April 12, 2022 at 6:46 p.m.
WORKS OF MERCY
WORKS OF MERCY
From colorful shirts and patterned sweaters to coats and shoes for kids of all ages, a plethora of clothing lines wall-to-wall in what used to be a school classroom. Now, it houses the Works of Mercy clothing program.
The Works of Mercy Initiative, founded in 2012, is a collaborative effort between the 13 Catholic churches in Schenectady to help identify people and parishes that are most in need and connect them with proper resources, spiritual or otherwise.
This year, the group is celebrating its 10th anniversary. Black, a coordinator for Works of Mercy and pastoral associate for pastoral care at St. Luke’s Church, has been a part of the network since the beginning and seen the organization grow and shape to meet the needs of the Schenectady residents and parishes.
“(The anniversary) kind of crept up on me in a way, because where did 10 years go?” Black said. “When you’re doing things you find value in and you’re doing things that you love, it’s just there and it’s not taxing on you. It’s part of your life. It’s definitely grown a lot in 10 years and that’s exciting.”
The idea for the collaboration came out of the “Called to be Church” pastoral planning process when 35 parishes in the Diocese closed or merged by the end of 2009. Schenectady parishioners started thinking of how to help support one another in pastoral initiatives or charity activities, and in doing so, support the local community.
“Our real goal is to fill those unmet needs,” Black said, “so if there’s a service and someone can’t fill that, then how can we network out and fill that need? It’s a lot about networking and collaboration.”
A number of support programs offered by Works of Mercy have grown over the years, such as self-care for caregivers or depression in the elderly. Other pastoral duties run by volunteers include delivering Communion to homebound parishioners, or special trips like dropping off palms on Palm Sunday.
Black said the initiative has “grown from an awesome idea to this awesome outreach arm of our parishes who participate” and serves both the parish and greater Schenectady community.
During COVID, Black said that their work “exploded” from the increased need. Things are calmer now, but still consistent as residents recover from a rocky few years. “There’s definitely been an increase in the past couple of years just because people have been in different situations,” she said.
Black vets calls for a variety of needs daily. Some residents need help making funeral arrangements; other families need help getting food. Their most recurring request is with getting transportation, she said, be it to church, doctor’s appointments or a social call.
“There are so many great resources but they don’t know how to get connected with them,” Black said. “Even though we don’t directly offer help for those things, we are able to help people walk on that journey.”
While most requests need to be networked out, any inquiries about children or adolescent clothing can be filled by the Works of Mercy clothing program: “It’s one of the tangible things we do that you can see,” Black said.
The program used to be run out of St. Luke’s before moving to 1255 Pleasant St. The closed parish school was converted into the Monsignor Spina Center and used for parish activities by Our Lady of Mount Carmel, including the clothing program.
Anyone who is in need of children’s clothing, be it a teacher, parent, guardian, social worker or caseworker, can fill out a request for clothing on a Google form on the Works of Mercy website (www.worksofmercyschdy.org). Adults are asked to list the child’s age, size, gender, what items they need and details about what they may like to wear. Volunteers assemble the clothing to be picked up at a later date.
The program services an average of 300-to-400 children a year in Schenectady, with anywhere between a couple to a dozen requests in a week. “Some weeks it could be none and there can be weeks when we’re packing for 20 kids, so it does vary,” Black said.
Black has loved seeing the clothing program grow over the years. What started as three tote boxes of children’s clothing has grown into a hallway full of shoes, coats and T-shirts. There are separate classrooms for girls’ and boys’ clothing, a room for coats and one for sorting through donations to put into the inventory.
She only hopes to see where the program, and Works of Mercy overall, will continue to go in the next 10 years.
“I’m very passionate about what we do and what Works of Mercy stands for,” she said. “It’s my job but it’s also my heart. It’s easy to want to do it.”
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