Growing up, Alice Price often felt isolated as a Catholic. This past summer, she came to America in search of a community where her faith could flourish — and found it through Volunteers in Mission (VIM) at Deo Gratias Ministries in Detroit. “I’m around so many people who also have faith and love God,” said Price, a 23-year-old university student from England.
to the Deo Gratias Ministries community garden.
Price spent her early childhood in China before moving with her family to Sherborne, England, when she was school age. She recalls attending Mass in Sherborne and hearing the elderly priest’s prayers echo through a nearly empty church. “I never had any Catholic friends [as a kid],” she said. “My faith has always been a very private, almost secret thing. It felt like it was being extinguished bit by bit because I didn’t have anyone to share it with.”
Price, now a history major at Queen’s University Belfast in Northern Ireland, learned about VIM from another student, Ciara O’Gara. Ciara had volunteered with Deo Gratias in 2024, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., prepping and restocking supplies before the doors open. In the midst of discerning whether to become a sister, Price wanted to spend time with the Felician Sisters and experience their ministry, but admits it was a hard decision. “I was terrified about coming to a new country—America seems so big and scary—and I was uncertain of what to expect from VIM and Deo Gratias,” Price said. “But I found out it’s all so much better than I ever imagined.”
In 2018, Sr. Felicity Marie Madigan and Sr. Shelley Marie Jeffrey founded Deo Gratias Ministries, which serves the Regent Park neighborhood of northeastern Detroit. The first two Volunteers in Mission were welcomed in 2022. “Regent Park is one of the most disadvantaged areas in Detroit,” said VIM coordinator Juliette Darocha. “Many of the people who come to us may not have eaten in days. Most of them have very little education, if any at all.”
Deo Gratias operates out of the first floor of the St. Jude’s parish building on Seven Mile Road. It has a small café, a food pantry, a room for donated items and spaces stocked with books and art supplies. Outside in the community garden, 15 raised beds brim with vegetables and herbs. The mission is open daily from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., serving hot meals cooked by Capuchin brothers. The food pantry is open two days a week and children’s art classes are offered on Tuesdays.
The café seats 20-plus people and fills up quickly. Darocha estimates Deo Gratias serves about 150 people a day, but added that the crowd size has surged in recent months. “We had 230 people today,” Darocha said one afternoon last August. “When I arrived at noon, there was a line of people out the café door and down the hallway.”
This past summer, Darocha managed 10 volunteers, including four from Europe. She would have welcomed more, but the Most Holy Trinity rectory, where VIM members stay, ran out of space. Price and the other volunteers work from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., prepping and restocking before opening the doors. In addition to serving meals, they guide guests in the food pantry toward healthy choices, teach art classes and tend the garden. They also assist Sr. Shelley with a stray cat sanctuary at the back end of the garden.
“Working with the sisters, I saw their unbridled fervor and enthusiasm,” Price said. “My first day, I was pouring coffee and handed two sugar packets to one of the guests. Sr. Rita [Marie Vondra] said, ‘No, we do it for them. They’re guests, so we need to make them feel special and cared for.’ That’s lovely because it shows how even tiny actions can be acts of service.”
One moment stayed with her. A man waiting patiently in the long lunch line told her he hadn’t eaten in three days. When Price handed him a meal, his face lit up. “He was so polite and so thankful,” Price said. “It was so lovely to make that difference in someone’s life.”
The six-week stint at Deo Gratias deepened Price’s awareness of poverty, even in a wealthy country like the United States. It showed her how a small, dedicated community can make a lasting impact. Price expects to graduate from Queen’s University in 2026 and plans to rejoin VIM. She continues to discern whether to become a Felician Sister. “Alice was absolutely amazing and would thrive in community life,” Darocha said.
