Search
Verene Goulette
-
-
Although I do not currently reside within the St. Clare Parish area, I consider St. Clare Parish my home. My family which consists of the Bayer, Schmidt, Murphy, and Tisler families have been a part of St. Clare Parish since 1927. I have made all my sacraments at St. Clare from baptism through marriage. My mother, aunt, uncles, cousins, siblings, niece, and I have all attended St. Clare School. We would all attend church together and would go out to breakfast at the Original House of Pancakes. Sunday Mass was a large family event for us. When I come back to the area and see that the majority of our family homes and neighborhoods have been totally destroyed and appear to be vast wasteland, I look at St. Clare of Montefalco as home.
This brings me to the start of the invasion of Ukraine. My husband would watch news about the war 24 hours per day every day. I could not hear seeing the devastation. I did not want to watch this without being able to personally help. Yes, I donated funds to help Ukraine, but for me it just wasn't enough. During a Sunday Mass, I heard Father Andrew speak of an effort to take a team to help in Poland. I felt that was my chance to help. I answered his email regarding the mission as soon as I had spoken with my husband Michael. He wanted to come too but did not have his passport renewed. He said that he felt I should go as I lit up when I spoke of it. I was elated when Fr. Andrew accepted me as part of the team.
Once we arrived in Poland, we split into two teams. I was on the team that was the first to go to the Tesco refugee site. My fear of not being useful was put to rest. We stripped and sanitized bedding, scrubbed floors, cleaned garbage cans, cleaned pet cages, and sorted clothing. We worked around pets, children playing with balls and riding toy cars throughout the crowded corridors. Later, the children had a room of their own to play in. It was good to see the children have some fun. Our assignments would sometimes change frequently, and we had to be ready to accommodate the changes quickly. The people who were here would only stay for no more than 24 hours. It was essentially a rest stop for the people on their journey.
The team that I was with traded positions with the other team on the fourth day. We went to a refugee site in the mountains that housed families for as long as they needed. We were able to meet and work with families on a more constant basis and assist them with their needs. Although we could not speak Ukrainian, we could talk to them using Google translate. Even some of the children were able to use this process. There also are universal sign languages for children that all parents use when giving direction to children.
I along with a couple other team members was filling bowls with candy. The children ran up and took armfuls of candy. One of the team members said that she did not know how to tell them to take only a couple pieces and we didn't have time to look it up. I look at the children and raised two fingers as I pointed toward the candy. They immediately put all but two pieces back. I thought that the problem was resolved until Gary laughed and told me to turn around. Two little boys climbed over the counter where they saw me stash the extra candy. I couldn't help, but smile. Later that day we had oranges, apples, grapes, and bananas that Scott and John bought along with other supplies. The children loved those as well.
My statement to my friends and family when I came home was:
I'm home!!! Amidst all the sorrow, grief, and devastation, I saw so many selfless wonderful people from around the world caring and giving. There is hope.
Verene Goulette
-
