21ST-CENTURY CATHOLICS

FALL 2018

Spreading the blessings of Thanksgiving to those in need.

AFTER LABOR DAY, AS THE DAYS GET SHORTER AND THE NIGHTS COOLER, our thoughts turn toward the comforting celebrations of autumn and winter. We stow away swimsuits and stack up firewood, get coats and sweaters out of storage, put warmer blankets on the beds – and prepare for football games, Halloween and Thanksgiving and, beyond them, Advent and the Feast of the Nativity.

If we’re lucky, we can look forward to sitting down with family and friends at the end of November for a joyous feast of turkey and stuffing, watching a parade, and marveling at the great American story of settlers who came to these shores centuries ago. We gather to thank God for our safety and good fortune.

Today, those of us who have been blessed with abundance must guard against complacency, lest we take it for granted or believe it is our right. The true joy of abundance is in sharing – with family and friends, but also with neighbors in need.

As Jesus said (John 3:17), “If anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart to him, how does God’s love abide in him?” The Lord’s prescription is simple: “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.” (Luke 3:10-11)

Those who want to share their good fortune and help the needy will find no shortage of options. If there is room at your table, you can invite someone who has no place to go on Thanksgiving to enjoy the festivities with your family and friends. You can donate to a food drive or volunteer to deliver food to families in need, stock the shelves at a food pantry or serve a meal at a soup kitchen.

On the following pages, you will find profiles of three programs aimed at feeding, clothing and sheltering the needy around the archdiocese as well as a listing of opportunities to volunteer or donate food or money to anti-hunger organizations.

BRONX
Part of the Solution (POTS)

Located in a modest brick building across Webster Avenue from Fordham University in the Bronx, POTS served its first meal in 1982. Today it provides a variety of services to 30,000 clients a year. “POTS is a one-stop shop,” says John Kornfeld, director of development. “Clients come here with one basic need – hunger – but they will be offered multiple services.”

The core of POTS is its Emergency Food Program, which serves lunch seven days a week in the Community Dining Room, for a total of 150,000 lunches per year. In addition, the POTS Food Pantry distributes ingredients for another 800,000 meals annually. The pantry is set up like a grocery store, where clients come once a month and select ingredients for nine meals per household member.

“Our goal is to help our clients get from crisis to stability to self- sufficiency,” says Kornfeld. Beyond food, POTS offers day-to-day services – a shower program, mail room, barbershop and clothing room as well as a medical and dental clinic – and “next-step” services, including help enrolling in medical insurance, food stamps and Social Security disability benefits. A legal team is also available to help clients facing eviction or unlawful denial of benefits; in the 12 months ending June 30, POTS helped 490 families stay in their apartments. The workforce development program, begun in 2016, has helped more than 300 people find full- or part-time work and has helped hundreds more receive training and education.

As part of the POTS case-management approach, clients get the opportunity to work closely with a staff mentor toward a long-term goal. “The idea is to help the client set up a series of short-term goals that can lead to something bigger. For example, a client wants to make sure their kid can go to college. This client doesn’t speak English, doesn’t have a bank account. To help them get closer to the goal, we take them through some interim steps: First we enroll them in an ESL course. Then we help them open a bank account. And we arrange tutoring for the child.”

On any given day, POTS needs around 25 volunteers, mostly in the Community Dining Room and the food pantry. Pro bono volunteers – those with legal expertise and language skills – are also needed. Another opportunity: pitch in by organizing a drive to contribute necessities like canned goods and diapers.

To lend a hand, go to POTSBronx.org and click on “Give Help.”
 

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Feed the hungry! Help those in trouble!
Then your light will shine out from the darkness,
and the darkness around you shall be as bright as day.

– Isaiah 58:10–11
 

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NEWBURGH (ORANGE COUNTY)
Deacon Jack Seymour Food Pantry, St. Francis of Assisi – Sacred Heart Parish

In the mid-1990s, Deacon Jack Seymour of St. Francis of Assisi Parish saw that there was a hunger problem in the city of Newburgh, and he decided to do something about it. With the support of Fr. John Vondras, he started out by securing donations to provide groceries for six needy families.

Today, the pantry that bears his name provides food to more than 50,000 individuals each year. Paul and Linda Zalanowski, retired teachers with a combined 60 years of experience in education, are co-directors of the program, which is run entirely by volunteers – 113 of them. The executive director is Fr. William Damroth.

“It’s called client choice,” Linda says. “According to family size, each client gets a ticket showing how many people they are entitled to pick up food for. Every week, they can pick out three days’ worth of food – breakfast, lunch and dinner – for each family member.” They can select ingredients in several categories: meat, non-meat protein, grain, vegetables, juice, fruit, canned goods, sweets. Also available are non-food items like shampoo, soap, toothpaste, diapers, clothing, books, glasses and pots and pans.

The pantry also provides a “backpack program” for children who are homeless or who need extra food. Every Friday, a team of retired teachers delivers backpacks to 12 schools loaded up with meals and snacks to get the kids through the weekend.

There is nothing haphazard about the meals provided at the Deacon Jack Seymour pantry. A real effort is made to get people to use fresh produce and other healthful foods. A nutritionist works with the program; volunteers help guide clients in their choices and, when the pantry has an abundance of a nutritious ingredient (say, fresh Brussels sprouts or kale), a “Cooking with Linda” video demonstrates how to prepare and serve the product in an appealing and tasty dish.  

In the second quarter of 2018, the pantry gave out 118,000 pounds of food to 13,051 people. It sent home 5,265 bags for the backpack program. Volunteers also distribute school supplies at the beginning of September. “At Christmastime,” Linda adds, “we give out gifts for the children of the clients so they at least have one or two items under the tree.”

For Thanksgiving, Paul notes, “We work in partnership with an organization in town called Loaves and Fishes – with them we do a massive distribution of turkeys and everything that goes along with them – and also with a Protestant church across the river in Beacon, which supplies us with volunteers who bring over Thanksgiving dinners.”

Does the Deacon Jack Seymour Food Pantry need new volunteers? Yes, even though many slots are set aside for Newburgh students who need to perform service hours.

Interested parties should inquire at 845-561-1317 or email djsfoodpantry@gmail.com.
 

MANHATTAN
Holy Trinity Breakfast Line and Food Pantry

At 8:30 a.m., 365 days a year, come rain or even heavy snow, the rectory door at Holy Trinity Church on the Upper West Side of Manhattan swings open and a small team of volunteers steps out to serve soup, sandwiches and coffee to a line of 30 to 45 people who have gathered on the sidewalk. This is not a massive operation on the scale of POTS or the Deacon Jack Seymour Food Pantry, but it’s what a small but successful parish-based food program looks like: members of a local church community banding together to help some of their less fortunate neighbors. The hungry clients gather in clusters on the church steps or along the curb, eat their meal, then drift back to their lives. The volunteers clean up and make sure everything is in order so that the process can repeat itself the next day.

“At this parish, one of our main ministries is feeding people,” says Colleen Glazer, director of religious education at Holy Trinity, who has been working in this food ministry since 1993. In addition to the Breakfast Line, Holy Trinity operates a food pantry, where people living between 77th and 96th streets can get one or two bags of groceries per month.

“We receive a lot of donations from the parish; we also get donations from the community – money and non-perishables: tuna, pasta, etc.,” Glazer says. “We know that on 96th Street, Holy Family has a thrift shop, so we send clothing donations there. And when people donate food, we hope it ends up here.”

The truly local community nature of the Holy Trinity food programs lends them a deeper meaning. “We get a regular bread donation from the corner deli, at different times we also get unsold items from local cafés, various places will donate muffins... They say that there’s enough food in the world; you just have to get it to the people who need it,” Glazer observes. “In the last few years we only have had to buy bread once or twice a year.”

The entire neighborhood, Catholic and non-Catholic alike, sees what is happening at Holy Trinity. Sometimes neighbors are annoyed at the clusters of people on the sidewalk, but at other times, they are inspired. “A few years ago one of our longtime volunteers brought in a guy who said he wanted to help. ‘I’m a Muslim,’ he said. I answered, ‘Okay, we are Catholic.’ He came two days a week for five or six months, then he got busy with his new business. Once it got off the ground, we started getting a check from him a couple of times a year, and large food donations, too.”

In addition to the food programs at Holy Trinity, the parish participates in a shelter at Ascension Parish on West 107th Street. The shelter provides dinner, a place to sleep and breakfast the next morning for up to 20 men on Saturday and Sunday nights.

To get involved with the Holy Trinity food programs or the Ascension – Holy Trinity shelter, call 212-787-0634 or email trinityreligioused@gmail.com.
 

SERVE!

If you’re looking for opportunities to share your good fortune, there are many offered by the Archdiocese of New York and its parishes. Start by letting your parish leadership and members of the community know that you are interested in helping the hungry. Below are some specific programs and agencies to explore. (NOTE: If you’re interested in serving on Thanksgiving Day, sign up early; those slots are in high demand.)

• Catholic Charities of New York: Under this big umbrella you will find many programs throughout the archdiocese working to feed our neighbors in need. You can browse through the agency and volunteer opportunities listings at catholiccharitiesny.org to find out where your help is needed.

• St. Vincent de Paul Society: Founded in the 1830s and launched in the United States a decade later, this confraternity has branches in many parishes. Vincentians seek spiritual growth by offering person-to-person service to the needy and suffering. To donate or offer services, contact your parish St. Vincent de Paul Society or visit svdpusa.org.

• Midnight Run: While this is not a specifically Catholic operation, many Catholic parishes and organizations participate in the program. Participants deliver food, clothing, blankets and personal care items to the homeless in New York City. Look in your Sunday bulletin or ask your pastor about a Midnight Run in your area; if you’d like to organize a Midnight Run, you’ll find information at midnightrun.org.

• Parish Food Pantries and Soup Kitchens: Ask your pastor or keep an eye on the church bulletin to find out whether your parish hosts or partners with a food pantry or community kitchen in your area.