Going pg 7 3-31-11
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Going Without
Members of Putnam’s Daughters of the Holy Spirit went without most of their supper March 19 so they could donate the money they saved on food, plus their own donations, to Project Northeast, a Putnam-based, private social service agency that helps northeastern Connecticut’s poor. Shown here (left to right) in the sisters’ dining room at their provincial house on Church Street are Sr. Catherine Sottak, Sr. Therese Morneau, Project Northeast Dir. and DHS Chaplain Rev. Fr. Richard L. Archambault and Project Northeast Associate Director Eleanor Baldoni eating the meager meal of soup, bread and grapes. Photo courtesy of John D. Ryan.
Going without
to feed hungry
PUTNAM — Supper was sparse at the Daughters of the Holy Spirit’s U.S.A. Provincial House on Church Street March 19. Their going without was deliberate, so the sisters could save most of the money usually spent on food and give it to the local poor. That $200 contribution to a local, non-profit social service agency, Project Northeast, was increased by contributions from the sisters themselves, bringing the total to $324.95.
As America’s worst recession since the 1930s drags on, many of the needy may feel forgotten. The sisters held the event to give tangible proof that here in northeastern Connecticut, the poor are remembered and cared about. The money the sisters contributed will buy food for local people in need throughout the area.
“It’s part of our order’s charism to take care of the poor,” said Sr. Paulette Gariepy, the provincial house’s coordinator. “The Daughters of the Holy Spirit are here to assist in whatever way we can.”
Directed by Sisters Anita Paul and Linda Babineau, the event was held on the feast day of St. Joseph, whom the Christian Gospels describe as the husband of Mary and the foster father of Jesus Christ. The Gospels further describe him as “a just man.”
Paul noted this in her remarks to the 59 Roman Catholic sisters in residence, while they were eating their meager meal of carrot soup, white bread and green grapes in the provincial house’s dining room.
“This is a way for us, as Daughters of the Holy Spirit, to reach out to the poor and needy from here, from where we are, when we might otherwise not be able to do so, she said. “We are helping to bring that spirit of justice that St. Joseph showed us.”
The sisters also heard from the associate director of Project Northeast, Eleanor Baldoni, a member of the Daughters of the Holy Spirit’s secular branch. Baldoni assured them that their donation would be put to good use.
Baldoni manages Project Northeast from the agency’s office in Putnam. She said that the requests they receive for food and help to pay for other basic needs, such as fuel oil and electricity, never end.
“I received a call recently from a local woman who needed food right away, because she was alone and had a young daughter and a severely handicapped son,” Sr. Eleanor told the sisters. “Her husband had left the family. They were in a homeless shelter and were in desperate need for whatever we could do for them. For whatever reason, they didn’t qualify for public assistance programs. We were able to help to get them housing and enough food to get by.”
The Daughters of the Holy Spirit’s chaplain, Rev. Fr. Richard L. Archambault, has been the director of Project Northeast for over 30 years. While he ate his soup and counted the sisters’ donations, all of it in dollar bills and change, he said they serve about 100 families a month in 10 towns in the northern part of Windham County.
“You see many local people who are falling through the cracks and aren’t getting enough to live on. Many of them have no car, no wheels, and can’t get anywhere for a job or to get what they need,” Archambault said. He added that it’s contributions like this from the Daughters of the Holy Spirit and many others that keep Project Northeast able to help the needy. “We couldn’t survive without them,” Archambault said. “We’d be out of business.”
Project Northeast will gratefully accept donations, with checks mailed to 81 Church St., Putnam, CT 06260. For more info call Archambault at 928-0105.