In St. Louis, this Catholic rallies her community to treat Afghan immigrants ‘like Jesus’

By the time the Taliban captured Kabul, Afghanistan at the end of August 2021 and began ruling with oppression, hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children had fled the country, many seeking a new life in the United States.

A stay-at-home mother of three sons, Ann Wittman, 47, felt that the time was right for her to start doing charitable work full time. As exhausted and destitute Afghans began to arrive in her hometown of St. Louis, Missouri, Wittman saw an opportunity to put her Catholic faith into action by extending a hand to the newcomers.