Serving God and the Dear Neighbor without Distinction
Learn more about the Sister St. Mark Garden Fund
The Sisters of St. Joseph of Baden have served the Beaver County area since 1901. We commit ourselves, our energies and our resources to the mission of unity – unity of ourselves with God and with each other; unity of neighbor with neighbor; and unity of neighbor with God.
Always striving to respond to the needs of our times, the Sisters are working to reduce food insecurity through on-site gardens that supply local food pantries with fresh produce and financial support of community gardens who are serving their neighbors in need.
Together, and thanks to your incredible and sustained generosity, we are making a difference from urban neighborhoods in Pittsburgh to river towns along the Allegheny and Ohio Rivers to rural areas near our Congregation’s first convent in Ebensburg, Pennsylvania.
Visit the Gardens
Important Dates & How to Apply
Since 2019, the Sister St. Mark Garden Fund has awarded 86 grants totaling $55,360
Named for Sister St. Mark Lesko, who oversaw the Motherhouse grounds in the 1940s and 50s when it was a working farm that supplied much of the Sisters’ food, the Sister St. Mark Garden Fund supports the Congregation’s goals of:
Reducing food insecurity and providing healthy food choices for families and youth;
Sustaining community gardens in local neighborhoods; and
Building community through grassroots relationships and collaboration
Sister St. Mark Lesko, who was born on July 1, 1894, entered the Sisters of St. Joseph from St. John Parish in Johnstown, PA. She worked most of her religious life in the laundry of St. Joseph Hospital on Pittsburgh’s Southside.
When the doctors felt that Sister’s lungs were weakening from constant exposure to lint in the laundry, they advised her to change to an “open air” ministry. Sister St. Mark was then placed in charge of the farm at the Motherhouse.
Sister St. Mark was a gentle, quiet woman who spent her life in humble, untiring service. She died in 1960, just nine days after her 66th birthday.
Local garden groups are invited to apply for grants ranging from $250 up to $1,000 to help meet the needs of their community.
Funding may be used for plants, seed, soil, tools or infrastructure to better equip volunteer gardeners to accomplish their goals.
The grants are funded, in part, from the proceeds of Faith. Field. Feast., the annual farm-to-table dinner held each fall.