Each cubicle includes a bed and a place for an overnight visitor’s belongings. Sister Grace (shown here) says the dormitory is often filled.
There’s a new outreach in Cornwall. People of different faiths are joining together to provide weekend meals for elementary school students. If the volunteers need inspiration, they can look north to the Newburgh Ministry, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary.
The Newburgh program had a modest beginning. Nuns from a few Roman Catholic congregations opened a drop-in center in a storefront on Broadway. It was a place where people of all ages could socialize, read, enjoy a cup of coffee, and explain their needs.
The daily communication helped the founders extend their outreach. Within the first year, they started to make house calls to help young mothers with their newborns. And they helped young students prepare for elementary and middle school exams.
Over the years, the ministry attracted volunteers from other communities (especially Cornwall) and continued to expand. It outgrew the storefront and opened a new headquarters on Johnston Street, which includes a shelter where people can spend the night. During a recent 12-month period, the ministry
-distributed 70,000 articles of clothing
-addressed 1,500 issues with Social Services, Social Security and other agencies
-distributed 2,000 diapers and 1,500 bottles of shampoo
– served 15,000 cups of coffee and 5,000 cups of tea
-spent 2,500 hours caring for children
-gave 1,000 gifts to youngsters
-shared 30,000 hugs and handshakes and provided innumerable smiles
For its 30th anniversary, the ministry published a booklet that included testimonies from the people it has helped. One anonymous tribute was especially poignant. “My family has received a feeling of security and peace at the ministry,” the person wrote. “It gives me a good feeling to leave my lonely house and go to a house filled with joy.”
Cornwall’s needs are different from Newburgh’s. But the success of the ministry should be inspiring for the people starting a new venture in Cornwall.