Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time

This week, I’d like to publish the following update from Roger and Pam Baschab, helping make us aware of some of the needs of brothers and sisters who might be living on the same block we do, and what we can do to help.

Dear fellow parishioners,  Over the past two and a half years, as St. Vincent DePaul (SVDP) Society members, we have visited the homes of more than 200 families.  These are our neighbors who are about to have their utilities cut or are about to be evicted or who need clothing for children, beds, or kitchen tables.  

This week we first visited a young mother in Tuscumbia with a two-week old infant.  She left an abusive relationship and she and baby are living in a tiny converted motel room.  She had to leave her waitress job to have her baby prematurely by C-section. She will be returning to her job within the next month, but in the meantime cannot pay her rent.  She was embarrassed to ask for help.

Our second visit was with a couple in Sheffield.  He was recently laid off after 27 years and they cannot pay their electric bill.  They have never asked for help before and he was also embarrassed to let anyone know he needed help.

Next, we visited a Sheffield family with a four-year-old child and a four-month-old infant.  The family had only recently moved into a rental house after sleeping in their car for three months.  The wife was out on a job interview and the husband was baby-sitting. We whispered because he had just got the infant to sleep.  They have no furniture. They need beds. They have been sleeping on air mattresses. They need a table and chairs. They need a couch.  Incidentally, beds are one of the most difficult items to provide as they leave the Thrift Store floor almost as soon as they are donated.

Our last visit was also in Sheffield with a single Mom and her nine-month-old.  We spoke to her in her little apartment while she fed the baby scrambled eggs from her plate.  Her only family support is a kind aunt who will take are of the baby when this young mon starts her new job in a local plant.  She was facing utilities cut-off.

These are typical stories of people right here in our community who are desperately in need of help.

We give the families we visit an OLS Bulletin and tell them we are Catholic and that God loves them.  On leaving and with their permission we pray with them. The St. Vincent DePaul Society’s mission to bring Christ’s love and help to the poor provides us case workers, and all SVDP volunteers, with a great blessing.  The Colbert County visits are funded almost entirely by the Lauderdale County Conference and the SVDP Society Thrift Store in Florence. Some of our parishioners volunteer at the Store and others donate items for sale there.

Those who can please pray for the SVDP mission, support the Thrift Store by donating items and shopping there, contribute financially, and consider helping with home visits.

Contact Father, Roger Baschab (2511-234-0073), or Theresa for more information or to volunteer.

-Roger and Pam Baschab