier Gamelin only became a religious sister in the latter part of her life. She married and had three children. Even before she became a religious, Emilie was active in several charities, including the Ladies of Charity (Dames de Charité), before founding the Congregation of the Sisters of Providence at the age of 43. Later, she continued to include these ladies as important collaborators in the Providence Mission.

Providence Companions

The Providence Companions (PC) is another type of women’s affiliation with the Sisters of Providence that is emerging in the northwest of the United States of America. The Providence Companions are former Sisters of Providence who may have left at any stage of their vocational discernment. They have maintained or re-established relationships with congregation members. Their relationship of companionship with the Sisters of Providence is a formal commitment to live out the Providence Charism of solidarity with the poor according to each one’s own particular circumstance.