Honoring the Life of Fr. Horace McKenna

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Learning, Reflecting, Growing

Through An Immersion Experience at the McKenna Center

I learned through personal experience that The Father McKenna Center is truly an extraordinary gift to the community of Washington DC. When high school and college students spend some time there, during an immersion experience, they inevitably are affected in a positive way.

I first met Mr. Tom Howarth, the McKenna Center director, when we participated in an Ignatian spirituality program called “The Magis Program”, now offered through the Jesuit Collaborative.  When I first heard Tom talk about the McKenna Center in 2008, I was struck by his passion for the mission of the center. Tom’s passion is infectious. He made me want to contribute to the work of the McKenna Center in some way.

With a supportive community at the University of Scranton, our university offered out first service immersion trip to the Father McKenna Center in 2009. I am proud to say, The University of Scranton has provided this experience annually for the past four years.

As the staff chaperone, I have had the privilege of supervising this educational service trip at the McKenna Center three times with a total of 30 students. Our students learn about the issues of homelessness, poverty, and inadequate housing in our nation’s capital. When possible, meetings are arranged with senators, house representatives and legislative aides for our students to gain a better understanding of governmental policies related to these issues.

Our students are entrusted to do some of the daily work of the McKenna Center including preparing and serving breakfast and lunch to the center visitors, observing their support group meeting, and interacting with them while they access various other services and programs. The accommodations for the students are basic including sleeping on church pews and having only simple meals.

One of the more powerful experiences for our students is to hear the men tell “their stories”. It is heart warming to see the men, who drop by the center, tell our students about their lives and the circumstances and sometimes, the mistakes, which led to their homelessness. What an exceptional educational experience for our students and what a rare opportunity for these men to have an eager, willing ear! Sure the men are grateful that someone cares enough to listen to them but it is a privilege for our students to hear another human share personal information about their upbringing, relationships, criminal offenses, and addictions. This sharing between a homeless man and a student is, without question, one of the most meaningful experiences of their immersion experience.

Reflection is so important to better understand what our life experiences mean to us and students do just that through daily group reflections. By reflecting on how they saw God in their day at the McKenna Center, their thoughts and feelings evidently include comments such as:

• “How blessed I am to have been born into the family I was! If I had been abandoned by my family, I too may be homeless”

• “I see now that drug and alcohol addiction many times plays a part in the lives of those who find themselves homeless”

• “If I had a mental illness, why wouldn’t my family help?”

• “Many of the people who visit the McKenna Center are stronger than they think.”

Our students continually express their gratitude for all that they have learned by spending a week of their spring break at the McKenna Center.

I am so proud to add to this story that my son while a student at Scranton Preparatory School also spent a week doing service at the McKenna Center. He had done some volunteer work in the past, but never spent a week immersed into the work of a center for the homeless. He told me he was extremely uncomfortable because for the first time in his life he was a minority in a room. He also admitted that in the past he would judge homeless people too quickly thinking they were just lazy.  After interacting with the men he sees their situation in a different way. He has a deeper understanding of the complexities of life as a homeless man.

While The McKenna Center provides services to assist homeless men with an array of issues that have contributed to, or complicate, their lack of housing, it also offers an exceptional opportunity for students, both high school and college.  An immersion experience there allows students to gain a deeper understanding of how we are all brothers and sisters under one God and we have an obligation to serve others in need.

Be a Witness To The Father McKenna Center Experience

April 26, 2012

7pm – 9pm

Please keep him in your prayers.

“What would make a middle-class man talk to beggars and mix socially with the poor?  What would make a prophet associate with the rabble who knows nothing of the law? The answer comes across very clearly in the gospels:  compassion.” 

 The question above was posed by Albert Nolan in his important book, Jesus Before Christianity. Like most virtues, the verbal definition of compassion cannot teach us the meaning as well as an act of compassion and it often has to be witnessed to be understood.  Although Nolan’s book addresses Christianity, to have compassion for those who suffer is a basic tenet of all the major religions.

Well before I came to the Father McKenna Center, I served as a representative in Washington for Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD).  I got to know the organization while working on highway safety issues for Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ).  Over the years I became convinced that MADD’s work had a spiritual basis.  I saw those who had suffered the loss of a loved one, often a child, working for changes in laws and practices that would prevent another person from suffering as they were.

Last November, 32 year old Darren Morrell, a graduate of Gonzaga College High School on whose campus the Father McKenna Center is housed, was killed when a car driven by an 85-year old man struck his motorcycle in Oakton, Virginia.  His young wife, Amy and his parents, David and Cindy, were devastated by his passing.

Darren’s mom and dad contacted me and asked if they could come to the McKenna Center. When we talked it was clear that both were still profoundly suffering. They told me that when Darren was a student at Gonzaga he accepted the Jesuits’ challenge to become a “Man for Others.”  As part of his formation, he volunteered at the Father McKenna Center and would tell his mom and dad about his encounters with the poor and homeless. David and Cindy Morrell wanted to do something for the poor and homeless we serve as a memorial to their son.

On February 12, 2012, Dave and Cindy Morrell made a $3,000 challenge grant to the Father McKenna Center.  The next $3,000 we raise will be matched dollar for dollar by their generous gift.  The size of their gift and yours is not very important.  What is important is Darren’s compassion for those less fortunate than himself and his ability to help us to understand the meaning through his example.

We are always deeply moved when a family designates the Fr. McKenna Center as the recipient of donations in lieu of flowers after a loved one has passed.  We stand in awe of God’s divine grace that allows us to heal by helping others even while in the midst of our own pain.  We thank and pray for all those who have done this.

In keeping with the wishes of the Morrell family, I invite you to send a donation today in Darren’s memory to help continue the important work of the Fr. McKenna Center which made such an impact on this young man at an early age.  Your contribution will allow us to continue to share Darren’s love and compassion with the men and women we serve daily.

Please remember that in addition to providing the very basic needs of warm clothing, showers, telephones and a place to come in out of the cold – to name just a few – we routinely provide rent and utility bill assistance to people who are not homeless, but just hanging on “by a thread”.  When the chronic poor have an unexpected financial emergency – such as the temporary inability to work due to illness, or the loss of a job altogether – they may not be able to bounce back on their own.  If we can provide a financial bridge to get them to the next paycheck, we can keep them in their homes and prevent them from getting further and further behind.  Your donations make this program possible.   The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Food and Shelter program is another source of funding for this program, but Congress has already reduced support for the program by $80 million and further cuts are all but certain. Your support, therefore, is vitally important going forward.

We also continue to provide food to an average of 224 households twice each month.  That is the highest level of demand for food in my 7-year tenure at the McKenna Center.  We recently completed a survey of our food pantry clients and have refined our program to include some new items, particularly those low in sodium and sugar. Your generosity helps us to maintain a pantry that is full of choices and allows us to serve our clients in a more personalized manner.

Since many of our guests suffer from mental illness, we are making a special effort to improve our knowledge of mental illness in coordination with the Homeless Outreach Program of the DC Department of Mental Health.  A person who has mental illness may need medication in order to function at a level where he can provide for himself.  We want to be better at spotting potential mental illness so that we can help our clients find solutions that will eventually help them reenter society and live independently again.

We have entered the season of Lent and we look forward to Holy Week.  During March, many young men and women will visit us for an alternative spring break.  Six colleges in all are scheduled to visit which will be a tremendous boost for our ability to more effectively minister to those who need us.  Fr. Horace McKenna knew that perhaps the worst thing about being homeless is the feeling of loneliness and not belonging.  Sometimes it’s difficult to spend meaningful time with the homeless men who come to us during the day because there are so many of them and so few of us.  With an abundance of young men and women eager to help, there will be a great deal of love and compassion to go around.

Finally, we’re very excited about the construction of new buildings all around us.  We are making an effort to prepare our guests to compete for the jobs that new retail stores can offer.  Clearly the best anti-poverty program is a job that pays a living wage.

Lent is a season of compassion.  As a child I can remember the nuns impressing on us the need to deny ourselves candy and other pleasures so that we could give alms to children who were suffering.  The 40 days of Lent was a time not only to pray but to act with compassion because, without your compassion, we could not meet the basic needs of the poor.  And, without being able to reach out and start a conversation with those in need we couldn’t map out a plan to reclaim lives from the ravages of poverty, abuse, addictions and homelessness.

We give thanks to God for all of our donors and volunteers.  Many who already support the McKenna Center are well aware of the worthwhile and successful programs we offer.  You understand that your support translates into assistance for real people.  Today, please consider sending a gift in support of the McKenna Center to meet Dave and Cindy Morrell’s challenge grant of $3,000.  Please help us to keep alive the memory of their son, Darren, a model of compassion and caring in the spirit of Fr. Horace McKenna.

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

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

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 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 !