Finally, “How” had been answered. It did not take much to get people excited about helping out, especially with Christmas approaching. All of us see and interact with the poor on our way to class every day, and it is a common experience to wish that we could do something concrete to help them with their real problems. The plan was devised to trust the generosity of the men in the house and get the Missionaries of Charity what they said they needed while providing the men of the NAC the opportunity to pitch in: we would make 200 care packages for the Missionaries working at San Gregorio and order the 120 sleeping bags the Missionaries at Dono di Maria had requested. Both items were given barcodes at KNAC, our in-house convenience store, so that seminarians and priests could “purchase” them for distribution at a later date. Around twenty seminarians then helped put together approximately 200 “Christmas gift bags” filled with toiletries and, to add a bit of Christmas cheer, some candy. We kept 40 to 50 of the care packages here on campus at the St. Lawrence Pantry for men to
Deacon Erin Kochivar ‘16 (Colorado Springs) inside the shelter run by the Missionaries of Charity
distribute to the poor themselves on their way to school, and the rest we delivered to the Missionaries at San Gregorio. The sleeping bags, after a slight logistical hang-up, arrived towards the end of Christmas break, and about a dozen seminarians delivered them to the Missionaries at Dono di Maria on January 9. The whole experience provided the NAC community with a great opportunity to do something very practical and helpful for the poor
Deacon David Exner ‘16 (San Diego), Fr. Jack Schrader ‘15 (Fall River), and Ben Pitre ‘18 (Lafayette) taking the sleeping bags down to Dono di Maria
of Rome: to meet people where they are and to give them something that would concretely help them during the cold winter months. The response from the house was encouraging. I lost track of the number of times that people came up to me asking of other ways they could get involved and help out, and even sometimes of guests that had visited the College and heard of the “sleeping bag drive” and wanted to help in some way. The generosity displayed by all of the seminarians and priests who helped out in various ways – from Deacon Erin Kochivar’s running around and coordinating with the sisters, to Fr. Peter Harman’s driving a van crammed full with seminarians and 150 gift bags over to San Gregorio, to everyone else who quietly sacrificed their time and resources to provide some comfort to the poor living on the streets – cannot be overstated. The deacon St. Lawrence was martyred in part for his defiance towards an imperial prefect when, after being instructed to bring him “the treasures of the Church” presented him instead with the poorest of the poor. To see that same sentiment echoed in the actions of so many men at the NAC is inspiring. n ROMAN ECHOES 2016 • VOLUME 20: ISSUE 3
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