The Warming House, St. Bonaventure University’s student-run soup kitchen in Olean, has received $6,400 in grants to purchase food and a new stove to prepare it on.

The St. Elizabeth Mission Society awarded a $4,400 grant to purchase a new commercial stove, while the Dr. Lyle Renodin Foundation awarded a $2,000 grant to buy nutritious food and cleaning and food service supplies for the Warming House.

Both groups are ministries of the Franciscan Sisters of Allegany.

The Franciscan Center for Social Concern is the parent organization of the Warming House.

“These gifts are vital to helping us not only sustain, but improve the quality of service we offer to our patrons,” said Alice Miller Nation, director of the FCSC at St. Bonaventure. “I can’t thank the Mission Society and Renodin Foundation enough for their generosity.”

Located at 164 N. Union St., the Warming House serves a healthy meal six days a week with the help of student and community volunteers and partners with the Franciscan Sisters of Allegany’s Canticle Farm to provide fresh produce.

The Renodin Foundation and St. Elizabeth Mission Society provide grants for programs and projects whose public charitable purposes are carried out in a manner consistent with the tradition of the Franciscan Sisters.

Grant awards show a connection to the mission of the Franciscan Sisters of Allegany and assist the needy, underprivileged, elderly, developmentally disabled, handicapped, or economically disadvantaged. Both groups strive to promote self-sufficiency and systemic change.

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About the University: The nation’s first Franciscan university, St. Bonaventure University is a community committed to transforming the lives of our students inside and outside the classroom, inspiring in them a lifelong commitment to service and citizenship. In 2019, St. Bonaventure was named the #1 regional university value in New York and #2 in the North by U.S. News and World Report.