Ann Schwickerath, exective director of Project Renewal in Davenport, speaks during the nonprofit’s 50th anniversary celebration in 2024. Schwickerath recently appeared as a guest on the Catholic Messenger Conversations podcast.
By Lindsay Steele
The Catholic Messenger
Ann Schwickerath joined Project Renewal about 35 years ago while studying at the University of Iowa in Iowa City. “A friend I met there, who is from Blue Grass, introduced me to Project Renewal. He’d recruit his friends to volunteer during the summer. I did that a couple summers during my undergraduate years and loved it.”
While waiting for her post-graduation job to begin, she spent one final summer with the Davenport nonprofit, and never left. “It was a long summer,” she said with a laugh. She now serves as Project Renewal’s longtime executive director.
In a Catholic Messenger Conversations podcast episode recorded on Ash Wednesday, Schwickerath discussed the ministry’s past, present and future. She shared how the act of almsgiving — one of the three pillars of Lent — has helped the ministry to thrive.
Project Renewal offers after school and summer programming for youths in grades K-12. “We (give) them opportunities and experiences that they otherwise might not have, a safe place to be, and positive role models,” she explained. Volunteers help participants with homework, lead recreational activities and teach life skills. Snacks — funded in part by the Diocese of Davenport’s CRS Rice Bowl collection — fuel participants in their endeavors.
Schwickerath offered a peek into the origins of Project Renewal, founded by Sister Concetta Bendicente, PHJC, and Father Marvin Mottett in the 1970s. “We operate out of a neighborhood that is often underserved and overlooked,” she explained.
During the podcast, Schwickerath offered a detailed update on Project Renewal’s three-phase, $3.1 million expansion project to address structural issues and program growth. The second phase — the rebuilding of nonprofit’s “Treat House,” is completed and awaiting inspection. She is grateful to the donors who have made the expansion project possible. “We’re reinvesting and renewing in the neighborhood physically, financially and spiritually.”
Program graduates often keep in touch and return to help the next generation, Schwickerath said. Some, while in college, come back over their spring break or winter break and volunteer in the program. Others, who are now in the workforce, tell their coworkers about the positive experience Project Renewal had on their lives, and encourage them to volunteer there for staff service days. This idea of giving back is built into the Project Renewal curriculum. “We are creating leaders and community members that are productive in our society.”
Listen to this and other Catholic Messenger Conversations podcasts at www.catholicmessenger.net/podcasting or find Catholic Messenger Conversations on your favorite podcasting app.
