November 16, 2012
Editor:
Deacon Dennis Kelly
When you give a little, you
usually get a lot back in return. That’s
exactly what happened to 59
IC-OLPH parishioners who took part in this year’s annual Day of Caring in
September.
And while the experience happened
a few of months ago, the memories of the experience still linger in the minds
and hearts of all who participated.
The idea came from Ralph Quass, a
member of the IC-OLPH Social Action Committee.
The group then partnered with Catholic Community Services to deploy
groups of people to assist dozens of low income Everett area residents with a
variety of clean-up and assistance needs.
CCS says IC-OLPH was the only parish in Western Washington to
participate in Day of Caring in this way.
Judy and Tim McNamara chair the
Social Action Committee. “I remember at our initial meeting thinking if we get
10 people (to participate) that we’ll be happy,” said Tim McNamara, but the
actual number of people who volunteered was a big surprise, “people want to do
this.”
“We had people from all three parish
communities. We had Vietnamese, Hispanic
and (English language parishioners),” added Judy McNamara. In fact, when the large group gathered in St.
Mary’s Hall to prepare for their day they prayed the Our Father in all three languages before venturing out.
St. Theresa Nguyen was
instrumental to involving the Vietnamese community. Parishioner, committee member and Spanish
teacher Cara Hazelbrook shared the idea with the Hispanic community, but also
helped two teenage girls from the Spanish language community on the Day of
Caring to make sure they participated in a meaningful way.
Tim McNamara was moved by the
project he worked on. He and several
others served a man who lived right next to the Everett Country Club in
apartments for the some of the poorest people in the area.
There were no lights in the upper
floor apartment. The man’s lights had
been turned off some time ago. And there
was no hot water either. “I cleaned up
the kitchen. It was pretty messy with
stuff laying all around from weeks-worth of cooking. And it smelled,” said McNamara.
He said the man’s refrigerator
was filled with spoiled food, “Everything in the refrigerator moldy or thawed
out.” The job for his team was to clean
it all up. The project took them several
hours and they made eight or ten of trips to the dumpster.
But McNamara says the experience
made the Gospel come to life for him as they lived out the call in Matthew 25
to help the “least of these brothers and
sisters” to see the face of Christ.
“It’s more real. It brings the
Gospel alive. That’s the reason we went,”
McNamara shared.
The McNamaras recounted the experience of three teenage
girls from our parish who served an elderly woman by changing the sheets and making
her bed, and cleaning up the woman’s place.
“This woman was very, very appreciative,” said Tim.
“It’s not necessarily about the poorest of living
circumstances, poor can be people unable to care for their (basic) needs,” said
Judy.
The group plans to do another Day of Caring early in the
Lenten season. Stay tuned for more
details.
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To volunteer with Catholic Community Services, contact
Jeanita Nelson at 425.374.6319
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