An array of faces, and that's just the volunteers

Dana, Kiersten and Alyssa

It was their first day volunteering at Mother Marianne’s West Side Kitchen.

The trio of graduate students from Utica College will be back every Wednesday for the next two months as part of the master’s degree program in occupational therapy. They prepared trays to hand out to guests who packed the soup kitchen Wednesday, Sept. 21.

“I think it’s a really great program (here),” noted Dana Simpson, who was there with fellow first-year grad students Kiersten Stone and Alyssa Almeida.

Shirley Schmelcher

Bob Suprenent

While the three were new to the soup kitchen, there were a few Wednesday regulars.

Among them were Lynda Schmelcher and her parents, Shirley and Bob Schmelcher. Lynda was serving food along with Elvira Turpin (who volunteers four days a week).

Shirley was helping with preparations in the kitchen along with Bob Surprenent (who volunteers Mondays and Wednesdays, prepping food, doing dishes, “whatever needs doing” and “enjoying it").

Elvira Turpin & Lynda Schmelcher

Xaverian Brother Leonard Wojtanowski, CFX, a retired teacher, was busy washing dishes and putting away pots and pans.

“It’s really rewarding,” notes Shirley. “For some guests, this may be the only hot meal of the day.”

She and her family are “giving back” because “the community has been good to us,” especially when they had operated a roller skating rink decades ago.

The Wednesday crew chief, Cheryl Wakeel, was popping up everywhere, including spending a moment with Cindy Green, a work life skills community assistant from Oneida-Lewis ARC.

Br. Leonard

“I find satisfaction from helping here in the soup kitchen,” Cheryl says. “It’s a feeling I can’t describe. I get so much more back than I give.”

Meanwhile, Bob Schmelcher was out in the dining hall entertaining guests on his “echo harmonica,” a semi-circular contraption boasting seven harmonicas. He was showing off with a performance of Edelweiss.

Like many of the new regulars, Bob and his family have been volunteering for a couple of months.

“It was my wife’s idea.”

Cheryl Wakeel & Cindy Green

Bob Schmelcher with echo harmonica

To Be a Hero

Mother Marianne's West Side Kitchen marks it third anniversary this month.

It all started in 2008 when Deacon Gil Nadeau was inspired by the Gospel passage on the Transfiguration of Jesus on the mountain – and like the apostles who came down from the height to get to work, it was time for the parish to come off the mountain and do something for the hungry of the neighborhood.

It's more than 70,000 meals later. Or as soup kitchen supervisor Vicki Montalbano would say, 70,000 blessings later.

"The blessings flow from the kitchen and we are grateful to be able to serve," Vicki notes. "After all, who we serve are on our Lord's guest list, and all are welcome."

This weekend Deacon Gil preached on the Transfiguration again, where Elijah and Moses appeared, and a voice in the cloud declared, "This is my son." And Jesus was radiant like the sun.

Deacon Gil compared it to the light of faith. An unmistakable inner glow.

There are many examples. Take Mother Teresa. Quoting British journalist Malcom Muggeridge, he said: "Her love is luminous."

John Paul II had it, he said, and also Martin Luther King Jr.

But, he said, we don't have to do what they did to be heroic and radiate with the light of faith.

"Each of us is called to be a light in the darkness of this world…"

"To be a hero, you just need to do something good -- such as helping the needy... feeding the hungry... sheltering the homeless... supporting the ministries."

Like the volunteers of Mother Marianne's West Side Kitchen.

Giftedness

The wonder of life is all about us. It’s just that sometimes we don’t see it…until someone with a gift of sight brings it into focus for us. A giftedness rooted in the Gospel.

Such giftedness was apparent at two recent award presentations.

One was on Oct. 19 in Utica, New York, where the Resource Center for Independent Living (RCIL) honored Deacon Gil Nadeau and the volunteers of Mother Marianne’s West Side Kitchen with its Community Support Award for feeding the poor and homeless.

The other was a week later in Scottsdale, Arizona, where the U.S. Secular Franciscan Order, during its national gathering, honored Franciscan Friar David Buer, OFM, with the National Peace Award for his work with the homeless and migrants.

Deacon Gil recounted how a simple altar call to help serve the hungry of the neighborhood resulted in volunteers immediately stepping forward. He made the appeal after referring to the Gospel passage about the Transfiguration of Jesus on the mountain, where the apostles Peter, James and John realized it was time to come down off the mountain and get to work.

“From the time our first volunteer coordinators sat down to plan this ministry, it was 18 days until we opened our doors. Since then we have served some 65,000 meals. This is an especially significant number since we serve only lunches.”

A week later, Brother David told how he was inspired to work among the poor and homeless. A passage in Matthew’s Gospel “shot through me” – the one where Jesus says, “whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.” And St. Francis of Assisi, the spoiled son of a wealthy merchant, had a life-changing moment when he encountered a leper on the road: Instead of giving him wide berth, Francis embraced the leper. “Who are the lepers of today?” Brother David asked. “Who are the marginalized people?”

Brother David entered the religious order later in life, making his permanent profession in 1996 – a year before he arrived in Las Vegas, where he established Poverello House, a daytime refuge for the homeless. In 2002 he established a second Poverello House in Henderson, NV. He also went on a two-week vigil and fast in Las Vegas, living in a tent on a vacant lot to publicize the need for more shelters. A group of homeless men befriended and protected him during the vigil. “It put me in solidarity with those who have less.” Next he was assigned to Tucson, AZ, where in 2008 he established another Poverello House and where, for the past five summers, he set up Cooling Centers at two churches six days a week (three days at each church). The homeless could escape the oppressive summer heat in an air conditioned center and find food, cold beverages and a place to relax and read.

Through the work of the soup kitchen, along with his hosting meetings of the Mohawk Valley Homeless and Housing Coalition, Deacon Gil’s eyes were opened to another unmet need – homeless youth and young men.

It has taken nearly two years – a little longer than the 18-day launch of the soup kitchen – but Deacon Gil (with his team of fellow deacons, volunteers and staff, and parish, community and diocesan support) is ready to open John Bosco House on Jan. 31, the feast day of St. John Bosco. The shelter will initially house six young men, aged 18 to 21, with around-the-clock supervision. Eventually, he said, the shelter may house up to 18.

Located in the former St. George’s Church rectory, just a few blocks east of the soup kitchen, “the program will provide a safe home-like atmosphere and life-skills training,” he told St. Joseph-St. Patrick parishioners recently at Sunday Mass. “The goal is to make these young men self-supporting and transition them back into society.”

“These young men urgently need help,” he added. “They’re living on the street, or they’re crashing” wherever they can find a place for the night.

In Arizona, Brother David told some 80 regional ministers and observers representing 14,000 Secular Franciscans across the U.S.: “It’s my experience that we can expect God’s blessing when we bring these people -- the poor, the homeless, the migrants -- into our circle of love.”

Deacon Gil put it another way for parishioners: “How will Jesus remember us…if we could help the homeless?”

Divine Hospitality

Sunday’s Gospel message was from Luke, where Jesus attends a banquet. He suggests that guests adopt a humble attitude, rather than jockey for positions of honor, and advises the host that it would be better spiritually to invite guests incapable of repaying his generosity – “the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind.”

“Our Lord gives us today a divine way of hospitality,” Fr. Richard Dellos, pastor, told parishioners at Sunday Mass. He also teaches “a humble way of doing things.”

Humility, he said, is the basis of spirituality, and relates to love that is freely given, without thought of repayment.

“That is why our soup kitchen is such a beautiful thing,” Fr. Dellos asserted. It’s about helping the hungry and not expecting anything in return.

***
Mother Marianne’s West Side Kitchen has seen a jump in the number of people coming to the soup kitchen this summer, reports Deacon Gil Nadeau, director.

Most of them are kids.

Thus, the need for extra volunteers in the dining room.

Meals served to children average 150 to 200 in a month. But volunteers served 549 meals to kids in June and another 408 meals in July. Total meals for June and July were 2,522 and 2,384, respectively.

A total of 16,133 meals were served year-to-date through July, a 26.15 percent jump over the same period last year – or 3,345 more meals, the deacon reports. And since opening in March 2008, West Side Kitchen has served 58,245 meals.

Volunteer for the Children

“We could use more summer volunteers” at the soup kitchen, Fr. Richard Dellos announced at the weekend masses.

Even before that, West Side Kitchen Director Deacon Gil Nadeau asked the coordinating board “to reach out for more volunteers this summer, especially those who can work the dining room area.”

He elaborated: “The number of kids attending the soup kitchen has significantly increased, and I’m sure will remain high during this summer vacation.”

He also announced the June meal count – 2,522 lunches served (including 549 to children and 140 to the elderly). Year to date for the first six months, the soup kitchen has served 13,749 meals, he said, which is a 30.97 percent jump over the same period last year.

Father Dellos had another statistic:

“We’re seeing 50 children a day in the soup kitchen.”

Awed and Humbled

The directors of two agencies being honored by Secular Franciscans for their work with the poor and marginalized deferred attention from themselves, saying they don’t do God’s work for the recognition.

Even so, they each choked up a little after receiving the Mother Marianne Cope Award during St. Joseph Fraternity’s 150th Anniversary celebration June 6 at the Radisson Hotel-Utica Centre in Utica, NY.

“This is bittersweet,” said Rev. Deacon Gil Nadeau, director of Mother Marianne’s West Side Kitchen, because “we just lost one of our volunteers,” Tony Weber, who died May 28 at the age of 87. Tony had a strong prayer life, spending time in the Perpetual Adoration Chapel every week, he said. Tony came to the soup kitchen Wednesday nights, where “he made thousands of sandwiches.” Tony lived a Franciscan way of life, preaching the Gospel by example, like so many of the volunteers, the deacon said.

“So we dedicate this award to Tony Weber and all the volunteers who never ask for recognition.”

Rev. Bill Dodge, executive director of the Rescue Mission of Utica, said he was “awed and humbled” to be accepting an award from Franciscans that is named after Blessed Mother Marianne.

He mentioned how Mother Marianne went out of her way to provide amenities to her leprosy patients and treated them with dignity.

“It’s hard to think of any type of people who are more marginalized in any society than lepers,” he said. “The thing about marginalized people is that dignity needs to be restored.”

Mother Marianne’s “compassionate work with the lepers of her day is a powerful example of what reaching out and changing lives means to the Rescue Mission of Utica.”

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The day began with special recognition for the 150th anniversary during Sunday mass at St. Joseph-St. Patrick’s Church. Fr. Adam Keltos, OFM Conv., the banquet speaker, concelebrated mass with Fr. Richard Dellos, pastor, who praised the Franciscan fraternity’s service and made note of special guests – secular Franciscans from around the state, the Rev. Dodge and his wife, Laura; state Sen. Joe Griffo, and state Assemblywoman RoAnn Destito. At the end of mass, the two legislators presented a joint resolution from the New York State Legislature honoring St. Joseph Fraternity and the Secular Franciscan Order.

At the banquet, proclamations from other elected officials were read, including one from Utica Mayor David Roefaro, and three from U.S. Congressman Michael Arcuri. In one, the congressman commended the fraternity for its heritage of service, and the other two were congressional certificates praising West Side Kitchen and the Rescue Mission for “serving the needy” and “ameliorating hardship in the community.”

In presenting the Mother Marianne Cope Award, Fraternity Minister Katie Koscinski noted that the award’s namesake walked in the footsteps of St. Francis of Assisi nearly 700 years after his death. Before becoming a Franciscan sister, she grew up in Utica and was active in what today is St. Joseph-St. Patrick Church. “She reached out to the marginalized of her day – the lepers of Hawaii. Today, the recipients of the Mother Marianne Cope Award also reach out to the marginalized of society.”

Just over two years ago, she noted, Deacon Gil and Father Dellos challenged parishioners to “come down off the mountain.” In less than two months, parishioners, secular Franciscans and others had come together and opened West Side Kitchen, serving lunch six days a week to the jobless, the working poor and the homeless – “treating hungry children and adults as blessings” and “serving over 50,000 meals in the first two years.”

The Rescue Mission, she said, serves the poor, the homeless, the mentally ill and those struggling with substance abuse. “They strive to change lives and bring new hope to the hopeless. In 2009, their Addictions Crisis Center served 891 individuals. Their Emergency Shelter provided 6,040 nights of care…A total of 122,888 meals were provided three times a day to their residents and to community members.”

Father Adam, the keynote speaker, encouraged secular Franciscans to study and live their Franciscan Rule of life.

“It’s not long,” he said. “It’s just hard…” because “it means living the Gospel.”

“We are united with that energy and spirit of Francis and Clare, to do what? To live the Gospel.”

He encouraged them to wear the Tau cross all the time because one never knows when it could spur the question, “What’s that?”, and spark the awakening of a Franciscan vocation.

Noting the Rule’s generous use of the term, brothers and sisters, he said: “Francis of Assisi said we’re all brothers and sisters, including the animals and the sun and the moon and the stars… and as such, we have to renew and rebuild the church.”

After the banquet, as people lingered and chatted, the Rescue Mission’s Rev. Dodge commented to Fraternity Secretary Marsha Kistner that he really admired the Franciscan Tau cross. She removed hers from around her neck and presented it to him.

“You have no idea what this means to me,” he said.

Celebrating Those in the Trenches

Eight hundred years ago Francis Bernardone, better known as St. Francis of Assisi, heard God’s call to live the Gospel in a radical way. He came to see all of creation in a kind of universal kinship. Francis unwittingly started a movement. Men flocked to him and became his first brothers in a new order of mendicant friars. Clare of Assisi fled to him and started the contemplative Poor Clares. Single and married people sought him out and started the secular Third Order.

They all became known as Franciscans.

Some 150 years ago the Franciscans came to Utica. Friars took over what today is St. Joseph-St. Patrick Parish and almost immediately helped to found the area’s first group of Third Order Seculars – St. Joseph Fraternity.

Today, the Third Order Seculars are the world-wide Secular Franciscan Order, with a growing focus on serving poor and marginalized people.

And the local Secular Franciscans decided to mark their 150 years in Utica by singling out others to honor; namely, Mother Marianne’s West Side Kitchen and the Rescue Mission of Utica.

“The Fraternity Council voted to establish the Mother Marianne Cope Award to honor those serving the poor and marginalized,” noted Fraternity Minister Katie Koscinski, SFO.

The award, named after the Franciscan sister who grew up in West Utica and went on to serve the lepers of Hawaii’s Molokai, will be presented during a 150th anniversary banquet, which starts at 12:30 p.m. Sunday, June 6, at the Radisson Hotel-Utica Centre.

Founded in 1891 by the First Presbyterian Church of Utica, the Rescue Mission today serves the poor, the homeless, the mentally ill, and those struggling to recover from alcohol and substance abuse. Established in March 2008 at St. Joseph-St. Patrick Parish, West Side Kitchen provides lunch six days a week to the working poor, the jobless and the homeless.

Said Katie: “What better way to celebrate our century-and-a-half as a Franciscan fraternity than to recognize others who are working in the trenches – exactly where St. Francis, Mother Marianne and Jesus would be.”