As most of you know, our family started this grassroot Ministry when Anthony, Laura and Christine were in middle school. We have enjoyed serving the homeless men living in St Paul's Episcopal Church in Paterson for the past 7 years. We were blessed by getting to know some of them personally, listening to their stories and serving them the wonderful home cooked meals that many of you have offered to them.
Several of you have been particularly generous and steadfastly involved since the very beginning. We thank you, Joanne Bonwick and Dana Feeney, for cooking for St Paul almost every month! Thank you to Laura Magrath, Joan Davies, Marcia Unger, Mary Ellen Castaldo, Li Towt, Jessica Strader, Linda Cascardo, Sue Dickinson, Kali Roi Eklof, Salwa Eliya, Donna Flagg, Jessica Lee, Jo-Ann Massey, Sandy Santangelo, Sue Sofka, Linda Strickand, The Torielli family, Marjorie Vanacore, Mary Weyant, for also helping out with meals.
One family stood faithfully with us from the very beginning and continues to this day to encourage and support the St Paul Ministry in a meaningful and loving way, not only through the many delicious meals they cooked but also through the time they took to go serve the meals at the shelter on Sunday afternoons. Suzy Mc Devitt deserves our heartfelt gratitude for her big help in keeping the Ministry going. Now her daughter, Samantha, who also has often helped with cooking and serving, has offered to coordinate the Ministry.
Samantha Mc Devitt will succeed Laura Di Iorio as St Paul's Mission coordinator as of September 1st, 2020.
Here are some of her own words as she steps up her commitment to serving the homeless of St Paul:
" Some of my most memorable moments were in serving dinner to the men with my mom and brother, when we were still pretty young. I’ve made a point of helping my mom to make our dishes for the shelter. Also memorable, were the times we had my Girl Scout Troop over to my house to make the entire dinner, and then we served it together at the shelter. It felt good to get my friends involved and helping out.
I’ve watched Laura Di Iorio take over the organization of volunteers for the mission from her mom in the past couple of years. And now that she’s going to college, I decided that it was a good time for me to take an even more active role in the mission. This is such a meaningful and worthy mission of our church. I urge you all to get involved if you haven’t already. Even if you’re not a particularly good cook, there’s a place for you! While most volunteers make their own food, some do purchase food, like fried chicken or pizza. And someone also provides a salad, or fruit and bread each month, which don't require cooking. Of course, if you are a good cook, we’d love to have you prepare something special for the men! “
Our next Serving Day is September 6th. We still need a large salad to complete this meal
You are welcome to sign up for our next meal, on Sunday, October 4th.
Contact Samantha at 201-820-8056 or at sammcdev99@gmail.com
