St. Mary Parish in Johnson City made arrangements to provide overnight accommodations, coming and going, for a group of a dozen or more volunteers from Resurrection Catholic High School in Pascagoula, Miss., who spent Thanksgiving week in New Jersey helping those devastated by Superstorm Sandy.
They arrived Sunday evening, Nov. 18, and departed early Monday on the way to New Jersey and stopped again on the way home Saturday, Nov. 24. They left again early Sunday in order to be back for school Monday, Nov. 26.
St. Mary pastor Father Peter Iorio made arrangements for the volunteers to be housed in the school gym and to provide a breakfast they could take on the road on the way up. He organized parish volunteers to provide a Thanksgiving meal and a special Mass for them on Saturday evening as they made their way home.
Noting that the volunteers would bring supplies they needed in a trailer, Father Iorio suggested parishioners donate cleaning supplies including bleach (especially), detergent, scrub brushes, heavy-duty contractor garbage bags, diapers, wipes, work gloves, rakes, toiletries, and bottled water and offered to collect them at the church before the group’s arrival.
