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’Tis the season to volunteer
Agencies need extra help with Thanksgiving, Christmas projects
By Ambria Hammel, ahammel@catholicsun.org
November 20, 2008
Thousands of people in need would go hungry were it not for the daily efforts of social service agencies across the Valley.
Those efforts rely heavily on volunteers like Peter Maland, who has served faithfully at the Society of St. Vincent de Paul for the last 24 years.
The retiree spends two days a week preparing 3,500 meals in the Society of St. Vincent de Paul’s industrial-sized kitchen. Giving back to God for the gifts he’s received is enough reward for Maland, but there are extra perks this time of year.
“Just knowing that people will have food for Thanksgiving and Christmas” is gratifying, he said.
Maland knows what it’s like to be part of a struggling family.
“I was brought up in poverty,” the Italian immigrant said.
Maland went on to success in insurance sales and retired to life at St. Vincent de Paul.
Other Catholics also want to ensure struggling families have the basics — food and gifts — for a happy Thanksgiving and Christmas season. And there are plenty of ways to do just that.
Maland will be among hundreds of St. Vincent de Paul volunteers helping with “Turkey Tuesday” Nov. 25. The turkey drive will be held at all Arizona Bashas’ and Food City locations where shoppers can donate a turkey to needy families in the local community.
This marks the first year the drive includes all 34 Food City stores.
“We’ve got a huge amount of people needing help,” said Frank Barrios, a member of the St. Vincent de Paul board. “Everybody’s saying the same thing: ‘We’re in a very tough situation.’”
St. Vincent de Paul provides food, rent and utility assistance whenever possible.
Catholics in the family faith formation program at St. Benedict Parish are reaching out to the homeless this Thanksgiving. They partnered with St. Joseph the Worker, a job service agency specializing in helping the homeless achieve self-sufficiency, to create the decorations for its Thanksgiving feast.
St. Benedict parishioners made the centerpieces and 200-300 decorative leaves for the Thanksgiving Tree earlier this week. The dinner is limited to 50 people, but clients using the agency’s job search services during the week will write on a leaf what they’re thankful for.
Suzie Malloy, Christian formation director at St. Benedict, is anxious to see the finished project.
“They might be thankful for things that we might forget about,” Malloy said.
Christmas projects
Parishioners are also making 500 holiday cards to send to St. Joseph the Worker clients. The agency provides a Christmas dinner for its clients and a gift bag filled with work essentials and comfort items.
Blue Swadener, outreach coordinator for St. Joseph the Worker, encourages groups to host drives to help fill their gift bags. Toiletries, gift cards, fruit, chocolates and movie passes make great gifts, he said.
“So many people we see are living day-to-day and lack the luxury of taking time out to celebrate the holidays,” Swadener said.
The same is true for families seeking holiday help through St. Vincent de Paul. The agency needs help serving breakfast and lunch the week of Thanksgiving and Christmas in two of its dining rooms.
Catholics could help bring Christ to St. Vincent de Paul families this Christmas through its new Nativity program. For $5, donors can sponsor a Nativity set for a low-income family who often can’t afford one.
The kit includes a Nativity set and booklet illustrating the Christmas story. Volunteers will personally deliver the kits to families.
Adopting families
The evangelization project works in partnership with the agency’s Adopt-A-Family program, which is in need of help. Volunteers can sponsor a family by providing each member with one gift and the fixings for a Christmas dinner.
Catholics adopted 800 families last year with the need expected to increase this year.
The struggle to provide Christmas gifts to children who have a parent in prison multiplied for Kevin Starrs this year. As coordinator of youth and young adult outreach for the diocese’s Catholic Ministries to Prisons, he routinely brings what joy he can to children of the incarcerated through a small gift or two.
Starrs got word last week that the parish that usually donates $2,000 toward the cause can’t do it. He’s hoping Catholics will fill the gap and donate Wal-Mart or Target gift cards.
Depending on the family, Starrs will buy gifts for the children, take them shopping or leave the gift cards with a responsible family member.
“I’ve had grandmas, aunts and uncles start crying when I give them a gift card,” Starrs said.
Maggie’s Place, a Catholic-based agency that operates homes for pregnant mothers who are alone or on the streets, needs help fulfilling its wish lists for 80 families — some 300 people. The non-profit hosts a Christmas party each year for alumnae mothers.
A handful of parishes are already on board with the idea, but Maggie’s Place also needs individuals to sponsor gifts under $25 and gifts under $50. Gift cards and gift-wrapping supplies are also appreciated.
It takes 60 volunteers the week before Christmas to sort, label and wrap the gift at the “Christmas House,” a 3,000-square-foot home that Maggie’s Place transforms into Santa’s workshop.
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