SAINT JOHN’S HOSPICE

Stephan Hildebrand and Benedikt Peckruhn spent a year in ministry at Sarnelli house in the Kensington section of Philadelphia. They volunteered in the mail room and kitchen twice a week since September 2008.

Fr Kevin Murray of Sarnelli House with Stephan Hildebrand (center) and Benedikt Peckruhn (right)

Here is their reflection on their service at Saint John’s Hospice:

For the last 11 months Stephan and I have been Volunteers with the Blessed Sarnelli Community (BSC) in Philadelphia, directed by Redemptorist Father Kevin Murray.

The BSC works with young adults to help poor and abandoned people in need. Now a nonprofit entity, it was originally founded in 1997 as a ministry of the Redemptorist priests and brothers. The center for the community and ministry was an old convent renamed Sarnelli House in honor of an early member of the Redemptorists, Blessed Gennaro Sarnelli. The first house, located on Diamond Street, closed in July 2007. A new center is being renovated and will be located on Kensington Avenue.

Before the old Sarnelli House closed, ministries in service of people in need included weekly showers, festive-dinners on Thursday nights, and a Street Outreach program at least once a week where volunteers went out on the street to feed homeless people. This last program is still a main part of our work at the BSC. During the past year, Steve and I have also worked very hard to fix-up the new place on Kensington Avenue. We hope to see it open very soon so that the services provided through the old house can be resumed.

Besides our work with the BSC, the work at Saint John's Hospice was a very important part of our year as Volunteers. Since October 2008, we were present at Saint John's Hospice twice a week, usually helping in the dining room or at the front desk.

Some of our duties in the dining room included preparing lunch trays for guests and handing these to them when they came in for the midday meal. During the lunch hour we also helped, together with many other volunteers, to serve the food, refill water pitchers or collect the trash from the tables. Many times after the official lunch was over we helped to unload the food truck and put casseroles into the freezer. The work at the front desk involved alphabetizing and handing out mail, as well as the distribution of toiletries. Furthermore, we answered the phone and directed calls.

Being a part of Saint John’s for almost a year really taught us a lot as it provided us with many good experiences. We find it fascinating to see that there are so many people dedicating their own life to helping other people. They do their work with so much energy and compassion that it really touched us.

Also the many different volunteer groups we saw over the year impressed us because, in a world where many people just care about themselves, is it good to know that there are a lot of people who are willing to help. Be it through helping to serve food, through food donations, or other various efforts put into running the good ministry of the Hospice.

Besides all the things Saint John’s does for the people, we really liked the way the volunteers and staff treat the guests who come in for services. Everyone is treated in a very personal and dignified manner. All of these things together created a warm and welcoming atmosphere that made us look forward to coming to Saint John's Hospice every week of the year. Every time we entered the facility we were warmly welcomed by the guys at the front desk. We always found the working environment amicable and the people with whom we worked very congenial.

But the effect of Saint John's did not stop when we left the facility. Many of the guys whom we met at Saint John's were also met during our Street Outreach with the BSC. We always found it gratifying when recognizing people on the streets whom we first met at Saint John’s. Because of all of you at Saint John's, we were able to build a deeper relationship with many of our friends who stay on the streets of the City.

We truly have to thank everybody at Saint John’s for such a nice year. We really had a good time, met many interesting people, and, most all, we made a lot of new friends.

Gratefully!

Ben & Steve

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2009