Renovate Liberia Mission's Piggery

Help Renovate Liberia Mission's Piggery This Giving Tuesday!

Franciscan Works is raising $14,000 to make major structural renovations to Liberia Mission's student-run piggery. St. Isidore's piggery, named after the patron saint of farmers, not only provides a sustainable income for Liberia Mission, but it also provides an avenue for students to receive instruction in humane animal husbandry practices and sound business lessons that can be applied in the future.

Guided by the charism of St. Francis, students learn how to become good stewards of God’s creation by raising 100 pigs and bringing them to various markets: local community members, Liberian butchers, and members of the foreign expat community.

After years of enduring Liberia's harsh rainy and dry seasons, our piggery is in dire need of a major renovation. Termites have weakened wooden beams that support the roof. Major leakages in the tin roofing have rotted the wooden trusses responsible for maintaining the structural integrity of the roof itself. These leaks have also robbed our pigs of a dry and warm environment during the rainy season. This is particularly harmful to newborn piglets.

Additionally, the pigs have, over time, created holes in the flooring of their pens that not only accumulate water–which breeds mosquitoes and promotes malaria–but also creates unsafe physical conditions for them.

Please consider donating to this project so that, while our students learn vital agricultural and business skills, our pigs and piglets may live in a safe and healthy environment that would bring joy to the heart of St. Francis!

View pictures of the piggery's damage in the slideshow video below:

About Franciscan Works

Franciscan Works is a Chicago-based Catholic non-profit that is led and run by Catholic laity. We serve the poor and vulnerable in the spirit of St. Francis of Assisi. Since 2003, Franciscan Works has provided financial and operational support to Liberia Mission, a community of love, learning, and prayer for poor and orphaned children in Liberia, West Africa. Liberia Mission provides a quality Catholic education and life skills training opportunities for over 450 students and a loving home for 30 resident students.

Working together, Franciscan Works and Liberia Mission empower young Liberians to break the cycle of poverty and become faithful adults of character and integrity who can support themselves, their families, and their community. This challenge is very real in Liberia, a country that experiences intergenerational poverty, poor healthcare, and lack of infrastructure from two civil wars and a deadly Ebola outbreak.

We cultivate the individual potential of children living in poverty so they can live as God intended, making full use of their talents and abilities for the common benefit, in communion with God, nature, and all humankind. Our mission is built upon three pillars: God, Education, and Work.

Learn more by visiting www.franciscanworks.org