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Jubilee Scholarship
ONGOING Lancaster Hometown
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The basic needs of the homeless and poor present themselves to us as we strive to walk in Father Mychal's footsteps. Each project is inspired by a specific need - a cold woman on the street, a man with no shoes, a baby three days in the same diaper, or a man with a can of food with no way to open it. We attempt to meet those basic needs while restoring dignity with love. And each time we do, a new project is born! Through the generosity and love of donors from across the country and around the world, Mychal's Message has collected and distributed over 200,000 new items to the homeless and poor - items such as diapers, toothpaste, socks, underwear, hats, gloves, blankets, winter coats, teddy bears, sneakers, pencils, rosaries, bananas, baby formula, pillows, towels, umbrellas, soap and one can opener! A complete list of items distributed can be found here. These items have been
distributed in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Florida,
Oklahoma and Iraq. Donors have come from across the US and around the
world. Through our projects, we have seen - and we believe - that one
person can make a difference.
As we prepare to honor the tenth anniversary of September 11, 2001, Mychal’s Message is getting ready for the annual coat drive that has to date provided over 2,100 new winter coats to the homeless and poor. We remember our dear fallen friend, Father Mychal F. Judge, OFM. How we miss his presence in our lives. How we miss his guidance and his love. How we miss his soft voice at the other end of the telephone in the wee hours of the night. How we miss his prayers, to us and for us. We strive to walk in his footsteps and be like him in every way … as he followed St. Francis … who followed our Christ. We honor his love of the poor, the downtrodden and the homeless. This year we also celebrated the twentieth anniversary of Mychal’s Message founder Shannon Hickey’s life-saving liver transplant. If you know our story, you know that Father Mychal was an integral part of the faith and strength necessary to survive this transplant while living in a Ronald McDonald House 750 miles away from home. When Shannon was just three days old, her Nana remembers holding her and wondering who she would become. “What will your favorite color be? What will you do with your life?” she whispered into Shannon’s ear. Shortly after that, Shannon was diagnosed with biliary atresia and would need a liver transplant to survive. At the age of 7 months, Shannon became the 17th patient in this country to receive a liver from a living donor (her mother). Just after returning from the operating room, Nana whispered in Shannon’s ear again … “I’m here and I love you. I’ll never leave you. Please feel this love and live.” That was over twenty years ago, and Nana now knows that Shannon’s favorite color is pink, that she wants to work in broadcasting, and that her life belongs to God. Once an eleven year-old little girl who had the heart, mind and love of someone much older, it was Shannon’s idea to collect socks for the homeless in 2002 that sparked our family into action. And it was Shannon, on numerous occasions, who has been seen giving away her own hat, gloves and scarf to homeless men and women on the streets. And so, in this anniversary year, Mychal’s Message is pleased to name this year’s coat drive, “A Coat for Shannon.” With your help, Mychal’s Message will provide new warm coats, hats and gloves to the homeless and poor. How You Can Help: Online donations are accepted through Network for Good. Please click the link below and specify "Coats" in the "Designation" line on the Network for Good website.
You may also choose to make a donation by check. Please send your donations to:
Mychal's Message
 Blessed Bloomers Xthrough September 11, 2011 It began with a simple pair of socks. With a child's idea. It began with a way to remember. To honor. To celebrate. And it was in the distribution of those first socks that a man on the Breadline at St. Francis of Assisi Church in New York City leaned in to ask us, "Do you ... do you happen to have any underwear?" On that return trip home from the city, Mychal's Message co-founder Sharon Hickey. SFO knew she had to find a way to bring underwear to the men and women who needed them most. She prayed and pondered until she discovered the way. "I know what 1want for my birthday this year," she told her family. "Underwear." It was then that "Blessed Bloomers" was born. And in nearly ten years since those first packages of underwear were given away. Mychal's Message has distributed over 56,000 pair of socks, underwear and T-shirts, second only in number to prayer cards, diapers and toiletries. Socks and underwear still remain the most requested items from shelters, breadlines, soup kitchens, and the homeless themselves. As the tenth anniversary of September 11 approaches, we are grateful to have witnessed how the simplest of gifts have offered the greatest love, the greatest dignity. For it is in giving that we receive. And surely, we have received so much more than we have given. As we remember Father Mychal judge, OFM on this tenth anniversary of his death, or his birth into eternal life, we ask you to help us provide packages of "Blessed Bloomers" to the many men, women and children who rely on the kindness and generosity of others. We ask you to walk with us, as we follow in the footsteps of Father Mychal, who once filled his chaplain's car with new underwear and socks to be distributed among the homeless and poor. Let us remember. Let us celebrate. Let us honor the life of a man who changed the lives of so many. How You Can Help:
Online donations are accepted through Network for Good. Please click the link below and specify "Bloomers X" in the "Designation" line on the Network for Good website. 
Mychal's Message
 Father Cassian A. Miles, OFM, Jubilee Scholarship FundCombining Faith with Education Ongoing On February 25, 1961 good friends Cassian A. Miles, OFM and Mychal F. Judge, OFM were ordained alongside other friars into the priesthood at the Mount St. Sepulchre Franciscan Monastery in Washington, DC. To mark the 50th anniversary of that day, Mychal's Message is pleased to announce the Father Cassian A. Miles, OFM, Jubilee Scholarship Fund. Father Cassian was born Francis Augustine Miles in Weekhawkin, NJ. He entered St. Joseph's Seminary in Callicoon, NY in 1951, was first professed as a friar in 1955, and entered the Order of Friars Minor in 1958. With an early interest in journalism, it's no surprise that Father Cassian then served the Holy Name Province Communications Office for 35 years, providing editorial direction for the award-wining The Anthonian magazine for much of that time. His service in the Order of Friars Minor also includes teaching English, Religion, and Adult Education. It is evident to those who know and love Father Cassian that his steadfast faith and unwavering love of the Eucharist are integral parts of who he is: a daily communicant who has celebrated Holy Mass each day since his ordination, a friar who has dedicated his life to serving God and others, and a priest who has devoted years to parochial ministry. Father Cassian also shares a passion to educate, evidenced by his early interest in writing, years spent teaching, his work with the Worldwide Marriage Encounter Program, and endless hours spent proofreading and editing the works of others. Mychal's Message is pleased to mark this 50th jubilee anniversary to the priesthood by combining the gifts of faith and education of Father Cassian A. Miles. With your help, the Father Cassian A. Miles, OFM, Jubilee Scholarship will be awarded annually to help provide a Catholic education to a student in need. How You Can Help:
Donate Funds Online donations are accepted through Network for Good. Please click the link below and specify "Scholarship Fund" in the "Designation" line on the Network for Good website.
Mychal's Message
Ongoing Projects  Prayer Bears Because Fr. Mychal knew the important task of a Teddy Bear February 2005 - ongoing Decsription: When the Teddy Bear project first came to us, we had no idea that it was something our dear Father Mychal had already planted in our souls. Soon after 9-11, a Pennsylvania woman began sewing teddy bears. After placing one of our prayer cards with each one, she gave them away to homeless children living in shelters. As our own friend and artist, Scott, was working on illustrations for a children's book last year (coming soon!), he painted a picture of Father Mychal with a man suffering from AIDS. He was given a reference photo to work from, and then painted Father Mychal handing the sick man a teddy bear. As Scott painted, he had no idea the story behind the teddy bear. (Father Mychal used to order them in bulk quantities to give away 
to those suffering from AIDS. He wanted them to have something to
clutch when they
had nothing or no one to hold on to.) Weeks later, Shannon received a special gift from someone on our mailing list -
a handmade teddy bear - to thank her for all the work she had done with the
homeless. Soon thereafter, another woman got involved and began
sewing teddy bears as well. As time passed, more women got involved
and began purchasing them. Some women even hand-knitted little hats
and scarves to put on their bears. Teddy bears were given away to
children living in shelters in
New York,
New Jersey,
Pennsylvania and Florida. Because Father Mychal believed how important
the task of a teddy bear was, so then do we.
(photo)
Every child needs a teddy bear. Objective: With your help, we will give teddy bears to homeless children living in shelters throughout the year. In this project, we will collect new (store-bought or hand-made) teddy bears. One of our prayer cards containing Fr. Mychal's prayer will be attached to each bear, making it a "prayer bear." It is our hope that the words, "Lord take me where you want me to go" printed on each prayer card will help the bears get to where the Lord (and Fr. Mychal) wants them to go.
How You Can Help:
Donate Bears!
Mychal's Message
Donate Funds Results to Date:
As of
January 2009, over 1,100 teddy bears have made their way to our mailbox.
They have been distributed to homeless children living in Lancaster,
Harrisburg, Philadelphia, NYC, and impoverished AIDS victims and their
children at Francis House in Camden, NJ.
Description:
Through a conversation with Fr. Michael Duffy of St. Francis Inn in
Philadelphia, PA when we were distributing socks, we learned that one of
the greatest needs among homeless families is diapers. Imagine a child
having to go sometimes 3 days with no diaper change. For some homeless
mothers and fathers who can't afford diapers, this is the reality.
Objective:
With your help, we plan to collect and deliver disposable diapers to
shelters and centers serving homeless mothers, fathers, and children, so
that all children will have dry, clean diapers.
How you can help:
Donate Bloomers Mychal's Message
Donate Funds
Results to date:
With the help of St. Leo the Great Church's Armata Bianca (a children's
rosary group) and members from Steadfast (a contemporary music group),
more than 15,000 diapers were collected in the first few months of this
project (2002). Among the first to receive the diaper donations were Mom's
House in Lancaster, PA and St. Francis of Assisi Church in Long Beach
Island, NJ. Additional diapers were delivered to the Interfaith Shelter in
Harrisburg, PA (run by Catholic Charities); Project Rainbow in
Philadelphia, PA (run by Sisters of the Holy Redeemer); Fox House (run by
Sisters of Charity), South Bronx Pregnancy Centers (supported by Father
Benedict Groeschel) in New York City, and the Mother Seton Outreach
Program in Emmitsburg, MD. As of January 2006, more than 17,500
diapers have been collected and distributed. During 2005, a generous
family donated $25 each month for the purchase of diapers for babies in
need. On September 17, 2005, 15 cases of diapers were packaged as
“Blessed Bloomers for Babies” and given to St. Francis Inn, Kensington,
Philadelphia, PA.
Description:
Mother Theresa once said, “Do small things with great love.” In this
project, we will collect “small things” - personal-size toiletries - and
distribute them to the homeless. Objective: “Do
small things with great love.” Collect and distribute “small things”
in the form of personal-size toiletries to homeless shelters. We are
collecting soap, shampoo conditioner, toothbrushes, toothpaste, powder,
deodorant, lotion, or any other toiletries. These “Tiny Treasures” will
bring “great love” to the homeless. How You Can Help:
Donate Treasures
Donate Funds
Results to Date:
As of August 2007, more than
13,700 personal size toiletries have been collected and distributed. These “tiny
treasures” as we call them are so important to those who are in need of a
toothbrush, a shaver, or a can of deodorant. We have seen how these
simple, inexpensive items have literally changed the lives of the homeless
and poor.
Description: Your tax-deductible donations allow us to continue sharing Father Mychal’s message with others – a simple, interdenominational message that has crossed barriers and continents. That message, printed on our prayer cards, T-shirts, sweatshirts, books, CDs and tote bags has reached tens of thousands of men, women and children, allowing them to heed Father Mychal’s words and let the Lord take them where He wants them to go.
Visit our Sharing the Message page
for additional details. Objective:
Provide a unique way for YOU to help US share the message: Mychal's
Message through clothing and other merchandise.
Description: The work we have done in New York City and Philadelphia has made us aware of the homelessness right in our own community. Objective:
In this project, Mychal’s Message will use the money raised from local
fundraisers (lemonade stands, concession stands, etc.) to bring special
meals to our local shelters. How You Can Help: Since this is a local project, we simply ask for your prayers. If you would like to hold a concession stand in your town, please contact us for details. Results to Date:
January, 2009 – Catholic Worker House, Lancaster, PA. Dozens of men’s and women’s winter coats were provided to Catholic Worker House for distribution to homeless men and women during their week long overnight shelter program. December 25, 2008 – Crispus Attucks, Lancaster, PA. Residents were treated to muffins, donuts, milk and orange juice on Christmas morning, along with gifts and toys for the children and individually wrapped gifts for the men and women. December 24, 2008 – The Vineyard, Lancaster, PA. Christmas stockings filled with personal toiletries, socks and gloves were given to the residents at the Vineyard in Lancaster. Several residents who were without a coat also received a warm new winter coat. October, 2008 – Hands on House, Lancaster, PA. Mychal’s Message provided a day of fun for 100 kindergartners at one of the poorest schools in Lancaster City. Students were transported by bus to the Hands on House Museum in Lancaster where they spent the morning learning, playing and simply having fun. September, 2008 – Homeless Student Project, Lancaster, PA. Dozens of children’s and teen’s winter coats were provided to the Lancaster Homeless Student Project for distribution to students registered in their program. December 25, 2007 - Crispus Attucks, Lancaster, PA. Residents were treated to muffins, donuts, milk and orange juice on Christmas morning, along with gifts and toys for the children, and candy bars and McDonald's gift certificates for the adults. May 1, 2007 - Crispus Attucks, Lancaster, PA. Residents at the shelter were treated to sausage and meatball sandwiches, candy bars, cookies and muffins. December 25, 2006 - Crispus Attucks, Lancaster, PA. Residents were treated to muffins, donuts, milk and orange juice on Christmas morning, along with gifts and toys for the children as well as gifts for the adults. December 25, 2005, Crispus Attucks, Lancaster, PA. At 7:00 a.m. on Christmas morning, $200 worth of new children’s clothing and $350 worth of wrapped Christmas toys were delivered along with 40 $5 McDonald’s Gift Certificates and candy bars to shelter residents for Christmas. 4 dozen donuts, 1 dozen muffins and orange juice was also delivered for breakfast on Christmas morning. “Clarise,” a mom of 4 children explained how she lost her apartment the day before due to a fire. She had no money and nowhere to go. It was difficult explaining to her 8 and 10 year old sons that they would be in a shelter for Christmas We told her that Santa didn’t forget those children, and God certainly hadn’t forgotten her. The boys received remote control cars and a game and her 2 small daughters received dolls in strollers. Through the generosity of Mikie Madden’s mother (“Mikie’s Gift,” December 2004), Clarise also received a $100 Walmart gift card. “Without Mychal’s Message,“ a resident told us, “those children would have had nothing to open on Christmas morning.“ Two other children at the shelter received gifts as well. December 14, 2005, Crispus Attucks, Lancaster, PA. A Pizza night was held through the generosity of funds raised by the 8th Grade Class of St. Leo the Great, Lancaster, PA. Approximately 35 men, women and children enjoyed pepperoni and cheese pizzas, soda, homemade cookies and candy canes. And blonde-haired, fair skinned 18 month old “Hailley” was all smiles as she enjoyed her cheese pizza and candy cane that night. August 2, 2005, Crispus Attucks, Lancaster, PA. A McDonald’s night was held where approximately 50 men, women and children all enjoyed Big Macs, hamburgers, cheeseburgers, McChicken sandwiches, French fries, salads, and even McDonald’s cookies. Everyone was grateful, and one guest told us, “It is so nice to feel full.” A little girl called “Peaches” was celebrating her 2nd birthday that night, and we were especially grateful to be a small part of it.
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Home | Projects | About Fr. Mychal | About Mychal's Message | Donate Contact us: info@mychalsmessage.org Mychal's
Message logo and all graphic design graciously donated by
M. Scott Oatman
Graphic Design and Illustration.
Website development and maintenance donated by
UtterClarity. Mychal's Message, Inc. is registered as a charitable organization with the Department of State's Bureau of Charitable Organizations under the Solicitation of Funds for Charitable Purposes Act, 10 P.S. Section 16.2 et seq., and is authorized to solicit charitable contributions under the conditions and limitations set forth under the Act. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of State, Bureau of Charitable Organizations
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