New ministry in Jefferson County sends volunteers to homeowners in need throughout a week of service
It didn’t take long for a small group of men with pry bars to pull up the old floorboards in the living room.
Stacks of new engineered wood planks were ready to replace the old, breathing fresh life into the living space and kitchen in a family home in Pevely. Nearby, Max Villmer stood atop a ladder, methodically dismantling a broken ceiling fan, removing the bent blades, then unscrewing the canopy and detaching the wires.
“That’ll need to be patched up,” he said, indicating the cracks that had formed over time around the fan. Nothing some drywall mud couldn’t fix.
Bruce Fenwick carried old floorboards outside for disposal. Over the years, the parishioner at Good Shepherd in Hillsboro has done several renovation projects in his own home and for friends; this week, he was doing it for neighbors in need.
“That’s just how I feel like I serve God, just by doing what I can to help other people,” he said.
Healing Homes Ministry is a new initiative of Our Lady in Festus, Sacred Heart in Crystal City and Good Shepherd in Hillsboro that sends teams of volunteers to work on houses of people who need assistance in the Jefferson County area around the parishes.
Deacon Gene Mattler had a powerful experience participating in a service trip with his son a couple of years ago in southern Texas.
“When I got back, I was sharing that in a small prayer group that I have, and I told them all about it,” Deacon Mattler said. “One lady said, ‘Well, that’s something that could be done right here in Jefferson County.’ And that’s when a light bulb went off in my head.”
Deacon Mattler took the idea to Southern Vicariate episcopal vicar Father Michael Lydon, who encouraged him to move forward. They formed a board with members of Sacred Heart, Our Lady and Good Shepherd parishes, where Deacon Mattler is assigned, and started recruiting volunteers and taking applications for home repairs.
About 35 volunteers from the three parishes and beyond spent the week of June 15-19 tackling projects including repairing water heaters, replacing light fixtures, tearing down and rebuilding decks and retaining walls, redoing flooring, painting, landscaping and yard work.
The ministry also raised the money to cover the cost of materials for the projects. They hope to involve high school students in service work in future years and make it a weeklong retreat experience with spiritual opportunities in the evenings, Deacon Mattler said.
To stay rooted in prayer as part of the mission, each day kicked off with 7 a.m. Mass at Our Lady Parish before breakfast and dispersing to work sites.
“Part of what we’re doing with Healing Homes is that we’re going out to the community to do a good thing and to help people who are in need, to show maybe a little bit of a different way than the world usually operates by these acts of kindness that we do and the way we comport ourselves around each other,” Father Lydon said on Monday morning. “Let’s greet one another today with compassion and mercy and patience.”
Matt and Kara Hrdlicka, parishioners at Our Lady in Festus, own a sign company and took a few days off work to volunteer with Healing Homes. The couple heard Deacon Mattler speak about the new ministry at Mass and discussed it on the way home, both feeling a nudge to offer their time to put faith into action, Matt Hrdlicka said.
Out back at the Pevely house, Hrdlicka assessed the rickety staircase leading down from the small back deck before grabbing his tools to start demolishing it.
“The opportunity to go out and help people, especially in our own area — that’s really our mission,” he said. “When you get down to it, we need to walk that path…I don’t know the (homeowner’s) story, but someone needs some help.”
Back in Festus, Kara Hrdlicka and Christian Dugan tore out overgrown brush in a homeowner’s backyard while other volunteers rebuilt a wooden retaining wall along the front lawn.
Dugan was invited to the service week by his father, who also participated. As a teacher at Grandview Schools, he has a flexible summer schedule to give him time to do things like this, he said.
“I said, ‘you just tell me what I’m doing, and I’ll be there,’” said Dugan, another Our Lady parishioner. “There’s a lot of need in the community right around here, you know — we don’t need to go far away. You can drive down the street, and every block, there’s somebody that needs help somewhere around.”
As Hrdlicka and Dugan worked in the yard, they had the chance to chat with neighbors who stopped to ask about where they were from, Hrdlicka said.
“The neighbors were curious and wanted to know what was going on. So Christian explained that we are with the Church, and I think, whether it’s this person or someone else, to see the community reaching out and helping — that’s kind of the witness sometimes for everybody to see,” she said.
Near Hillsboro, Alex Hermann and Matt Staloch measured and cut new stairs for the back of the house while others worked on inside flooring and electrical issues.
Bob Hanewinkel and Deacon Mattler studied a malfunctioning water heater together, talking over possible fixes. Hanewinkel is a retired union electrician who mentored Deacon Mattler during Mattler’s electrician apprenticeship years ago.
Hanewinkel has been tapped to do electrical work at Our Lady Parish over the years, including wiring in classrooms and outdoor receptacles for the parish picnic. While he joked that he was initially reluctant to write his occupation on his parish registration card — knowing he’d be called upon — it’s a gift to be able to serve the Lord by offering his time and expertise to people who need it, he said.
“I think it’s more a blessing from God to be able to do stuff for other people,” he said. “I’m happy to do it. It does a lot more for us then it does for them.”
His former apprentice smiled. “It really is,” Deacon Mattler agreed. “It is a blessing for us.”
