Published: August 10, 2008 08:57 pm            

TONAWANDA: Churches merge outreach programs

No one would say the merging of the St. Christopher and St. Edmund parishes has been easy. But working together to help others has started bringing the parish together.

Outreach Directors Carol Williams and Mickie Golba said when the churches moved, St. Edmund’s students went to St. Christopher’s school and the outreach program took over the former St. Edmund school building.

The move let the outreach program come out of the basement at St. Christopher, expand its capacity and help members interact with the community, said volunteer Maryann Szafran.

“This is a much larger, brighter space,” Szafran said. “Now we get to see our clients, where before the volunteer areas were segregated. This makes us more united and personally involved in our work here.”

The growth has increased donations to the facility at 530 Ellicott Creek Road, and with that has created a need for more manpower to sort and distribute it all. In addition to getting to know those they’re helping, the St. Christopher volunteers have been getting to know their new parish members. Volunteer Donna Antholzner said that level of interaction has been a help in turning the two groups into one family.

“We have some new volunteers from St. Edmund, and over here we can actually get to know them,” Antholzner said.

Members of the St. Vincent de Paul Society helped with outreach at St. Edmund, but now that the parishes are united the St. Christopher outreach has brought them and the Franciscans into the fold. St. Christopher has working relationships with the local food bank and also receives grants to buy fresh fruits and vegetables that are lacking from food drive donations. Now that all of the groups can work together, parish members can maximize the good they can do in the community, Williams said.

“We follow the food bank guidelines for who is in need,” Williams said. “It’s based in part on family size and income.”

But exceptions can be made in emergencies, like losses, catastrophes or illness. The program provides food, clothing, medicine, toys and even school supplies to local residents and others throughout Western New York. The program is even shipping supplies to Nicaragua, sending more than 2,000 Spanish-labeled boxes so far this year with no end in sight.

Senior programs at the church have also merged, and volunteers ages 10 to 91 are a common sight at the outreach center. Slowly but surely the group of more than 4,000 families is becoming united, Williams said.

“Early on people were talking about going to other churches. When people don’t know each other, they don’t feel comfortable,” Williams said. “But since the people have come over from St. Edmund, everyone realizes we’re all just people with the same cause. I feel like this has been instrumental in healing the community, especially for the people from St. Edmund who are really feeling the loss.”

        

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