Father McKenna Center News
Slow Miracles happening at the Father McKenna Center
Team Maryland Visits the Father Mckenna Center
This past Saturday Team Maryland Youth Hockey volunteered their time to open the Father Mckenna Center for a Saturday drop in opportunity for the men. Below is from their website.
We are thankful for all their energy and hard work.
” Team Maryland leads community service food drive.
2012-02-09
TEAM MARYLAND YOUTH ICE HOCKEY IN COMMUNITY SERVICE TO AID D.C. AREA HOMELESS
News Release
TEAM MARYLAND YOUTH ICE HOCKEY AIDS D.C. AREA HOMELESS
(Washington, DC) Team Maryland Tier 1 AAA Hockey teams (TM) led a community service project to help relieve hunger and the risk of hyperthermia for homeless men in the Washington, DC area. Saturday evening, February 11, 2012, Team Maryland delivered six 20 gallon tubs filled with canned food after collecting canned fruit and other gifts of food in a month long anti-hunger drive focusing on aid to the Father McKenna Center — one of the last day-time drop-in centers for homeless men in the downtown Washington, DC area. (http://www.fathermckennacenter.org/)
The men of the Team Maryland Bantam Major Team (14 yrs.), led by Head Coach Pat Street, provided hands-on help in the kitchen and shelter, and on behalf of all TM teams delivered the donations of canned food for the Father McKenna Center pantry.
TM Bantam Major Captain Joey Shavatt said, “It was a remarkable experience for my teammates and me. We happened to be there on one of the coldest nights of winter, and we felt the bitter cold as we walked into the shelter to meet the men we served. The stories of these men are moving, and I don’t know how they survive, except for a place like the Father McKenna Center. So many of the men we met were once people just like us with normal lives, but something went wrong; they lost their home and had to find a way to survive on the street.” Shavatt concluded, “We will end this drive by dedicating our game this Wednesday night at 6:30pm at the Kettler Capitals Iceplex to the men of the Father McKenna Center. We will never forget them, and will fight to win this game for our new friends.”
The TM Bantam Major Team worked directly with the homeless men at the Center, stocked their pantry, prepared their dinner in the kitchen, served them meals, cleaned the kitchen and shelter, and prepared beds for the evening.
Dan Houck, Director of Coaching for Team Maryland said, “Our players are given so much opportunity, this was an important way for them to give back to our community, and to be an example for all hockey players. ” Coach Houck noted, “I am very proud of their work and success with the food drive and their service at the Father McKenna Center. We must help organizations serving the hungry and homeless in our community, and I encourage every hockey family in the Washington area to look for our collection boxes at the Laurel Gardens Ice House and the Rockville Ice Arena and continue making a donation of canned food as the drive for canned fruit will continue to through next Wednesday, February 15. Of course, the Center’s mission goes on beyond next Wednesday and needs support in the future. As I said at the beginning of our community service project, ‘Every CAN will count’; our players already have proven they did make a difference. So can you!”
For additional information please contact:
Willy Meaux (wameaux150@aol.com) or Don Hubbard (Donald.hubbard@gmail.com)”
The Man In the Wheelchair
Everyday our the guests at the Father McKenna Center share their stories with us. Below our director tells the story of a man who came to the Center as he was working late one night…
The Man In the Wheelchair
When I stay late in the office things tend to happen. Shortly after 6 PM one night, a man in a wheelchair knocked on my door. What ensued was a long story about his problems with both hips and a knee. He said he wanted to be allowed to stay in the McKenna Center when others in our hypothermia prevention program had to leave so he wouldn’t have to wheel himself on cold city streets. After a long talk, I suggested that he see me in the morning.
The next afternoon he came in with his brother. Usually we would call Christ House and ask if they could take him. But, Christ House said they would take him as soon as he had his knee surgery that had been postponed by Howard University Hospital.
While his story seemed plausible, Cortez McDaniel and I found something missing in this long story. He told us that he was to have knee surgery in mid-February and then enter Christ House. Could the hospital move up his surgery? If not, where could he stay? We asked his brother why he could not put his brother up until he went to the hospital. There was a long pause and then his brother told us that his house was not the right place because of his brother’s drug addiction.
The man’s brother knew what was needed because he had been through drug treatment some years ago. We told the man with the bad hips and knee that we had nowhere to house him as he requested but we would let him stay at the McKenna Center until we could get him into treatment.
The next morning I asked if he was here. The staff explained that he spent the night in our hypothermia prevention program but left at 6 AM which was odd after him telling us that he didn’t want to have to leave! Fortunately, he came back and went into treatment that day.
I heard from his brother today. He is in a treatment program that can accommodate his physical disabilities. His brother continued: “Certainly, he is MUCH better than he was before your intervention.”
Just another day (or evening) at the office.
Tom Howarth
It’s that time of year again….
There’s a festiveness in the air…. with Irish dancing and singing filling the basement of St Aloysius church. A Irish Hooley to celebrate the season and…
All to benefit the Father McKenna Center
Last year was amazing ! There was singing by Connie McKenna, Paul Gannon, and the Gonzaga Eye Street Boys. And dancing by Shannon Dunne Dance, The Boyle School and the Culkin School of Traditional Irish Dance with music provided by Pete Moss and the Bog Band.
And this year is shaping up to be just as great. Here is a taste of last year’s celebration….
This year’s concert is on February 26, 2012 at 4pm in the Lower Church of St Aloysius, 900 North Capitol Street, NW Washington DC 20001.
This year we welcome Jim Nalls, Pete Moss and the Bog Band, the Culkin School of Traditional Irish Dance, Shannon Dunne School, the Eye Street Boys and more….
We hope to see you there !
2011 Brought Many Blessings
As 2011 ended, the Father McKenna Center was blessed by all the volunteers and all the donations that came through our doors.
The students of Gonzaga as well as many others helped to fill our larder for our Food Pantry program. Thank you for all who share so much with those who are in need in Washington DC.
2011 ended well and 2012 has started off in a positive direction!
We had a great group of women and one guy from the University of Notre Dame here at the McKenna Center on January 2 & 3 and they prepared and served breakfast and lunch to our guests. In addition, the students helped move thousands of cans of food from Gonzaga to the McKenna Center part of the very generous donations by the Gonzaga community.
DePaul University Law School visited on January 9 & 10. When they arrived, there were piles of canned goods in our kitchen but they are no longer there. We don’t know exactly how they did that.
Work is underway on our renovated kitchen and that’s very good news. We are proceeding in phases with electrical work as phase 1. With the help of Gonzaga’s Patty Tobin and her husband Craig Houston we plan to renovate the kitchen with an eye toward saving money and keeping the kitchen functioning for as long as possible. Steve Dunn, AIA has offered us his assistance with the architectural work. It won’t be long until some old equipment is going out and new stuff coming in.
Mount Sinai Baptist Church kept the McKenna Center open on Christmas Eve. We will be exploring with them an on-going effort that could result in the McKenna Center being open on Saturdays
Thanksgiving Day 10k Run for the Father McKenna Center
No Non-Profit is an Island
All day we have been highlighting all the organizations and groups that help us do what we do. Here are just a few that we work with on a regular basis that fill in the gaps that no one nonprofit can cover when we try to end homelessness and hunger in Washington DC.
Bread for the City
http://www.breadforthecity.org/
Capital Area Food Bank
http://www.capitalareafoodbank.org/
Dc Central Kitchen
http://www.dccentralkitchen.org/
Miriam's Kitchen
http://www.miriamskitchen.org/
N Street Village
http://www.nstreetvillage.org/
Pathways Home inc
Perry School
Sasha Bruce Youthworks
Street Sense
Some ( So Others Might Eat)
It’s just a few of the organizations we work with on a day in and day out basis. There are many more. The need is so great that no one organization can meet it. We at the Father McKenna Center thank all the organizations who help us feed the hungry, clothe the naked and shelter the homeless.
Thank you
Gonzaga Father’s
We didn’t forget …..
How could we…. without the Gonzaga Father’s Club and their handy work around the Center we would be in pretty dire shape.
Last year, it was the Gonzaga Father Son project that prompted Bill Kilgallin’s son to write an essay about his Dad that lead to him winning the Sear’s Dad’s Making a Difference Contest.
Father Son Project at the Father Mckenna Center
Here is the Fox Morning News coverage of the Bill.
Horace’s Cloud
10K 11 o'clock meeting addiction become a fan become a fundraiser cold nights countdown DC DeMatha High School Donate Father McKenna Center Father Son Project Food Pantry Give to the Max Gonzaga College High School Gonzaga Fathers Gonzaga Mother's Club Gonzaga Students Good Morning guests stories homelessness How to hypothermia NBC PSA partners Perseverance Sept 2011 Newsletter slow miracles student volunteers Thanksgiving thank you volunteering volunteers Ward 6 Washington Washington DC WelcomeMeta
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