Catholics help developmentally
disabled
Joe Kohn of The Michigan Catholic
Published April 21, 2006
Southfield – A project started in the Lenten spirit will continue to help developmentally disabled people in the Detroit area for the long haul.
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Katie Racey, a senior at Ladywood High School, helps carry food items her school collected into the new food pantry at Angel’s Place. Several parishes also helped stock the new pantry, which helps in caring for people with special needs. | Volunteers and donors from several parishes, and the Felician-run Ladywood High School in Livonia, have pitched in to create and stock a food pantry for Angel's Place, a nonprofit organization that has several homes in the Detroit area to house and provide a loving Christian atmosphere for developmentally disabled adults.
While Angel's Place is not formally associated with the Archdiocese of Detroit, it has many ties to the Church. Several of the organization's homes are linked with Catholic parishes, and Cardinal Adam Maida has strongly supported the Christian nonprofit since it was started in 1992.
This year, Angel's Place received a $90,000 cutback in its public funds and, amid rising energy costs, was looking for a way to save money for residents of its dozen houses. All they needed to do was ask. They received help and food from several parishes, including Holy Name Parish in Birmingham, Our Lady of the Lakes Parish in Waterford Township, St. Anastasia Parish in Troy, St. Peter Parish in Harper Woods, St. James Parish in Novi, and St. Regis Parish in Bloomfield Hills.
A food pantry was constructed in the basement of a Southfield Angel's Place residence and as of early April many of its shelves were filling up.
"We have so much," said Katie Racey, a senior and student council member at Ladywood who organized a food drive at her school to help stock the pantry. "It's just good to be able to give back of ourselves."
Racey said her classmates at the 500-student school didn't hold back in their giving. In February, they averaged nearly three food items per student. In March, they averaged more than four.
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John Tobin, a parishioner at Holy Name Parish in Birmingham, carries bags of food into the newly-constructed food pantry at an Angel’s Place residence in Southfield. | "The girls did it with no incentive or anything," Katie said. "I think it was a great showing of Ladywood spirit."
The several parishes involved also showed a lot of spirit.
Mary Shaw, who does Christian Service work for St. Peter Parish said the parishioners customarily choose a charity to help for Lent, and when they learned about Angel's Place's ministry to those with special needs, it was a perfect fit.
"The Lord did say if you help those, you help me," Shaw said. "And that's kind of how we feel – we're trying to do a little bit of the Lord's work. There's a great satisfaction knowing that we've helped somebody."
Parishioners at St. James Parish in Novi, who have built up a food pantry of their own that helps dozens of families per month, decided they could go the extra mile to help build up Angel's Place's pantry, as well. Food pantry coordinator Michelle Lewis says the parishioners at the parish are generous in filling appeals for certain food items, which the Christian Service department puts in the bulletin. And parishioner Mary Holtschneider – a regular Angel's Place volunteer – loads up her vehicle and takes extra food to Angel's Place's pantry.
"Angel's Place seems like a wonderful organization and they're really trying to help those who are developmentally disabled," said Lewis. "There are a lot of families that need Angel's Place for their adult children. If we can help in some way, we should do that."
Angel's Place spokeswoman Barbara Urbiel says the volunteers, workers and residents of Angel's Place are heartened by the show of Christian generosity in helping them with their mission.
"We just got a $90,000 cut from (Oakland) county for this year's budget, so this food pantry is even more important as we are trying to figure how to save money and raise the funds we need to replace that money," Urbiel said. "We're so grateful to the parishes and schools that have decided to do this. They're really showing their support for this mission."
Indeed, it's through the support of such donors and work of such volunteers that Angel's Place has been able to operate since it was founded in 1992. In caring for about 100 residents, 56 percent of the organization's budget comes from donations. And much of the work to maintain Angel's Place homes in Oakland, Wayne and Macomb counties comes from Christians willing to work hard to serve Christ.
"The volunteers are really the backbone of our organization," Urbiel said. "We just have a lot of people who are willing to do just about anything for us."
Learn more about Angel's Place by visiting www.angelsplace.com, or call (248) 350-2203.
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