HIHI is a great opportunity to volunteer to help people in need.  Many different tasks are available.  Please take a little time to make a difference.  The days in which we are currently in need are January 11th, January 25th, and February 8th.

Please call Parish Outreach (631-754-9045) to discuss where and when you would be able to help. You may also leave this signed form in the Parish Outreach mailbox or in the church vestibule food baskets.

Click here for the HIHI Volunteer List of Tasks and Sign Up Sheet for Camp Alvernia

If you would like to participate in a volunteer training program scheduled for this coming year, please call Parish Outreach to register. Thank you.

From the Winter 2008 Edition of Clippings Magazine

Shelter

by Chris Lau, 11th grade AP English student

It is early December, and a bitter cold fills the air. Snow slowly trickles to the ground and creates a layer of white frost across the parking lot at Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Parish. Winter is just beginning; however, it feels as though it is late January. Standing inside, sipping on hot cocoa, I feel the chills that a New York winter brings. I can only imagine what it must feel like for those who will have to sleep outside tonight in tents and summer clothes. This is the life of the day laborer.

A white van pulls into the church parking lot, and when it comes to a stop, fifteen men pile out of the back and run inside to the warmth and comfort of the heated church basement. Some of the men are dressed appropriately for the brutal winter weather, while others have only a t-shirt and sweatpants to protect them from the bitter cold. They sit down to a prepared dinner of chicken, rice, and beans. After dinner, some watch a Spanish movie. Others sit down to play a game of dominoes or read a Spanish newspaper. Even more sit around the table and talk about anything and everything that comes to mind: their day, their families, their lives.

At around ten, they will retreat to air mattresses that are laid out on the floor, each with its own pillow and blanket. There, they will spend the night. At 5:30 a.m., they will be woken up and taken to the Huntington YMCA where they will be provided with a hot shower, breakfast, and a bag lunch. Then, they will set off on their own to find a job for the day. This is the life of the day laborer.

I know these guys because every Saturday, from November through March, I help out at Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Parish to provide shelter for Spanish day laborers that otherwise would freeze to death sleeping outside in tents in the unforgiving winter cold. At around 5:00 p.m., I begin to blow up air mattresses, lay out toiletries and clothing, and set up games, movies, and newspapers that the men will be able to use when they arrive in the parish van at around 6:30. Often, I eat dinner and play games with them. I quickly learn that these guys, with the exception of not having a fixed source of income, are normal people despite the numerous stereotypes and prejudices that they face every day. This is the life of the day laborer.

In Huntington, many people regard day laborers as the dregs of society, believing that they serve no real purpose in the community. To many a white man, the day laborers are useless. They are beaten constantly, evicted from their homes, and cheated out of money they spent the day working for. However, the white man does not care, for they are just day laborers, worth nothing more than the dirt beneath their feet.

The white man does not see what I see, for he fails to look past their dirty clothes and unkempt hair. When he sees a day laborer, he sees nothing more than a man too lazy to find a real job and too useless to have an actual role in society. However, every Saturday, at our Lady Queen of Martyrs Parish, I get to see inside them, even if it is just for an hour or so. With this, I quickly learn that these men, often viewed as worthless in a prejudicial and judgmental society, are normal men, with feelings and families, just like you and me.

Now don’t get me wrong. I’m certainly not saying that all of the guys who come to the shelter every Saturday go against the aforementioned stereotypes. Not all of them are great guys. In fact, I’m sure that many of them have made one bad decision or another which unfortunately has led them to the position they’re currently in. However, this gives no one the right to judge them; the same way that I have no right to glorify them. The bottom line is that, like everyone else on this planet, they obtain the God-given right to not be unfairly judged and to maintain a life free from unwarranted stereotypes.

Every Saturday, by providing the day laborers with food and shelter, we not only give them protection from the cold, but protection from unfair stereotypes, even if it is in the form of a friendly game of dominoes or an air mattress to sleep on. And as I sit in the church basement, eating with them, playing with them, and talking to them, I begin to hope that one day, the injustices that these men face will suddenly disappear. This is the life of the day laborer.