Luciana Brussi and about a dozen friends of Sojourner House supporter Kenia Ashby recently collected toys for Sojourner House’s children, to be distributed on Christmas. The donations, dropped off Dec. 14, were in honor of Kenia, a loyal friend of Sojourner House. A Brazilian jazz singer, Kenia and her band shared their talents during Sojourner House’s virtual Victorian Tea in August. Kenia suffered a stroke this autumn, but thankfully, is recuperating.
Luciana and Kenia’s other friends, all natives of Brazil, live throughout the Pittsburgh area. When asked why the group of women chose Sojourner House as a recipient, Luciana said the following:
“The idea to help (Sojourner House) was part of one small project I started this year! I have a small prayer group named ‘A arte de Orar’ (Translation: “The art of praying”). Brazilian ladies in Pittsburgh meet every month to pray in Portuguese. We decided to help nonprofit organizations every month. Kenia belongs to this group. She mentioned Sojourner House (as a possible recipient), so we decided to help Sojourner House, in the month of December. Since Kenia was not available during this time to organize the donation, I decided to talk with the ladies of our community to help.
“When I saw Sojourner House’s homepage, the organization touched my heart. What an incredible and beautiful place to help these brave women!”