Welcome home!

With the changing of the sea­sons, have come some changes in our com­mu­nity. Last August we said farewell to Sr Regine after ten years in mis­sion here in New York. Many thanks to each of you for helping us to say such a beau­tiful farewell! We also said goodbye to Kamila D., who has returned home to Poland. But no sooner had they left than we wel­comed not one, not two, but three new mem­bers to our little com­mu­nity here in Brooklyn. Welcome home Pawel, Joanna and Sr Katie!

Pawel G.

Volunteer

Pawel (Paul) joined our Brooklyn team in September and will spend a year in mis­sion with us. He first met Heart’s Home (Domy Serca) in Warsaw, one of our newest houses which has been in mis­sion there since 2012. If you’d like to read more about our work in Polish, please click here. Domy Serca

Born and raised in Zagórnik, Poland, Pawel is proud to be a “neighbor” of one of the most famous Poles, as his town is not far from Wadowice, where St John Paul II was born. Pawel holds a Masters degree in Sociology and Communications, and spent last year working in a nursing home. As part of our neigh­bor­hood outreach team, Pawel is always excited to meet new people. A “seeker of the signs of heaven in our ordi­nary days”, Pawel is grateful to have this year in mis­sion to find God hidden in daily activ­i­ties and new friend­ships. When not busy meeting a new friend, you can usu­ally find Pawel with his camera, cap­turing the beauty of the city.

Joanna H.

Volunteer

Hailing from Pisarzowice, not far from Krakow in southern Poland, Joanna has been living in Warsaw for sev­eral years, where she first met Heart’s Home. Joanna joined our Brooklyn team in September and will spend a year in mis­sion with us.

After com­pleting a Masters degree in Finance at the Warsaw School of Economics, she spent sev­eral years working as an auditor at a major con­sulting firm. When she dis­cov­ered Heart’s Home, she knew this mis­sion was what she had been looking for, and is very excited to be here in the Big Apple. Joanna is part of our neigh­bor­hood outreach team, and in addi­tion to pol­ishing up her English, is learning some Spanish! When she is not get­ting to know new friends here in Brooklyn, you can usu­ally find her exploring the streets of New York, pas­sionate about dis­cov­ering all the nookies and cran­nies of this fas­ci­nating city.

Sr Katie K.

Communications Coordinator

Sr Katie, a proud native Chicagoan, never thought she would live here in New York, but…here she is! In Brooklyn since August 2015, she is the first Servant of God’s Presence native to the United States. Excited to begin a new mis­sion here, her nat­ural enthu­siasm and energy have been shaped by her pre­vious mis­sions in Thailand, El Salvador and France. Her first mis­sion in Bangkok, Thailand as a vol­un­teer in 2010, coming at the end of sev­eral years working in fundraising and com­mu­ni­ca­tions, was a turning point for her, and led her to El Salvador to con­tinue dis­cerning with Heart’s Home in 2012.

After a year and a half dis­cerning with the Heart’s Home sis­ters in France, in 2014, she entered the com­mu­nity of the Servants of God’s Presence. She is immensely grateful for this last “spir­i­tual year” in mis­sion, which was a holistic edu­ca­tion that included not only inten­sive courses in the­ology and phi­los­ophy, but also the space and time to live out a deeper silence and prayer life.

Happy to be back on this side of the Atlantic, she is dis­cov­ering that her Bachelors degree in German and pro­fes­sional work expe­ri­ence in com­mu­ni­ca­tions might be of some use to the Heart’s Home team here. Mostly though, you can find her vis­iting friends in our neigh­bor­hood or wel­coming them to our home, grateful to be trying to live out a rad­ical “hos­pi­tality of the heart” here in the Big Apple.