Geneva church volunteers help homeless during holidays
St. Peter Church in Geneva has a Works of Mercy Ministry that helps those in need in myriad ways.
The assistance may be as simple as providing an elderly person with a ride to a doctor's appointment or picking up a loaf of bread for someone with the flu.
This Christmas season, the ministry wanted to reach out to homeless people on the streets of Chicago. The plan was to deliver a large bag filled with a warm shirt, wool socks, gloves, blanket, thermal underwear, vest, flashlight, hard candies, Subway or McDonald's gift card, Christmas card, and a sack lunch to homeless people in the city.
A few members had planned to put together the bags with their own personal donations, but later decided to give parishioners an opportunity to donate as well. A request was published in the parish bulletin, thinking they may get a few extra bags to take.
The day after it was published, three bags were pledged. A couple days later, the number was up to 20. By the end of the week, 35 bags were pledged. When the number hit 20, ministry leader Rama Canney debated whether to turn off the spigot, as she was concerned that she and her son, Ryan Canney, would not have enough space in his small SUV.
"While I had no idea how we could do it, I felt a prompting from the Holy Spirit to 'Let it go on,'" Canney said. Donations continued to be accepted.
Shortly after the number hit 35, Canney received a call from Ann Vargo of Geneva. She and her husband, Jim, are not members of St. Peter Church, but happened to be at Mass there and heard about the project. She called Canney the next day to pledge a bag. Then she took it a step further and called her back, offering to help deliver the bags.
"I don't know why I called her back, but it just seemed the right thing to do," Vargo states.
Canney was amazed at the timing of the phone call, as donations were still coming. At this point, Canney said she knew that the "the Holy Spirit was providing for us."
Ann Vargo called Enterprise Rent-a-Car and told them about the project. They agreed to rent her a large van for only $22. Also, shortly before delivery day, while checking out at Trader Joe's, the clerk asked about her plans for Christmas. She told him about the project and he gave Vargo two boxes of cookies to add to the bags.
"Everything was coming together; it was meant to be," she said.
As the number of bags neared 50, Canney's next worry was how they would find that many homeless people on Christmas Eve morning. Again, parishioners came to her aid. Someone called the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless to see if they would accept any extra bags should there be any.
Another family provided waterproof bags containing contact information for all the warming and homeless shelters in the area so those on the street could find a warm place to go.
Parishioner Sam Hendrian, a junior at Geneva High School, also heard about the project and offered to help deliver the bags.
Hendrian states, "I thought it would be a cool thing to do. I've walked down the streets of Chicago before and ignored homeless persons. I thought this was a good opportunity to help them and acknowledge their presence."
The group ended up with 54 giant bags to deliver. They loaded up the bags Christmas Eve morning and miraculously, they fit, without an inch to spare, in the two vehicles. Jim and Ann Vargo, along with their daughter and son-in-law, Jamie and Chad Levrouw, drove the van, while Canney, her son Ryan, and Hendrian loaded up in the SUV. They left for the city, unsure what the day would hold.
Canney's vehicle had a little trouble finding homeless people at first. At one point, they stopped at a Dunkin' Donuts for a restroom break; Canney asked an employee if she knew where they could find homeless people. The employee pointed to a man at a table and said, "That man is homeless."
Hendrian went out to the car and brought the man a bag. "He was very gracious," Hendrian said.
Another tender moment occurred for this group near the end of their day. They had spotted a tall, older man, walking near a mission and stopped to ask if he wanted a bag. He said yes, but added sadly, "I have a wife. Do you have anything for a female?"
Canney had not asked for bags for women, but early on, a parishioner had called to ask if she could make up a few. It just so happened that there was one bag left in their vehicle, and that bag was labeled, "Woman."
They gave both bags to the man. Canney said the man looked up to the sky and said, "There really is a Santa."
Hendrian said the entire day was a great experience.
"It was cool how God was working with us. You hear people say things like that, but we literally saw it throughout the whole day. Like when we were loading up the bags at St. Peter and a man in a beat-up truck pulled up looking for the food pantry (which was closed that day). We were able to send him home with a bag. So many things like that happened," he said.
The Vargo family had an amazing day also. Ann recalls giving bags to a man and his mother. He took a flannel shirt out of the bag, put it on right away, and said, "I love it."
His mother put on a vest from the bag. Then they both came over to the van and hugged them.
Vargo also told of a man who accepted the bag and said, "I'm going to give this to Milton 'cause he needs it more than I do." They immediately gave him another bag - one for him and one for Milton.
Vargo said that when all the bags were delivered, her family went out to lunch in Chicago and talked about how wonderful the experience was for each of them.
"We all agreed that this is what it's all about," she said.
Between the two vehicles, all 54 bags were delivered, and they could have given away even more.
Canney said they will plan another trip to the city to help the homeless later this year. And the Vargo family has already committed to doing it again.
The St. Peter Works of Mercy Ministry is grateful to the donors, deliverers and those who prayed for the project's fruitfulness. They helped make Christmas a little brighter for those in need.