Thank you so much for your support of this year’s Parish Lenten Gift: Rebuilding in Faith – Supporting St. Margaret Mary Parish, Staten Island, NY. The final collection totaled $26,672 and resulted from big and small donations from so many parishioners as well as various Religious Education classes. The check was personally delivered by a Service Commission member who met the parish staff of St. Margaret Mary, visited the church and toured the Midlands Beach area of Staten Island. The St. Margaret Mary Disaster Relief Fund has chosen to help the family of four featured in one of our Lenten bulletin messages (please see thank you note below). Thank you for being a true witness to Christ’s love by giving of yourself to people you don’t even know, because you have chosen to “love one another as I have loved you” John 13:34.
Christ has no body but yours, no hands, no feet on Earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks with compassion on this world.
St. Theresa of Avila
***A letter from Bob Dennis, St. Margaret Mary Parish Manager***
My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Faith,
It is difficult to put into words the feelings we have that would adequately express our overwhelming sense of gratitude for the people of St John the Evangelist. Through the generosity of your parish you will make a substantial difference in the life of Carl (a NYC Policeman), his wife Marilyn, a daughter Alivia (who has Crohn’s Disease) and his son Carl Jr., parishioners of St. Margaret Mary. The 2 bedroom bungalow they shared was so damaged that everything, except a new bathroom they put in a year ago, has to be replaced – all interior walls, floors, ceilings furniture and personal belongings have been either lost or damaged. The piles of rubble outside his home remain as testament to the damage caused by Sandy.
Carl helped his neighbors and strangers to escape the quickly rising water, at the cost of his own personal property. Jim Miller from your parish was gracious enough to come to Staten Island and see Carl’s house and hear his story, again thank you for taking the time to do that. It was my great pleasure to show you around.
You will always be in our prayers,
Bob Dennis, Parish Manager
On the weekend of March 16-17, St. John’s community will collectively make an impact on the Midland Beach, Staten Island community, five months after Storm Sandy, they are still in the process of rebuilding their homes and normalizing their lives. This year, in solidarity with the staff and people of 
Week 4: The Need St. Margaret Mary Parish relief efforts are focused on helping families, like the Rodriguez family who were introduced in last week’s bulletin, to secure supplies to help rebuild “houses” and make them “homes.” Volunteers from both inside and the outside the parish community are volunteering their labor but the basic cost of materials and equipment still need to be covered. A typical rebuilding effort to get a family back in their home with just the basics includes:
The storm originated in the Caribbean and for ten days gradually made its way through Jamaica, Cuba, and the Bahamas before turning northward up the eastern U.S. seaboard. The storm grew to about 1,000 miles in diameter (twice the size of Hurricane Katrina) and earned the nickname of “Frankenstorm.”
On October 29, 2012, Hurricane Sandy hit Staten Island, located at the mouth of New York harbor, with a combination of strength (winds of 80 mph), astrological high tides and an angle of approach that produced a record storm surge of 16 feet.
The storm surge wiped out homes on the water and flooded neighborhoods up to one mile inland with 8 feet of water. Trees and power lines were down and people were stranded in their homes until emergency personnel could rescue them in boats.
The storm resulted in over 100 deaths, $60 billion in damage, and over 100,000 people being displaced from their homes. New York City officials estimate that nearly 6,000 buildings sustained damage on Staten Island causing occupants to seek temporary lodging elsewhere. People are still recovering from the loss of property and home as they struggle to take care of their most basic needs and attempt to re-build for a future.
The Parish is located in the Midland Beach section on the east coast of Staten Island, originally a beach community with many one-story bungalow style homes. The parishioners suffered the full brunt of the storm as their homes were severely damaged by the storm surge and resulting flood due to their location on the island’s east coast, the storm’s thirteen inches of rain and the housing stock’s small size and low rise design. Hundreds of families are still struggling to put their lives back together with city officials estimating 300 homes are still without power or heat and another 200 homes classified as uninhabitable because they were destroyed or rendered structurally unsound. While all of this occurred over three months ago, hundreds of families continue to struggle to rebuild their shattered lives. They live in temporary housing, their children are bused to schools far away, and they have lost many of their prized possessions. The parish has established a relief fund which has been very successful but the proceeds go out as fast as they are raised due to the community’s great need. Our St. John’s 2013 Lenten Gift will go to this fund.
St John’s Parish will again show its solidarity with those in need by collecting funds for a Lenten Gift. This year’s gift will be: Rebuilding in Faith – Supporting St. Margaret Mary’s Parish, Staten Island, NY after Hurricane Sandy’s Devastation. Throughout Lent, the plight of this coastal parish community serving the Midland Beach area and its “grass roots” effort to rebuild peoples’ homes and lives will be shared with you in our weekly parish bulletins and on the parish website.