Mychal’s Message:
An Ongoing Mission to Help the Poor
By Andie Petrillo
November 26, 2006
Ed Note: the following story was written by seventh-grader, Andie Petrillo for her Creative Writing class and as a submission to the St. Leo the Great Newspaper in Education contest.
Have you ever heard of Mychal’s Message? If you haven’t, Mychal’s Message is a non-profit organization founded by Shannon Hickey to help the poor in New York, Philadelphia, and Lancaster. Shannon got started in 2002 with “Socks for the Homeless”, after the tragic death of her good friend Father Mychal Judge in the World Trade centers in 2001. Father Mychal had prayed for Shannon during her operation. Shannon wanted socks instead of gifts for the celebration of her kidney transplant that year. Then in spring 2002, she decided to give away Mychal’s favorite cookies to the homeless as the project “Happy Birthday Father Mychal”. Also in spring of 2002, came “For I Was Thirsty”, which through a kind donation of a gift card to Giant food stores purchased powdered iced tea mix for the St. Francis Inn in Philadelphia. Next, in March-September of 2002 came “Blessed Bloomers”, which gave undergarments to various charities and shelters. There are so many projects this organization has completed! This year brings “Because of Mikie”, which will take a busload of kids to Sesame Street Live. In 2006, Shannon was featured on the Today show and was asked to cut the ribbon at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. After reading about this organization, they should be commended for their terrific work with the homeless and poor.
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This page was last updated on: October 4, 2004.