Rosa is not who you think she is

Rosa Murillo can't stop laughing as she recalls all the people in Troy who have given her money. One man watched her redeeming cans for a nickel apiece at Price Chopper and handed her a $20 bill. Another person passed her $3 after Mass at St. Anthony of Padua parish.

Many Trojans mistakenly think she's homeless because they see the tiny Colombian woman collecting cans all over the city, clad in an old coat and stocking cap. They don't realize she has a greater purpose.

All the money that Ms. Murillo, 89, collects is sent to missions in various countries. "I have letters from the missions, and they say, 'Send money,' so I say, 'Okay,'" she said simply.

Coming to America

Although Ms. Murillo struggles with speaking English, she was eager to make her "mission for the missions" understood.

She came to the U.S. 40 years ago, having done child care for a family in Venezuela until a friend told her, "I know you'd like to go [to America]."

At the time, Marty Lombard of Christ Sun of Justice parish in Troy was looking for a nanny for her six children, since she taught school during the day. The job was a perfect fit for Ms. Murillo, who stayed until all four girls and two boys grew up. She also became a daily communicant at Christ Sun of Justice.

Retired life

After that, Ms. Murillo worked for a family in Albany for six years. When she hit retirement age, she approached her old employer for advice, bewildered about where to live.

"You can live here," said Mrs. Lombard, and Ms. Murillo promptly moved back into her old room.

But it didn't take long for Ms. Murillo to decide that full retirement wasn't for her.

"I stay in my room two days and say, 'I no stay more. I go out,'" she remembered.

Returnables

While taking a walk one day, she noticed a woman collecting cans from trash barrels. Ms. Murillo followed the woman to the grocery store, where she learned about the can-redemption center.

"She sell for five cents each!" Ms. Murillo said excitedly. Just like that, she had found her own form of redemption: something to keep her busy in retirement. She got a rolling grocery cart and began collecting cans.

Ms. Murillo roams the hills of Troy around Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in all weather. She's secretive about sharing which spots are gold mines for can collectors, saying only, "I go all places. Sometimes, the cart is like this" -- gleefully indicating a pile higher than her head -- "and I have a bag on top."

Famous in Troy

Mrs. Lombard said she had to beg her elderly tenant to stop staying out after dark.

"People will say, 'Oh, Marty, I saw Rosa the other day,'" she remarked. "Rosa says, 'How did they know my name?' I say, 'Rosa, everyone knows you!'"

"I feel happy because I'm busy. God, Mary and St. Joseph -- they accompany me," Ms. Murillo said.

On to missions

By returning cans, Ms. Murillo often amasses as much as $18 a day. When she gets to $200 or $300 -- including any money handed to her by helpful benefactors -- she brings it to St. Anthony's Church in Troy or to St. Patrick's in Albany, both of which have Masses in Spanish that she likes to attend. She hands the money to a priest to forward to the missions.

"Every year, I give almost $1,000," she said, smiling.

Some of the money is sent to "missions" in the Albany Diocese. Rev. Mario Julian, OFM, pastor of St. Anthony's, immediately remembered the elderly woman who, "every so often, hands me a brown paper bag with a wad of cash in it."

He distributes her donations among the parish food pantry; the soup kitchen at nearby Bethany House; Joseph House, a homeless shelter; and other programs for the needy.

Where it goes

Other donations have benefitted missions in South American countries. After an earthquake hit Costa Rica, Ms. Murillo sent money. She boasted of having received a letter in return from a bishop there, explaining how he had used the funds.

Some of the money helped to repair a damaged Catholic church, something very important to Ms. Murillo.

"I know my religion. It is 2,000 years [old] and made from Christ," she stated firmly.

Gratitude

Ms. Murillo sees can-collecting for the missions as a way of showing gratitude to God for her physical and mental health at her age.

"Thank God, I thinking, I walking, I talking, and nothing happen to me," she said. "It's only God who make me good."

Mrs. Lombard told The Evangelist that people who don't know Ms. Murillo often theorize that she's raising money to support a family or for personal use, "but she doesn't use any of the money from the cans" for herself.

Working for God

Being mistaken for homeless and destitute doesn't bother Ms. Murillo.

"I have good friends. They know about me," she said reassuringly.

Of those who try to press money on her, she added, "They think I need it, but I know who need it more! Until God permits me [to stop] walking and thinking, I walking and thinking and pick up cans."

(When she was working, Ms. Murillo's frugality helped her reach another goal: Every other year, she would spend none of her salary on herself, saving up instead for religious pilgrimages. Among other places, she has visited the Holy Land, Medjugorje, Fatima and Lourdes. Bottle drives are a popular fundraiser in the Albany Diocese. For example, second-graders in the religious education program at St. Joseph's parish in Scotia recently collected 7,266 bottles and cans, raising $363.30 for a Missouri family that relocated here after Hurricane Katrina. At St. Teresa of Avila School in Albany, students raised more than $280 in a two-day can/bottle drive.)

(5/11/06) [[In-content Ad]]