Barbara Frase of Tonawanda was a longtime member of the Ladies of Charity. In 2000, she heard that the Ladies of Charity were collecting school supplies for needy school children. She told her friends in the Bishop's Committee Discussion Group, and they quickly filled a box of school supplies. Each year, the amount of supplies they collected increased.
When Frase passed away in 2002, her husband and many friends decided that the collection should continue in her memory. Thursday, volunteers met at the Grand Island home of Barbara and Angelo LaDuca to gather 31 boxes of donated school supplies for delivery to the Ladies of Charity on Broadway in Buffalo. Some of the supplies were dropped off at the narthex in St. Stephen R.C. Church.
Barbara LaDuca reports that, these days, over 600 requests for school supplies are filled to enable students throughout the Diocese of Buffalo to start a new school year well-equipped.
As Barbara Laduca continues to work for her friend, Barbara Frase, she said this year's collection drive "is another case of the amazing generosity of the people of Western New York."
Angelo and Barbara LaDuca show some of the 31 boxes of donated school supplies that were collected for the Ladies of Charity book bag program. Not pictured are helpers Jim Frase, Charlene Clarke, Les Lee and Bryce Shipman. (Photo by Larry Austin)
