Our Directors

• Sr. Muriel Geisler, Director (Bosnia/Hercegovina)
• Ethel Bitzer, Director (United States of America)
• Penelope Comeau, Director (United States of America)
• Bridie McCarthy, Director (Ireland)
• Mary Walsh, Director (Bosnia/Hercegovina)

About St. Joseph the Worker, Ltd.

St. Joseph, the Worker Ltd. primarily focuses on the destitute elderly who are in need of assistance. Sister Muriel, Mary and visiting volunteers travel to over 90 villages to bring food to over 300 of the forgotten elderly living alone in the villages in the mountain regions and who are in desperate need of food. These are individuals who do not have the age or strength to cope with their living conditions. Most have no pension and receive only $20 per month from the Social Service Office. Their main diet is cabbage soup and bread. They are so grateful when Sister Muriel and her volunteers deliver a food package consisting of 3 liters of oil, corn meal, dry beans, rice, barley, sugar, soup mix, salt, noodles, coffee, cookies, candy, jam, butter, cheese, chicken and milk.

These families are unable to seek proper medical care and adequate medication. For many, the only medical aid they receive is when they are dying. If they are fortunate enough to go to a doctor and receive a prescription for medicine, they have no money to have it filled. So Sister Muriel and her volunteers fill the prescription for them. St. Joseph, the Worker Ltd. receives donations of clothes, shoes, blankets, toiletries, etc., which they deliver to people in need. However, their primary work is delivering food and medicine.

On a daily basis Sister Muriel and her volunteers are meeting more and more people who are in need of an assisted living facility. Many of the elderly live alone in a one room stone house with dirt floors, no indoor plumbing and no running water. These elderly widows have a wood burning stove for heating and cooking, a table and chair, a couch/bed, a couple of old treasured pictures decorate their chipped walls covered with black fungus. They often will have a pail and basin for collecting rainwater, since they have no running water or toilet.

The greatest need comes when they become ill or just too old to cope with their deplorable living conditions. They are not able to bathe themselves and often there is human waste on their floor. During the winter months they dress in layers of clothes and they spend most of the time in bed trying to keep warm. They have no family to take care of them.

Sister Muriel and Her Volunteers Build an Assisted Living Home!

In addition to their normal delivery work, Sister Muriel and Mary began their efforts to build a new assisted living home for these poor elderly. The following paragraphs describe some of their journey which led to the construction of a wonderful new assisted living home in the Ljubuski area, 20 minutes from Medugorje.

In October, 2001, St Joseph, the Worker LTD signed an agreement with the Municipality of Ljubuski and the Sisters of Mercy of St. Vincent de Paul to build a home for the elderly. The Sisters of Mercy of St. Vincent de Paul are a highly respected local religious order of Sisters. The Sisters will operate and maintain the home. The Municipality is providing certain assistance and St. Joseph, the Worker is providing the funds to build the home.

The Sisters of Mercy are chartered to care for the elderly and teach children. In 1948, their property was confiscated by the communist regime and they were forced to flee. For decades, they were refugees caring for the sick. They have since returned to Ljubuski and the city has given them vacant land to replace the land taken from them. We have the same objective as the sisters to help the poor and destitute elderly.

In mid September 2003, a construction contract was signed with the Kons Construction Co. On September 23, 2002, construction commenced on the assisted living home. In late June, 2004, the first elderly resident moved into the home!! The 50-bed facility has a kitchen, laundry facilities, physical therapy room, recreation room and a room for prayer. Also, there is a warehouse on the premises, which will enable St. Joseph, the Worker to continue its food delivery program.