A Rainy Day in Philadelphia

by Kelly Lynch

It was pouring rain.  Pouring.  The gray sky was filled with clouds.  We were on the Pennsylvania Turnpike headed towards Philadelphia.  The traffic was unbearable.  The panel truck in front of us, driven by Lancaster Catholic High School Director of Recruitment Tony Brill had just pulled over to the side of the road.  We pulled behind him.  Ahead, my husband Joe also pulled over in his white Honda Accord.  The window on the driver side of the panel truck had come off its track and wouldn’t close.  Tony Brill was getting soaked as he drove the truck with James Rogers, Catholic High’s Director of Religious Education beside him.  I looked over to my mother who was sitting beside me in the Dodge minivan and said, “Someone or something is certainly trying to keep us from where we’re going today.”  We turned the radio off and invited the three Catholic High juniors in our car to pray with us.  My daughter, Shannon, 16, had invited two friends to join her in today’s venture and trek to Philadelphia – Emma Rovnak and Monica Mastropietro.  “Lord, protect us, guide us, help us,” we prayed. 

We got back on the turnpike and decided to stop at the next rest area.  There, my husband Joe helped Tony Brill push the window back into its track as the three teenagers, my mother and I prayed.  “If it were Christ Himself waiting at the other end,” I said, “nothing would stop us from getting there.” 

My cell phone rang.  It was Tammy Filler, the NBC Today Show producer who’d been journeying with us this morning in the second of two days of taping for a segment recognizing Shannon for her efforts with the poor.  Shannon would be featured on NBC’s Today as part of the Macy’s “Parade on Parade” promotion, which recognizes young people who have made special contributions to their communities.  We’d spent all day yesterday with Tammy and the camera crew and today they were following us to witness Shannon’s efforts.

But the rain and the traffic caused Tammy to take a wrong turn today, and she called to tell us that she would not make it in time.  “I’ve told the camera crew to go on ahead without me,” she said.  “They know what to do.”  “You’ll be fine.”  It was getting late and we wondered if even we would make it in time, in time for those who were waiting for us.

At 10:05 a.m., the gates opened.  Joe’s Honda and the panel truck pulled inside to park.  As we approached, we saw those who were waiting for us.  They were sitting on the cement walk outside the Inn, slowly sipping their hot oatmeal out of a clear plastic container.  The door of the panel truck opened, and we began unloading bags full of new winter coats.  Coats we had purchased the day before at Gabriel Brothers in York.  Some were navy, others were black.  Some had hoods, some did not.  But all were warm.  All were new.  And all were destined for the homeless men and women we would meet today.

Karen Pushaw, Brother Xavier, and Sister Mary Augustini of Saint Francis Inn welcomed us and invited us in out of the cold rain.  The camera men were there, waiting to capture every moment on film.  We sorted the bags by size as a volunteer scooted behind us with a large pot of hot oatmeal.  “Are you ready?” Karen asked us.  We were.  She opened the door to a line of men and women, waiting in the rain, for a new winter coat. 

A man named John was especially grateful when we helped him choose a new coat.  I was blessed to hold his cane and container of oatmeal as he reached his long arms into a  gray and gold coat with a fleece lining.  “I needed a new coat, and God knew it,” he told us with joy.  His eyes peered above a pair of large-rimmed glasses he was wearing.  “For seventy years, God has been providing for me” he said. 

Lancaster Catholic students help a friend in Philadelphia select a new coat.

One woman arrived in nothing but a denim jacket.  She was a small woman, in her late thirties, and she was shaking.  I thought she was cold.  “I have HIV,” she told me, “and the meds make me shiver with cold.”  I offered her a red coat, then a pink one.  “They’re not warm enough,” she whispered.  “I’m really cold.”  I searched through the clear bag of coats and found a larger, heavier black coat with a hood.  “Yes!” she said, “It’s perfect,”  as she almost skipped away from me shouting “Thank you! Thank you!”

At one point, I caught a glimpse of the three Catholic High juniors doing more this morning than just giving away coats to the homeless.  Rather, they were engaging the men and women in conversations, asking them their preferences – their choices – and helping them to choose the right coats.  Even the NBC cameras hovering above them didn’t seem to make a difference.  These young girls, dressed in their cranberry Catholic High sweaters and gray plaid skirts, appeared so at ease and so comfortable with these homeless men and women they’d never met before.  I felt blessed.  Grateful to be part of such a special moment in their lives.  Christ is here, I thought.  He is here.

A tall clean-shaven Caucasian man with short blonde hair asked the girls if they had a warmer coat than the one he had selected.  “I live on the streets,” he told Shannon and Emma, “and I really need a warm coat.”

Beside me was 8 year-old Christopher, my son, who was following in his sister Shannon’s footsteps today, with his own deep and devout love for the poor.  “You have mediums today, Christopher,” I told him, as I directed all the smaller and shorter men towards him.  “God bless you,” he said to them, and I knew he really believed God would bless them today.

Tony Brill and Jim Rogers from Catholic High were dressed in their suits and ties and stood to the right of the entrance.  Good men, I thought.  Such good men.  Here with us, supporting us, helping us.  As they too assisted men and women, young and old, in choosing the right coat, you couldn’t miss the connection as their eyes met.  “Thank you, and God bless you,” the men and women said to them, one after another, as they walked away with their new coats.  “Thank you, and God bless you.”

Things were starting to wrap up when a woman entered the Inn pushing a small child in an umbrella stroller with a yellow rain jacket draped over him.  He was the first child we’d seen that morning.  Usually there are more children who come to the Inn, but the rain kept them away today.  Except for him.  “His name is Mikey,” his mother told us.  “Michael, but we call him Mikey.”  And how glad we were to see Mikey.  Shannon quickly greeted him and searched to find him a coat – a red coat with a hood, just his size.  As she bent down to meet his eyes with hers, she handed him a teddy bear, from a bag full brought especially today for the children.  As cameras surrounded him, I wondered if Mikey had any idea what a little celebrity he was today.  A child of about 2 years old, he had beautiful brown eyes and soft skin.  He had come to the Inn with his mother for a bowl of hot oatmeal.  Today, he would receive a new coat as well and become the focus of all the cameras in the room.  Christ is here, I thought.  He is here. 

When the last men and women chose their coats, we packed up what was left and loaded them into the van.  The remaining coats would be given away at the end of the month to the homeless men and women at the Breadline of St. Francis Church in New York City.  As the door of my van closed beside me, in the distance, I watched a man walk away from the Inn, back into the streets.  And I couldn’t help but wonder what his day would have been like if we hadn’t come.  But I wondered more what my day would have been like and what the days of Tony Brill and Jim Rogers or the three Catholic high juniors would have been like.  Christ was here, I thought.  He was here.  I hoped no one missed Him.  I hoped everyone saw Him as clearly as I did.  For He was here.

Before heading back home to Lancaster, we stopped for lunch and were grateful for the opportunities we’d shared together that day.  How blessed we all felt.  ‘Today was life-changing for me,” Tony Brill shared.  “Everyone was so thankful,” he said, “and not one of them didn’t stop to say ‘God bless you.’”  “If I could do the day all over again,” Jim Rogers said, “I’d do it again in a heartbeat.  What an amazing experience.”

Sixteen year-old Shannon Hickey is part of three generations of women that make up Mychal’s Message, a non-profit organization dedicated to meeting the needs of the homeless and poor while rebuilding dignity with love.  Founded by Shannon after the terrorist attacks on our country, Mychal’s Message has collected and distributed over 100,000 new items to the homeless and poor. 

With less than eighteen hours notice, students came to school Tuesday without coats, a suggestion made to them by Mr. Zane Gizzi, Director of Advancement, in an effort to better understand the plight of the poor and homeless.  They experienced firsthand what it was like to be outside without a coat on a morning when temperatures were in the low 30’s.   Lancaster Catholic High School was responsible for raising $2,300 to purchase the coats we gave away that day. 

School principal Dermot Garrett drove the truck to Gabriel Brothers in York, along with Zane Gizzi and Mary Jo Diffendall, then back to Lancaster, with another route later that day to Harrisburg where they purchased an additional 100 coats. 

“We are forever indebted to you,” we told them.  “No, it is we who are forever indebted to you,” they told us. 

The telephone message that Director of Communications Mary Jo Diffendall received at Lancaster Catholic High School Monday morning was a message that changed all of us when a group of dedicated people came together at such short notice all for one common goal – to better serve Him.  That phone call changed us all – “Hi, This is Tammy from the Today Show,” the voice said, “and we’d like to interview one of your students.”

Shannon can be seen on NBC's Today show on THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 16th, 2006 during the 8-9:00 a.m. hour.