About NDS

Nutritional Development Services
Archdiocese of Philadelphia
111 South 38^th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104-3136
PH: (215) 895-3470
FX: (215) 895-0830
Office Hours: 8:30am to 4:30pm

Nutritional Development Services (NDS) assists the Archbishop of Philadelphia to fulfill Jesus' command to "Feed my lambs ... Feed my sheep."

NDS combines two major food functions that in many other dioceses are divided between at least two agencies:

It provides government-supported meals to schools, childcare centers and other organizations serving children.
It collects and provides food to organizations serving the poor.

NDS serves no individual directly but with government and private resources, information, education, and inspiration it enables others to do so. NDS empowers and enables organizations and persons with resources to feed children and the poor.

Mission Statement
The mission of NDS is to provide meals, food assistance and additional support to organizations serving children and the poor as an extension of the service and mission of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

NDS Logo
The NDS logo is a reminder to us of the miracle of the loaves and the fishes. Jesus is teaching the crowds at length and when it gets late the disciples ask him to send the crowd away so that people can buy themselves some food. Jesus directs the disciples to give the crowd food themselves. The disciples complain that they do not have nearly enough food for so many. Jesus tells them to go and see what they do have. They bring it to him and with it he feeds the five thousand.

There are many lessons and inspiration for us in this event.

Children are in our care and are being taught at length
We have to try and feed the multitude ourselves
We have to find out what is available
We must work with what we have
We have to be generous with what we have
We must trust

Governance
Administratively, NDS falls within the Secretariat for Catholic Human Services and all its reporting and administrative directions flow through that entity; but NDS is also a separately incorporated institution within the Archdiocese with its own articles of incorporation, members, bylaws, and board of directors. This corporate structure governs NDS's operational activities.

Board Members	Senior Staff
Rev. Msgr. Joseph A. Tracy, President	Mr. Patrick F.E. Temple-West, Director
Mrs. Regina DiGuilio, Vice President	Mrs. Anne H. Ayella, Asst. Director - Community Relations
Mrs. Anne Murphy, Secretary	Ms. Bonnie Baehr, Asst. Director - Operations & School Meals
Mr. Dennis E. Riley, Treasurer	Mrs. Lizanne F. Hagedorn, Asst. Director - Finance & Administration
Mr. James T. Amato	Mr. Robert S. Jones, Assoc. Director - Child Care Meals
Ms. Maryellen Carroll	Ms. Denise Hopkins, Administrator - Community Food Program
Ms. Yolanda Haynes
Dr. Stephen J. Porth
Sister Mary Small S.S.J.
Rev. Msgr. Daniel Sullivan
Mr. Francis E. Swiacki, Jr.
Sr. Shaun Thomas, I.H.M

Philosophy & Inspiration
Since its inception NDS has drawn on Pope Paul VI's Encyclical Letter On the Development of Peoples (1967) in which he states:

" The development of peoples has the Church's close attention, particularly the development of those peoples who are striving to escape from hunger,...

All of you who have heard the appeal of suffering peoples, all of you who are working to answer their cries, you are the apostles of a development which is good and genuine, which is not wealth that is self-centered and sought for its own sake, but rather an economy which is put at the service of man, the bread which is daily distributed to all, as a source of brotherhood and a sign of Providence."

The number of meals provided by Nutritional Development Services and the programs operated are not as meaningful in themselves as what they reflect. They are the result of a staff of the Archbishop furthering the mission of the Archdiocese, the efforts of hundreds of selfless persons who actually serve the meals, and the contributions of thousands who make the work possible.

The services and sharing are intended to insure that all needy persons within the community can live in conditions that provide them with an adequate diet and also insure that everyone in the community can turn to the consideration of man and God and ultimately open themselves to faith, a gift of God accepted by the good will of man.