Five years ago, a doorbell changed everything.

I was in my very first year as principal—in the middle of COVID, because of course that was a great time to step into leadership. A community member rang our school’s bell. She looked at me and asked for the most basic thing: food.

That day, I didn’t have anything to give her. So I went to the grocery store, filled a cart, and told her to come back the next day. She did. And in that moment, something in me shifted. I knew this was more than a one-time act of kindness. It was a call to action: What can we do to make life just a little bit easier for the people we love and serve?

At first, I used my own paycheck, filling my Dodge Ram with groceries from Aldi and dropping off food around the neighborhood. But it quickly grew beyond what I could handle alone. Local parishes stepped in with gift cards. The more we gave, the more the need showed up at our door.

When the Greater Chicago Food Depository said they weren’t opening new pantry sites, they gave us another option: a mobile distribution. So, rain or shine, snow or extreme cold, every third Saturday we showed up for the Southeast Side. And the community showed up for us. No one ever left empty-handed. Everyone left with a smile.

Then something beautiful happened: generosity multiplied. Gerardo’s Bakery brought conchas. Sandelas sent flowers for the women in line. Abuelitas cooked tamales to feed hungry volunteers. We poured into others, and they poured into us.

And then, the dream grew. With the belief and support of leaders like Kate Maehr, CEO at Greater Chicago Food Depository, and Amy Clancy we began building something that had never been done before: a student-run food pantry inside our school. They believed in the vision, and they believed in our determination to make it real.

Today, as we prepare for our grand opening, we’re filling shelves, training students, and getting ready to welcome our neighbors to this new chapter of service.

There was a narrative about St. Francis de Sales—questions about our viability, questions about our enrollment, questions about whether we had what it took to move into the future. And I’m here to tell you: the answer is overwhelmingly and unequivocally yes.

Watch us work! 

I am overwhelmed with gratitude—for my team who always says “yes” to my big ideas, for Big Shoulders Fund for walking with us into uncharted territory, and for every partner, parish, and volunteer who made this dream possible.

De Sales is more than a school. We are a movement! Our kids are pioneers. Our staff are trailblazers. And this leader could not be prouder.

-Dr.Facen