Earlier this year, San Roque Parish in Santiago, Chile, was greatly assisted in the acquisition of new kitchen supplies and donations for food boxes through their Twinning partnership with Lund Family Hall at the University of Portland. 

Located in the working-class neighborhood of Peñalolen, San Roque Parish serves a community that regularly faces poverty. Teresa Michea and Cristina Ponce de León have each been involved in the parish for almost 26 years, and are members of its Pastoral Social team. “Our community is located in an area with much poverty. For this reason, we have to organize events to raise money for our church and solidarity activities. One of the main income-making and popular events is a fried fish dinner,” they shared with the Holy Cross Mission Center (HCMC). “To organize these dinners, we have always had to borrow frying pans, mixers, etc., making these events more difficult, and we have never been able to raise extra money to properly equip our kitchen.” 

According to the parish’s pastor, Rev. Daniel Panchot, C.S.C., the kitchen serves “the entire chapel community,” including elderly adults and at-risk individuals. In addition to the fundraising events the kitchen supports, parishioners also work together to provide nutritional assistance to those who need it within the community. Parishioners regularly contribute to the parish’s food baskets, donating non-perishable food items which are then placed in boxes assembled by the Pastoral Social and discreetly provided to families and individuals in need. Along with the kitchen tools requested for making fundraising dinners, the parish asked for support in order to create more food boxes to give to families who lack adequate sustenance. 

Donations were also requested for certificates for liquid gas. “We have discovered that some families have food, but [struggle to cook it], and in Santiago it is prohibited to cook with firewood due to air pollution problems. For this reason, they are provided [by the parish] with vouchers for 11 kilo liquefied gas, which can last two months or more, depending on the severity of the winter cold, family size, etc.,” Fr. Panchot said. 

To support the parish, Lund Family Hall’s Twinning program fundraised $277, an amount which was matched by the Mission Center as part of its $2,000 Bricklayers Matching Grant. These donated funds allowed San Roque to purchase an immersion mixer, a hand-held mixer, 2 big frying pans and additional pans of various sizes, and a variety of bowls. $90 worth of liquid gas certificates were also provided, along with $151.29 in food donations.

Fr. Panchot noted, “The persons who prepared the list and checked the prices of the implements for the kitchen did a very complete job of seeing what was needed, and then looked thoroughly for the best prices of good long-lasting materials. As for buying the food, to compliment what people of the chapel donate, this extra help has proved to be a stimulus for donating, on the part of the parishioners.”

“With these donations, we have been able to compliment the donations of our people, who are generous, but limited in their economy,” Michea and Ponce de Leon shared. “With this help, we have helped 19 needy families regularly, have distributed 70 packages, plus 21 special Christmas packages. Among the people we help are 2 blind persons who are the head of their homes, 6 bed-ridden persons, 2 with Alzheimer’s and 4 with terminal cancer.” Fr. Panchot added, “With the extra help, the members of Pastoral Social were able to help more people, and the tickets for liquid gas were essential in some cases.”

The kitchen supplies have had a huge impact on the life of the parish. “At least 250 people benefited from the instruments for the kitchen,” Fr. Panchot told the Mission Center. “But, many more will benefit each time any activity uses the kitchen, for a meeting, a celebration or a benefit to raise money for one or other of the apostolic groups which use the chapel and the kitchen.”

“It is good that the different groups who use the kitchen can now find all the implements they need for their activities,” Fr. Panchot continued. “A good test came just a couple of weeks after the purchases were completed. The members of the chapel organized a fish dinner in order to raise money for the anticipated drop in the Mass collections, because many people who regularly participate in the weekly Masses [are sometimes absent] during January and especially February, for different reasons. The money raised with the dinner will cover the usual expenses of the chapel during these months.” 

Fr. Panchot also noted that usually when putting on dinners, “those who organized them had to borrow the different implements necessary, and had to bring some from their own homes. After the event, there was the problem of returning what had been borrowed, with all the inconvenience that this entails. This time, the organization and realization of the activity went smoothly to the joy of all those who gave of their talents and time to have the dinner.” 

Michea and Ponce de Leon echoed Fr. Panchot’s gratitude for the ways in which the new kitchen supplies have streamlined the production of fundraising meals. “Now, with the help of this project, we have what we need to make these events much easier. All of the implements were presented and blessed by the pastor, Fr. Pedro Parra, C.S.C., in a Sunday Mass. Since then, we have had three major celebrations in which our work was more efficient and much easier, thanks [to] this donation,” they said. 

“This help has given the people the satisfaction of seeing their own efforts producing fruits of progress and solidarity,” Fr. Panchot told the Mission Center. “Thank you all for this help. May God’s blessings be with you all.” 

Published by Paula Lent, Digital Media Intern
June 2025