TREASURES OF CHRIST IN THE POOR A NEWSLETTER OF HOLY FAMILY SOUP KITCHEN AND FOOD PANTRY
VOLUME 2 ISSUE 3 FALL 2018
HOLY FAMILY Special Duty, SOUP KITCHEN & Special Servants FOOD PANTRY MISSION STATEMENT by Dana Krull
TO FURTHER A CULTURE Since early 2018, HFSK has enlisted the OF LIFE IN COLUMBUS support of special duty Columbus Police BY FEEDING, CLOTHING, Officers each weekday morning to make HEALING AND VISITING the environment of our dining room and OUR NEIGHBORS IN THE pantry safer for our hundreds of guests and volunteers. While this has been a NAME OF JESUS CHRIST. significant expense in our budget, their presence has dramatically reduced the “For I was hungry, and number of incidents in the building and you gave me to eat; I they have been worth every penny. But was thirsty, and you their support goes far beyond security: gave me to drink; I these strong and humble public servants was a stranger, and have an arguably even more important you took me in. Naked, influence on our guests during this era of and you covered me; heightened tensions between citizens and police. Throughout each day, they sick, and you visited have many ordinary interactions either me; I was in prison, directly with guests in conversation, or Columbus Police Officer Amanda Hoover, HFSK’s and you came to me. through other guests simply observing special duty officer on Mondays, is a proud Then shall the just these discussions and learning that the answer him, saying: officers are fellow human beings with mother of four and she has a deep love for kids. Lord, when did we see their own special personalities, families It’s common to see her holding one of our young thee hungry, and feed and common challenges like bills to pay. guests or playing a quick silly game with them. thee; thirsty, and gave
thee drink? Or when More than once, our officers have protected us from imminent physical threats, and we are did we see thee sick or truly grateful for that — but what we are finding as time goes on and those threats become in prison, and came to less common is a gratitude and awe for what these amazing people do above and beyond their thee? And the king call of duty. Each of our officers are already working full-time on the streets, so they don’t have to be here at all. But they were hand-picked for this overtime by Sergeant Keith Barker, a CPD answering shall say to veteran who knows Holy Family well, precisely because they are the kind of people who are them: “Amen I say to needed in the unique environment at 57 South Grubb Street. There is always a time and place you, as long as you did for a raised voice and sometimes even the threat of an arrest, but what we witness far more it to one of these my often is our officers erring on the side of compassion in how they handle the heated situations least brethren, you did that sometimes arise in our dining room, hallway or the exterior of the building. Furthermore, it for me.” (Mt. 25:35-40) when there is no drama (which, thankfully, is now the majority of the time), the officers often circulate to talk to guests, many of whom they know from their patrols in Franklinton and the Hilltop. On multiple occasions, they have also made calls to their connections in the area on INSIDE THIS ISSUE: behalf of HFSK guests who are in crisis and desperately need help getting to key resources.
* Holiday Programs * The sad truth is that many children and young adults have negative views about police which are formed in the homes where they grow up and are then reinforced by their interactions * Volunteer Spotlight * with some officers on the street and near-constant media coverage of police shootings. It’s * Donor Thank-You * exactly that reality which our special duty officers have told us they want to help reverse. Officer Amanda Hoover knows first-hand what it’s like to be homeless and living with nothing: * Homeless Veterans * she grew up in the inner city of Cleveland and was forced to cook and care for her siblings as early as age nine. As a teenager, Amanda also received a break from a police officer that she * Winter Ways to Help * says saved her life from heading in a completely different direction... (Continued on Page 5) NOTES FROM THE LOCAL NEWS
For an in-depth look at what Holy Family Parish does throughout the year, as well as a detailed review of the services offered at Holy Family Soup Kitchen and Food Pantry, read Tim Puet’s excellent feature article in the September 23, 2018 issue of The Catholic Times. Tim also later interviewed our Director, Brother Paul Kennedy, O.P., for the October 21, 2018 issue. Both articles can be found online at The Catholic Times website: https://columbuscatholic.org/catholic-times-arcive
On 10/16/18, a Columbus Dispatch article highlighted a stark truth: residents of Franklinton and the Hilltop on the West Side of Columbus (the most common zip codes we serve) have the lowest life expectancies of any areas in the State of Ohio. The State’s average lifespan is over 77 years, and the highest is over 89 years in Stow, OH, but on our side of town, people only live an average of 60 to 61 years... To read the full article (which requires a Dispatch digital subscription), you can Google “Franklinton Hilltop life expectancy Dispatch” and click on the first link.
Holiday Events and Volunteering Updates HFSK will be closed on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day because our volunteers serve on nearly every weekday throughout the year, and because there are so many other opportunities to serve and be served throughout the city on these major holidays. However, we will serve special holiday meals to guests in our dining room on Tuesday, November 20th and Tuesday, December18th, as well as distributing turkeys and trimmings to our food pantry families during the two weeks before Thanksgiving. Brother Paul Martin Kennedy, O.P., Director of HFSK (right), assisted HFSK volunteer Martha Our volunteer calendar is filling up fast for the remainder Pugh of St. Brendan parish (center), with signing of 2018, so please contact us if you would like to serve! up over 100 families for Christmas gift assistance We can accommodate groups of up to 10 volunteers. Our this year. Parishioners from St. Brendan and greatest needs are during serving hours (10:30 a.m. until St. Brigid will purchase gifts for these children noon), but we welcome volunteers to join us between and distribute them to the families in December. 7 a.m. and 1 p.m. — any amount of time, great or small. Our sincere thanks to all who are participating! Kids are also welcome to serve with an adult chaperone! Volunteer Spotlight: Catherine Pierce Interview by Dana Krull
In spite of chronic rheumatoid arthritis and a pending total knee replacement, four mornings a week Catherine Pierce has been volunteering in HFSK’s food pantry from 8 a.m. until noon. In the 1990s, she moved to Columbus with her mother from the south side of Chicago. But in 2004, she found herself living on the street with a newborn son. When I asked why she didn’t stay with her mother during that incredibly difficult time, she said, “By nature, I’m a very independent person. Stubborn, too.” She laughed, then turned serious again. “I just didn’t want to be a burden on nobody.” Catherine’s favorite part of the morning routine is sorting produce and With Baby Trevon in her arms, and the two of other food items donated by Trader Joe’s into boxes for pantry families. them living out of her car, Catherine turned to She has an amazing ability to bring order and beauty out of disarray. HFSK for help. Frances Carr, better known by guests as “Miss Frances,” was the Director at the time. “Every day, we would eat in the kitchen downstairs and Miss Frances would give us food to get us through until the next day,” Catherine told me. She went on to describe what it was like being homeless: “People would laugh at me pushing a shopping cart down the street, but I’d just laugh back because I was like, ‘I’m good. I’ve got food, so I’m good.’” She smiled while telling this story, but she also paused more than once as she relived it. “Let me put it to you this way: This place saved me and my son.”
It took Catherine a full year to get back on her feet. The first step, getting a safe place to live through the Columbus Housing Authority, took six months on the waiting list. Then it took her another six months to find steady work that would sustain her and Trevon for the longer term. After things had finally stabilized, Catherine started volunteering at HFSK because she was so grateful for all that Miss Frances and so many others had done to help her and Trevon make it through. I asked her to describe what she thinks that period would have been like without HFSK; she started to respond but suddenly cut herself off and looked down for a moment. Then she looked back at me as her eyes filled with tears and said, “Let me put it to you this way: This place saved me and my son.” After several years of serving, Catherine made a promise to Miss Frances that she would come back and volunteer more, but life only seemed to get busier as more grandchildren arrived. (The current count is sixteen grandkids — “Lord, I gotta find presents for all these babies!” she often exclaims when our morning conversations turn to family.) In March 2018, Catherine felt convicted about having waited so long to come back to serve again. When she finally returned, she learned that Miss Frances had retired and she was surprised to find a renovated pantry and office. But what hadn’t changed was a West Side filled with many good people who are struggling and need help through their hard times. So throughout the summer and fall of 2018, Catherine has brought her children, grandchildren and other extended family members to volunteer with her in the food pantry — including Trevon, who is now a freshman at Westland High School. She says she wants to teach her family about the importance of giving to others. In the midst of distributing bags of food through the pantry window to 25 families each morning, plus responding to a nonstop list of requests for personal hygiene items and other needs from dozens more guests, Catherine can often be heard hollering at one of her grandkids: “Get that phone out of your hands! You’re here to work!” Then she shoos the kids up and down the aisles and finds another task for them to do. Catherine, on behalf of the HFSK team, thanks for being an example of how to receive grace and to pass it on!
THANK YOU TO OUR INCREDIBLE DONORS! These local organizations and people (...and others who we are surely forgetting to include...) make our ministry possible. Auntie Anne’s (Easton) Buckeye Donuts (Columbus) La Scala Restaurant (Dublin) Smoked On High (Brewery District) Bob Evans (Multiple area locations) Strongwater Food & Spirits (Franklinton) El Vaquero and The Asian Gourmet (Gahanna) Heart in Hand (St. Andrew Parish, Upper Arlington) Grove City United Methodist Church The sweet lady who brings Dairy Queen on Tuesdays, the dear couple who brings fresh fruit on Fridays, and our many other anonymous, gracious donors! To join the fight against hunger and hopelessness in Columbus this winter, turn the page to see ways to help!
HFSK BY THE NUMBERS IN 2018 So far this year, you’ve helped us to serve somewhere in the neighborhood of 50,000 hot meals, 5,000 food pantry visits, 14,000 “woods bags” (takeaway meals for homeless guests), and an untold amount of clothing, hygiene, and other items. We’ve done this with zero government dollars thanks to you! (Continued from Page 1) …so she strives to help people whenever she can while wearing the badge. That doesn’t mean she’s a pushover or a softie — as she holds her Monday morning Venti, she often jokes with us in the office, “I may be a tiny blonde girl, but you don’t want to mess with me!” We’ve seen her command respect from guests by being kind and compassionate, even when she’s making it perfectly clear to whomever is out of line that she is in charge and that their behavior needs to change or they’ll be leaving the property. This is the same type of approach we’ve witnessed from our other CPD officers:
TUESDAYS: Officer Dan Hand grew up in the Riverbend neighborhood on the southwest side of Columbus (a few streets away from my childhood home — we both attended Harmon Elementary on Frank Road in the 1980s). After working as a manager in retail and other environments for a number of years, in 2015 Dan decided he wanted to do something different. “I wanted to make a difference,” he told me, “and being a police officer has allowed me to do that in the community where I grew up.” Dan is a father of two children with a third on the way. He smiles more than any police officer I have ever known, and he says his philosophy of how to treat people is based on mutual respect. “Even when I have to arrest someone,” he told me, “I do it as respectfully as I can. If they’re physically resisting, then I may have to get loud or physical, but as soon as the cuffs are on, I’m back to treating them like I would anyone else.” Dan intervened to protect us in the office one Tuesday when a mentally unstable man who had just been released from jail came into HFSK after serving hours, demanded food and got physically aggressive.
WEDNESDAYS: Officer Samantha Edwards, better known to our staff as “Sam,” grew up in a rough part of inner city Cleveland. She went through the Columbus Police Academy at the same time as the riots in Ferguson, Missouri in the spring of 2014. When I asked Sam if she had requested assignment to the most dangerous part of Columbus, she said, “Absolutely. I wanted to do something where I was applying the skills I learned in the Academy every day, where I knew I was making a difference in people’s lives.” One morning, a mother brought her young son and daughter to see Sam in our office because the son had been suspended from school. “You look like a fine young man,” Sam said to the boy, “so you can do better than that, can’t you?” The boy nodded and Sam asked, “You want to be a police officer like me one day when you grow up?” He smiled and said yes. Although outside the office Sam publicly portrays a quiet, serious demeanor, she still has a huge smile and a fantastic sense of humor. She has also brought her seven year old son to volunteer in our food pantry and one day, I told her about my sons who have taught me to do the “floss dance.” Sam said, “You floss? Really? Prove it.” When I did, she laughed and started flossing too.
THURSDAYS: Officer Tommy Pierson is a father of two children, including a newborn earlier this fall. He has been a Columbus police officer since 2011 and is one of our newest special duty officers. While studying Criminology at Ohio State and playing on the rugby team, his original goal was to attend law school, but at some point during his undergraduate work he realized that becoming a lawyer just wasn't for him. "I tried out for the police force and fell in love with it," he told me. Tommy has helped at HFSK on Thursdays for the past few months when Mount Carmel's Mobile Medical Coach is serving our guests. It’s clear he is passionate about caring for all people in The Bottoms, where he is stationed on second shift.
On Thursdays, we’ve also welcomed other officers who have been a blessing throughout 2018, including Officer Rob Altherr who always does a great job, and especially Sergeant Keith Barker who is now an instructor for the force but still stops by to fill in when the other officers aren’t available. Sergeant Barker and Lieutenant Lowell Rector, who is a Holy Family parishioner, have been invaluable allies for HFSK.
FRIDAYS: Officer Cody Banks served for a total of eight years as a U.S. Marine, including a tour of duty in Iraq. (Spoken like a true servant, when I asked how long he had served, he said, “Oh, only eight years.”) The day after his initial active duty enlistment expired, he had an inescapable feeling that civilian life just wasn’t for him after all and he re-enlisted in the Marine Reserves specifically to deploy in support of the Surge in Afghanistan. Unfortunately, during an incredibly difficult and dangerous period in July 2011, he was severely wounded by an IED blast in the volatile Helmand Province. After convalescing in the States from a broken back among other injuries, Cody was medically discharged from the Marine Corps but he said, "I wanted to continue serving my country, so I became a police officer." As a fellow veteran and the son of a Marine Vietnam Vet, it’s been a real blessing for me to get to know Cody and to see how much he cares about doing as good of a job on the streets of Columbus wearing our city’s police uniform as he did overseas wearing Marine camouflage. He always goes out of his way to make it clear to HFSK guests that he is there to help them and to serve them. Cody lives on the Hilltop with his wife and their two kids. May God bless our CPD officers and all who selflessly serve day and night to protect the people of Columbus! Please join us in praying for their safety and asking for the prayers of Our Lord, Our Lady, Saint Michael, and all the Saints for their protection. Visiting Homeless Veterans Reflection by Dana Krull
On a chilly Monday morning at the end of October, I had the privilege of going on a ride-along with Ben, a patient advocate with Mount Carmel Medical’s Outreach team, to visit nearby homeless camps where many of our HFSK guests live. This was my first experience and it was eye- opening and heart-wrenching. I was thankful to have Ben’s company and guidance because he knows so many local homeless people and has earned their trust and respect by bringing them all manner of support to where they live, from bus passes to band aids to backpacks. Like me, Ben is a former military service member who didn’t expect to be serving his fellow civilians in these kinds of circumstances — but we both consider it a blessing to be able to do so.
Within the first half hour, I snapped this picture of one campsite among many tucked across the railroad tracks behind Holy Family Church in East Franklinton. I grew accustomed to seeing this kind of squalor in Iraq and Afghanistan, but not in the Midwest boomtown where I grew up. Minutes later at another site nearby, we met one of our regular HFSK guests, a fellow veteran who often stops by to pick up his mail. Tragic irony then hit me when we emerged from the wood line and I caught sight of the newly dedicated National Veterans Memorial and Museum. And minutes after that, as we drove up the bike path near a wooded area which city officials recently “remediated” of homeless residents due to complaints from locals, we ran into another veteran who receives woods bags from HFSK. He showed us a citation he had just been given late the previous night from a MetroParks ranger for failure to follow an order — he had been sitting on a wall near the site where the same ranger had previously cited him for sleeping. “I fought for this land, and what, I can’t even sleep on it?” he lamented to us.
After visiting more HFSK guests at their camps and seeing other sites around the I-670 underpasses where some of our guest volunteers reside, Ben drove us up to the Central Hilltop, my old childhood stomping grounds and now one of the most dangerous parts of Columbus. On Sullivant Avenue we picked up an 18 year old man who recently aged out of the foster care system where he had been addicted to methamphetamines and fathered a son whom he now cannot see. The young man needed help obtaining a copy of his birth certificate and Ben coordinated this through JOIN (Joint Organization for Inner-City Needs), another Catholic ministry on East Main Street, which graciously gave the man a voucher to use at the Bureau of Vital Statistics downtown. Although this young man who has been in and out of homes across the country may not have worn the uniform of our great nation, he too is a veteran of a lifetime full of combat. The harrowing trials he briefly described to us — which were surely only the tip of the iceberg — highlight the dire need for the restoration of stable nuclear families whose members have access to life-sustaining jobs and loving, supportive communities. America will surely fail without its families.
It occurs to me as I am writing this in the warmth and comfort of my home: I could have been this young man, were it not for the loving parents and extended family who set the conditions in childhood for me to thrive as an adult. Really, I could be any of the homeless veterans I met, were it not for the love of my wife, our families and our priest — and emergency savings in the bank — when I departed the military for good in 2017. Even under some of the most favorable circumstances, I’ve still had to do battle with anxiety, depression and other issues. So how much more would I be struggling during my transition without each of those blessings listed above? And, given all of this, why do I still hope that the left turn arrow will stay green so that I won’t have to sit next to the veteran who is often begging at a busy intersection near our home on the South Side?
I think at the root, for me it’s simple denial. When it comes to homelessness, the “out of sight, out of mind” approach helps me try to preserve the distinctly American illusion that I am in control of my own destiny, as well as the truly insidious (and unbiblical) notion that “God only helps those who help themselves.” But no matter how many zeroes are at the end of my net worth, when I realize how fragile my own existence is and how much faith and confidence I’ve placed in my economic or professional status instead of the Lord Jesus Christ, I am forced to come to terms with the fact that I am not in ultimate control of my life. While God certainly gives me latitude to make decisions and He allows me to reap their consequences, there are always other social and spiritual forces at work against me. Our common Enemy in this life wants to sow chaos, hopelessness, and death. But with the help of God’s Holy Spirit, the sustaining life He gives us in the Sacraments, and the mutual encouragement of those who are doing His work, we can serve our neighbors and show them the love of our Christ.
Dana Krull is the Operations Manager for Holy Family Soup Kitchen. Contact him at [email protected]. WINTER WAYS TO HELP https://foodrescue.us/ Free app available for iOS 9.0 and later
The Food Rescue US app helps connect fresh usable excess food with hunger relief organizations who serve America's food insecure population. No matter where you are, this app helps you donate your time and vehicle to rescue and transfer available food from local vendors right to Holy Family Soup Kitchen!
Think of this like Uber for food! Just log in, see what’s available locally and pick it up to deliver to HFSK. If you have an iPhone and an hour or so, this app is for you!
DONATE! VOLUNTEER! COATS, HATS, GLOVES, JACKETS, BLANKETS, SLEEPING BAGS,
CANDLES, Join one of our weekday volunteer crews, like members of the Friday Kitchen Team shown here (from left to right: Dan, Jim, Mike, George, & Jack). “HOT HANDS” Come as you are! We recommend calling ahead or emailing us to confirm we have room that day.
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INSIDE THIS ISSUE: “Special Duty, Special Servants” Feature Article...Volunteer Spotlight: Catherine Pierce…Visiting Homeless Veterans...Winter Ways to Help...and more