1/24/07
year:
2007
Aston, PA — The Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia, a congregation of 658 women religious whose motherhouse is located here, received a grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Energy’s program, “Energy Harvest” and received one of the twenty-seven Green Power Awards given by PennFuture.
The Department of Energy’s grant will be used to provide solar energy panels for barns on Red Hill Farm, the congregation’s Community Supported Agriculture-it is hoped they will provide most of the farm’s electric power. The PennFuture’s Award acknowledges the congregation’s sustainable practices including the purchase of 24% wind power from PECO. According to Sister Corinne Wright, the congregation’s manager of environmental initiatives, PECO learned of the congregation’s environmental initiatives from visiting our website (www.osfphila.org) and then “they approached us with the opportunity to purchase the alternative energy, which is all part of PECO’s efforts to convince its customers to use non fossil fuels.”
PennFuture’s Green Power Awards went to twenty-seven individuals, private industries, government agencies, and public interest organizations; the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia won under the title “Green Power Purchaser - Religious Organization.” Sister Ruth Bernadette O’Connor, Administrator of Our Lady of Angels Convent (the congregation’s motherhouse), accepted the award on the congregation’s behalf.
Fundedin part by the U.S. Department of Energy’s State Energy Program,“Energy Harvest” grants fund projects that promote and build markets for advanced or renewable energy technologies. The intent is to providea stimulus for opportunities that better manage our energy resources ina way that also improves our environment, supports economic development, and enhances our quality of life.
The Sisters of St.Francis of Philadelphia embrace a Franciscan world view; they have committed themselves to reverence all that exists, preserve the integrity of the land entrusted to our care, dialogue and explore with others the implications of eco-spirituality, promote positive environmental behaviors, and celebrate our oneness with the universe. (For more information about the congregation’s environmental initiatives, see environmental iniatives.)
