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From the Summer 2010 Edition of Clippings Magazine
Parish Program: Angel Hands Ministry
by Diane French
I was asked by the Editor of Clippings to write
an article about the Hands of Angels Ministry
– What is it? How was it started? Who are
the Angels? What is their function? What are
their goals? What is their plan for the future?
Hmm. Where to start? I guess I should start at
the beginning.
I was hired by Msgr. Ryan in February of 2005
as the Receptionist. In June of 2005, I was
promoted to the Stewardship position and one of
my first projects was to coordinate the 2005 golf
and tennis outing. One of the first steps, was to
send out a mailing to all the parishioners asking
them to support the outing by taking a chance
and purchasing the 50/50 raffle tickets. Included
in the mailing, was a letter, a brochure, a return
envelope and two raffle books.
In order to get this done, I was told to do a “bulk
mailing”. A what? I had spent my 38 years in
business having a huge corporate mailroom to
take care of this type of work. How do I do a “bulk
mailing”? I was told to follow a sample Post Office
form from a previous mailing and get volunteers to
help with the stuffing of the envelopes. Volunteers?
I didn’t know many people in the parish and had
no resources for this. I was directed to Outreach
volunteers headed up by Kristen Kiley, under the
direction of Marilyn Borghard, where I came in
contact with Helen Larkin, Liz Madigan and Linda
May. These ladies were a gift and they helped me
recruit and get through my first of many mailings.
After that mailing, I was advised that the Seniors
were great helpers and I should get in touch with
the President. Who was the president? I found
that to be Pat McDonough. She was very helpful
and managed to gather many of the seniors who
were more than happy to help me out. They
enjoyed the camaraderie and helping their parish
in any way they could. My next challenge was to
do a mailing in the winter when Pat advised that
the “seniors don’t come out in the cold, the heat,
heavy rain, snow or ice and it’s very difficult to
get them to commit once their meetings end for
the summer.” I persevered, however, and was
still able to get some of the loyal seniors to assist
me, along with the boy scouts and school kids
looking for community service hours. Believe it or
not, those two groups got along amazingly well.
The scouts respected their elders’ knowledge of
mailing shortcuts, how to fold letters quicker and
stuff envelopes the proper way. Unfortunately, the
scouts were only available in the summer when
school was out providing they weren’t going away
for the summer and, like the seniors, when they
disbanded after the school year. It was difficult to
gather the group together.
One day, while I was fretting about not imposing
on the Outreach volunteers who seem to do more
than their share for the parish, a lovely lady by
the name of Marge Martinek came to the rectory
asking if she could help me out in any way. She
was the answer to my prayers. Her forte was “bulk
mailings” and was she ever quick, organized and
knew all the shortcuts. “You don’t fold one letter
at a time, you take a group of 10 or 15, fold them
all at once. You pull the strip from between the
labels and they come off much easier.” She had
other tricks which saved us a lot of time. Marge
told me she wanted to help out because God
always took care of her and she felt she wanted
to share her talents in gratitude. It worked for me!
I told her she was my angel.
I was still anxious every time I had to do a mailing
as it was very time-consuming searching and
gathering helpers as this was only one small part
of my duties and the mailings always seem to
occur during my busiest times. One day, while in
8 Clippings - Summer 2010
prayer, I prayed for a solution and asked God to send me more angels. This was when the light bulb went off in my head. “Angels with many hands to help me out.” Guided by the Spirit, I asked Msgr. if I could place an ad in the bulletin asking for volunteers to join the “Hands of Angels” Ministry. He unhesitatingly agreed and in the June 24, 2007 bulletin, the ad went out. To my joy, the ad was responded to and we now have 25 angels who are always ready to answer the call. These angels have helped save the parish on postage expense by working to get the parish mailings out as bulk mail rather than first class mail.
We have a very enjoyable time in this ministry. We share stories, recipes, travel tips, family situations and more all while listening to some pleasant music, working swiftly and sharing a little snack or even a light lunch after our project in done.
May I present to you --
THE ANGELS
- Rosemary Barry
- Phyllis Cadden
- Sheila Croke
- Marion DuBois
- Adeline Gillespie
- Maryann Gilmartin
- Allison Giordano
- Geri Godfrey
- Jennifer Godfrey
- Jim Godfrey
- Rita Gordon
- Patty Hettenbach
- Mary Ellen Hilsky
- Peggy Kohl
- Mary Manelski
- Lenore Mazzucca
- Ted Mazzucca
- Margaret Melia
- Nancy Mitchell
- Marie Murray
- Carol Nolan
- Barbara Saffery
- Jim Saffery
- Addy Savarese
- Joan Wolf
Other volunteers who help when they can but have not yet officially joined the HANDS OF ANGELS Ministry and to whom we also owe a great deal of thanks and gratitude:
- Dolores Bishop
- Maggie Burke
- Joyce Davis
- Jo-Ann DePirro
- Rita Dolan
- Clare DuBois
- Nancy FitzMaurice
- Pat Gerlach
- Helen Larkin
- Gloria Lawrence
- Liz Madigan
- Cathy Maher
- Marge Martinek
- Linda May
- Pat McDonough
- Carol McGovern
- Brendan McGovern
- Jocelin McGovern
- Simone McGovern
- Carole Quinn
- Kathryn Rieger
- Mary Ann Rondone
- Ana Scudellari
- Joan Tartaglia
- Mary Terrillo
- Fran Timchek
- Tim Timchek
- Carol Visich
- Carol Winges
- Warren Winges
- Betty Yule
That covers who we are, how we got started and what we do. As far as future plans, I suppose that’s up to the projects placed before us. When there is a need, the Angels will heed the call.
Thank you Angels for all you do for Our Lady Queen of Martyrs.
If anyone is free to join us, please contact me at the rectory, 757-8184, and I will be more than happy to add you on as an “Angel”.
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