OLL Youth Ministry does a Midnight Run for the homeless

Malvernites Laura Fewer, left, and Sophie Wilson spent time talking with Jean outside the Church of St. Francis of Assisi on 31st St. in Manhattan — the spot that Jean calls home.

Sue Grieco

Teens from Our Lady of Lourdes Youth Ministry made new friends on their Midnight Run.

Sue Grieco

Linda Baldacchino, the Youth Ministry Director at Our Lady of Lourdes, gives out car assignments.

Sue Grieco

It was a flurry of activity as teens from Our Lady of Lourdes stopped by a popular homeless area during their Midnight Run.

Sur Grieco

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Several hours after New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio announced a $22 million effort to combat homelessness and mental illness, a caravan of six large cars had starting converging in the parking lot of Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Malverne. With their doors flung open, a team of over two dozen teens and several adults got busy packing the cars to the rooftops with clothes, shoes and toiletries. By 8:15 p.m., the workers had finished, the cars were full, and the team left the serene security of Malverne to aid the homeless in Manhattan.

An hour later, the caravan parked, one behind the other, along Park Ave. between 63 and 64 St., as over a dozen homeless people watched. Many were patiently waiting for the cars, which they expected to arrive here, hoping the caravan had a pair of shoes that fit them, a clean shirt, and some toiletries to get them through the next few days.

The caravan trip, arranged twice a year by Our Lady of Lourdes Youth Ministry leader Linda Baldacchino, is coordinated in conjunction with the non-profit, Midnight Run. Midnight Run works with hundreds of volunteers from churches, synagogues, schools and civic groups to distribute food, clothing, blankets and personal care items to the homeless poor on the streets of New York City. Midnight Run claims it is not a solution to homelessness — but a means to forge a bond between the housed and the homeless, and to establish a foundation of caring.

According to New York City’s Coalition for the Homeless, New York City has recently reached its highest levels of homelessness since the Great Depression of the 1930s. There are over 58,000 homeless people sleeping each night in the New York City municipal shelter system. Families comprise nearly four-fifths of the shelters’ population.

As the team lined Park Ave. with box after box of supplies, most passersby barely gave a glance to the bustle of activity happening along the sidewalk. As one of the patrons, Malcolm, watched a well-dressed couple go by, he remarked, “Homelessness can happen to anybody,” Malcolm said a reporter. “I even know a ex-judge who is on the streets right now.”