Father Jim Sichko of Miss Marie’s Spaghetti Sauce: The Radical Simplicity Of #BEKIND That Drives A Nationwide Charitable Movement

I had the pleasure of interviewing Father Jim. Father Jim Sichko has dedicated his life to helping others, both through his work as a priest and through personal deeds. As a U.S. Missionary of Mercy of Pope Francis (one of only 100 in America), he travels the country speaking and visiting churches and major corporations at the behest of CEOs and chairmen. Father Jim is now expanding his philanthropic efforts by bottling his beloved late mother’s delicious and comforting spaghetti sauce and selling it on behalf of charity with proceeds from the sale of Miss Marie’s Spaghetti Sauce benefitting Southeast Texas Hospice (which cared for Marie on her last day) and the Diocese of Lexington (which provides services to the poor of Eastern Kentucky/ Appalachia).

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

Father Jim: Basically, it was a dream of mine to bottle my mother’s all-natural spaghetti sauce to feed others and also in turn, help others in raising funds for two charities from the sales of her sauce.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?

Father Jim: It is so amazing for me to see and hear from young people/ families of their love of my mom’s spaghetti sauce! Families I don’t even know, posts photos on social media like this below:

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

Father Jim: Our sauce is contained in BOTTLES not Jars. The bottles are sealed by a cap and then the caps are dipped in wax! Needless to say, without a “tab” to pull the wax off so that one can open the bottle to enjoy the sauce is a problem! People we’re trying to figure out all sorts of maneuvers in trying to get Moms Sauce out of the bottles!

Can you describe how your firm is making a significant social impact?

Father Jim: Partial Proceeds from each bottle sold goes towards Southeast Texas Hospice and the Diocese of Lexington One in Christ Annual Appeal, assisting those in need from the Appalachia Region.

Wow! Can you tell me a story about a particular individual who was impacted this cause?

Father Jim: My mom, for whom the sauce is named after! My mom loved feeding others. My mom died a year and a half ago, so this
project helped me carry on her memory in feeding others and helped me in dealing with my own grief in losing my mom.

How do you define “Leadership”? Can you explain what you mean or give an example?

Father Jim: For me Leadership/Stewardship is the act of organizing your life so God can send you — to use His gifts in assisting and feeding others.

What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why. Please share a story or example for each.

Father Jim: Here are more than five things rolled into two: One is that I didn’t realize it would take three batches to get the taste of Mom’s sauce. I thought that I would make it once and that would be it! But it took multiple time and I believe it is about 98.5% close to what Mom made. I realized that it was as close as I could get — and it is still really good!

The other thing(s) I didn’t realize was that my “small” project of making sauce and selling it to help others was going to roll into a great big undertaking where I had to learn about packing, shipping, delivery, marketing and all those other things that running a business entails. It’s been great and I’ve learned through experience but I didn’t realize how much was involved.

You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

Father Jim: The movement is very simple but yet very difficult for people to follow thru. — movement is. #BEKIND.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

Father Jim: My whole life is rooted in giving and receiving! Whatever you do to the least of another, you do for the good of another!

Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why?

Father Jim: ELLEN DeGeneres — we practice the same kind of giving.

How can our readers follow you on social media?

Father Jim: Facebook: Jim Sichko. Twitter @JimSichko. instagram @Jimsichko

This was very meaningful, thank you so much!