By:LARRY MAIER
Helena Helps grew up in Brooklyn during the Great Depression.
But I was quite young then, the Baldwin woman said, laughing.
Times were difficult back then. Families worked hard just to get by. But one thing was certain, Helps said: They were all in it together.
Everyone got along back then. I lived in a mixed neighborhood, different families, different nationalities, said Helps, who will turn 80 in September but moves with the vigor of a woman half that age. We were all poor. But if one of us got a little extra something, we shared. I was brought up to help people when I could.
Helping others has been a lifelong passion for Helena Helps. She retired in 1994 after working for 50 years as a nurse in veterans hospitals from California to New York.
Now, though she enjoys tending to her gardens and reading mystery novels, she still finds time to volunteer two or three days a week at Queen of the Most Holy Rosary in Roosevelt. There she works in the Bernice Morris Parish Social Ministry, which provides emergency assistance for needy people in Roosevelt and parts of Baldwin and Freeport.
For her charity and commitment to improving the quality of life of others, the Junior League of Long Island recently honored Helps and other volunteers at a special luncheon. Although she appreciates the recognition, Helps said everyone at the ministry deserves praise. We all work hard at it because we want to help.
SH: Assistance with a smile
Helps, who said she is often teased about her last name, especially in her volunteering circles, began attending Queen of the Most Holy Rosary after retiring from her nursing job in New York City. Before that, she used to attend religious services near the hospital.
Her good friend Bernice Morris, who has since passed away and for whom the ministry is named, suggested that Helps try some volunteering at the church. I wanted something to do, she said. I'm not going to just sit around and watch TV all day.
Initially, she did a little of everything at the ministry, packing food and giving out clothing. Later, she took on more responsibilities, including interviewing some of the nearly 200 people who come to Queen of the Most Holy Rosary each month for assistance.
They come for food and for help paying rent, mortgage and utilities, Helps said. We try to give it to them.
Most of the funding to help people comes from Catholic Charities, church collections and private donations. Vouchers for clothing are provided by the St. Vincent De Paul Conference.
Sometimes, the help that Helps and the ministry are able to provide goes beyond feeding hungry mouths. She recalled one occasion when a Roosevelt couple came to the ministry seeking assistance in burying their deceased child. The ministry was able to help.
Another time, an elderly woman from Jamaica, who was abandoned and left stranded by family members, came through the doors. She didn't have anything, Helps said, shaking her head. They stole all her papers. She had nothing.
Helps and the ministry were able to locate an agency that could help the woman and get her back on her feet.
Such anecdotes exemplify the philosophy Helps brings to her volunteer work.
If someone is hungry, you give them food. If they need clothes, you give them clothes, she said. It's as simple as that.
Her fellow volunteers at the church sing her praises. She is very good with people, said Margie Khan, noting that Khan is particularly gifted at helping people who are visibly distressed. She's able to calm them down. She probably gets that from having been a nurse.
She's kind, caring and gentle, said Jeanne Marie Scott, a volunteer at the ministry and president of St. Vincent De Paul.
Are these also qualities Helps learned while a nurse? No, Scott said. I think they are why she became a nurse in the first place.
And at almost 80 years old, Helps said she has no intentions of slowing down. I get a satisfaction when I know I have helped a person, she said. And I'll keep on doing it as long as I can.
If you would like to make a donation to the Bernice Morris Parish Social Ministry at Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, contact Sister Ann McKeon, of the Sisters of Charity, at (516) 867-4490.
