Sister Marcia Sigler lives into the Benedictine Sisters of Erie Corporate Commitment on a near-daily basis. That commitment is, "We commit ourselves to be a healing presence and prophetic witness for peace and justice by actively addressing the climate crisis and the rights of women and children." Sister Marcia's nickname, "Recycle Queen," makes obvious that she focuses on addressing the climate crisis by helping recycle and reuse.
As you can imagine, in a household of 60 with more than 20 staff persons on site, there is a lot of consumption. While the community is actively working on eliminating single-use plastics, larger plastic containers are thrown in the recycling bins daily. One of Sister Marcia's efforts is to remove labels and prepare them for pickup.
A much more creative recycling project involves old prescription bottles. The median age of those 60 sisters is approaching 80 which means a fair amount of prescriptions come into the monastery. Sister Marcia says, "I love taking objects and finding other uses for them, and I found the perfect use for all the old bottles." She collects them, cleans them, removes the label, and then donates them to local animal shelters, including the Anna Shelter, Orphan Angels Cat Sanctuary, and the Humane Society, to use when pets are fostered or discharged, saving them the expense of purchasing new bottles.
Patti Eichen, Anna Shelter volunteer and former staff member of the Benedictine Sisters, says, "We love Sister Marcia. Both our shelter and the Anna Wellness Centers use the bottles after we put our own labels on them. Thank you!"
