People walking down Arch Street at 6:15 this morning stopped to ask “What’s going on?” The commotion was caused by the fact that the Shrine had a delivery of 11,000 pounds of brand new clothes from Dignity U Wear. Dignity U Wear is a Jacksonville, Florida based nonprofit which provides free brand-new clothing to the homeless. The timing is perfect for us… just in time for a Christmas distribution! St. Francis House has graciously taken on the project of distributing the clothes to the homeless. (Thank you, Karen LaFrazia, the Executive Director of St. Francis House!) Thanks to a huge group of students from Boston College High, the unloading went quickly. Also on the unloading team were three friars from Arch Street: Br. Mario Gomez, Fr. Damian Park, OFM, and Br. Paul O’Keeffe. CSX, the international transportation company, graciously donated the transportation costs for this delivery. Thanks so much to Jennie Sawyer from St. Francis House, Julie Ogden and Debby Hawes from Arch Street, and Barbara Truncellito from Dignity U Wear for orchestrating this delivery. Thanks to all of these organizations for a great team effort: Dignity-U-Wear, St. Francis House, the Arch Street Shrine community, CSX, and BC High School. The homeless of downtown Boston thank you!
Here are some photos from the delivery: