Best of the Week 2019-2020: Holy Cross Values
ST. ED'S CONTINUES TO MEET THE NEEDS OF OUR COMMUNITY THROUGH LABRE, COMMUNITY MEAL AND BLOOD DRIVE
During this world-wide crisis, St. Ed's Campus Ministry Department has continued its efforts to help meet the needs of our community and those who are struggling on a daily basis. While doing their part to keep themselves and others safe and healthy, the Labre team including VP of Mission Effectiveness Mr. Liam Haggerty '02, Director of Service and Outreach Mr. Rick Kubrak '07, Bookstore Operator and Finance Office Assistant Mrs. Molly Dantio, and Librarian and CAS Coordinator Mrs. Jackie Wagner (pictured above) developed a plan to best serve the unsheltered population and homeless community on Monday nights to take over for local college Labre groups that have temporarily stopped their programs due to students being off campus. By making this change, a Labre team from the Cleveland area will still be out to help the homeless community every night of the week. To limit gatherings and practice social distancing, the St. Ed's Labre team has reverted to handling all Labre prep off campus, sending only two adults each week on Labre visits in separate vehicles, and leaving food at a safe distance for pickup and having conversations with community members at least six feet apart.
"Due to how much life has changed and how many organizations have had to greatly alter their operations, and in some cases, shut them down completely, the number of places where the most vulnerable can turn to for assistance has become even more limited. The need for our programs is that much greater," says Mr. Haggerty. "We have had to alter our own programs, and in some ways, our capacity has become limited as well, but we want to do all that we can to live our mission. The Holy Cross Constitutions urge us to be 'men and women with hope to bring.' In a time of such uncertainty, fear, and loss, this is what it means to bring hope, to keep showing up, to keep remembering those in need, and to keep standing with those who are troubled."
Although St. Ed's normally offers a produce distribution, food pantry and a community meal each month, these three events have been consolidated into one event that will continue the community meal by offering "to go" dinners and pre-packaged bags of groceries to each individual to limit contact and move people along quickly so they feel safe while getting the resources they need. "It is our hope that this continues to help meet the needs of so many who struggle with hunger and food insecurity all the time, a problem only exacerbated by the current crisis, while also limiting the number of times our guests need to leave their homes to access our programs," says Mr. Haggerty. Additionally, Mr. Haggerty and Mr. Kubrak have reached out to local partner agencies and housing complexes to deliver a limited number of meals and groceries to the most vulnerable populations that are in need of food at this time.
Lastly, the St. Ed's campus host a Red Cross Blood Drive on Wednesday, April 1 from 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. that will run on an appointment-only basis to keep participants safe. With so many blood drive locations closed during a time of critical blood shortage, St. Ed's is trying to help in this effort to meet this need. "Although we are just a high school, we are an important outreach resource for the community through the different ministries we offer," says Mr. Kubrak. "Under Governor DeWine's orders, we fall under the category of 'essential workers' as we provide essential, basic needs like food to people in our community, so we are still able to operate and offer these ministries. We not only want to keep our team and volunteers safe, but we also want to make sure our community gets the resources they need to stay healthy."
