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Filled with the Spirit
Parishes, agencies summon Christmas cheer
By Andrew Junker The Catholic Sun
December 6, 2007
Numbered boxes filled St. Joan of Arc’s parish hall Nov. 25 as volunteers walked about with clipboards, sorting clothes and organizing the boxed food that sat on a long table.
In a few days, the boxes would be shrink-wrapped, loaded onto palettes and delivered to 250 needy families in northeastern Arizona and New Mexico.
This is the sixth year parishioners of St. Joan of Arc have hosted the charitable drive. Coordinator Brian Trevellyan said the idea came when his family was involved in a puppet ministry on the Navajo reservation.
They saw a need, especially at this time of year, and organized their drive with the St. Michael’s Indian School near Window Rock, Ariz., which provided the group with names of families.
“Last year, when we went up there, we were getting hugs” from the grateful families, Trevellyan said.
“It took away all the backaches and sore limbs.”
From 15 core members, the effort has expanded these six years so that 100 volunteers were on hand the Sunday after Thanksgiving to take in donations of food, cash and clothing.
At times, there were 10 or more cars lined up in the parking lot as men, women and children loaded boxes of food or clothes from the cars into the parish hall.
“We’ve had people who have moved away from the parish but still come back every year,” Trevellyan said. He estimated that at least 50 percent of St. Joan of Arc parishioners participate in some way.
As Trevellyan ran from the parking lot to the parish hall, clipboard in hand, someone called out, “Good luck!”
“We don’t need luck,” he replied. “We’ve got the Holy Spirit.”
‘Tis the season for giving
The holiday season sees an increase in charitable activity across the diocese. While parishioners at St. Joan of Arc help families in the far-flung areas of northern Arizona and New Mexico, many other Catholics are lending a hand to families closer to home.
One of the largest organizers of holiday help is the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. The Tuesday before Thanksgiving — or, as those in the know call it, Turkey Tuesday — the society took in donated turkeys at local Bashas’ grocery stores.
Last year the drive brought in nearly 20,000 birds. Now, the society has put into motion its annual Adopt-a-Family program. It provides gifts, clothes and a Christmas dinner for hundreds of poor families each year.
The effort is organized through the society’s parish conferences. They put together a list of families in need who live within their parish boundaries.
Then, they ask those families to fill out a profile listing each child’s age and size and a few gift requests. A conference member usually meets with the family and then finds a suitable sponsor for them.
“The idea is to adopt a family and help them have a nice, happy Christmas,” said Patricia Metrick, director of Vincentian support services.
The process can often be tailored to find a good fit for both sponsor and adopted family. Since most sponsors meet the families personally, they can request an English- or Spanish-speaking family.
“This year, we have a family of seven who wants to adopt a family of seven,” Metrick said. Each family member will buy a gift for his or her counterpart in the adopted family.
Getting the whole family involved is the best part of the process, said Maxine Paul, a member of St. Gregory Parish’s St. Vincent de Paul conference.
“It’s an opportunity for your children to see that there are less fortunate out there,” she said. “When the children are involved in buying something for another child who has little or nothing, that is a good experience for them.”
Paul’s conference provided gifts and dinner for 20 nearby families last year. They were drawn from a pool of people whom the St. Vincent de Paul members regularly visit, so there’s a level of personal relationship.
It’s the little things
It’s the same for Mike Murphy’s conference at Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Tempe. He has coordinated the parish’s drive for the past seven years and his conference averages about 100 adopted families annually.
“Our committee gets sponsors and we get families that are in our Mount Carmel area,” he said. “It’s the same population that we deliver food to on a regular basis.”
For Paul, little things from years past stick out to her.
“This one particular family, I just remember how polite their kids were,” Paul said. “They’re people who are just down on their luck and just having the ability to provide for them this Christmas makes it worthwhile.”
Parishes across the diocese will be providing parishioners opportunities to give this season, whether it’s through the St. Vincent de Paul program or another. One popular custom is to have a “giving tree” in the narthex of the church, which has tags labeled with a gift or a request for clothing.
As Murphy said, “We never have too many sponsors.”
“It’s a good opportunity to participate in the spirit of Christmas giving,” he said. “That’s where our sponsors get the most joy: giving to others.”
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