Photograph courtesy of Pat Reilly
Preparing food for the homeless are Sacred Heart parishioners (from left) Pat Reilly, Jerry Nestler, Don Sifferman and John Wilcox.
Sacred Heart volunteers help homeless
By Shari Kaplan
A small group of volunteers from Saratoga's Sacred Heart Church rise with the sun every Friday and head to Sunnyvale, where they join their fellow Homeless Care Force volunteers in making a difference in the lives of others.
Sunnyvale is the location of St. Martin's Catholic Church, which donates its kitchen on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays for use by Homeless Care Force members, including Saratogan Pat Reilly and his co-parishioners and friends John Wilcox, Don Sifferman, Jerry Nestler and Doris Devilliers.
Reilly is the current president of the HCF, a nonprofit organization formed in 1989 and based in Santa Clara. It collects and stores donated clothing, personal hygiene items and other necessities for distribution to the poor and homeless. It also coordinates its corps of 85 South Bay volunteers to spend at least one morning a week at St. Martin's.
"Having years of experience in doing their task, [volunteers] quickly jump into the routine of preparing meals from food donated by grocery stores and bakeries, and by 9 a.m. will have prepared and loaded the food van and a second truck with over 350 hot meals," Reilly explains. The menu, he adds, typically includes one or two hot entrees, one or two salads, bread, coffee, milk and juice. There are also "snack bags" for later consumption that contain sandwiches, chips, fruit and sweets.
"In the beginning it's hard, but once you get over [to St. Martin's] and get to work, it's a big 'up'! It gives me encouragement to see how much generosity people have," Devilliers says. "It also gives me joy to connect with people and help them with their needs."
Driven by volunteers, the food van serves at three different shelters, while the truck delivers food to three other venues, including the Georgia Travis Center for Battered Women & Children, the Cecil White Shelter for Men and the Youth Drop-In Center of San Jose. On Wednesdays and Fridays, in conjunction with the St. Vincent De Paul Society, a truck carrying clothing, personal items, blankets and sleeping bags also makes the rounds.
"The majority of the Homeless Care Force's volunteers, like the group from Sacred Heart, are gray-haired seniors who receive significant satisfaction in helping those less fortunate," Reilly says. "[But] gray hair is not a requirement. In fact, us old-timers would love to have a young generation of citizens to help us help those in need."
Reilly got involved about 10 years ago, after his retirement from the field of civil engineering. "I've always been active, but not socially--I'm not a golfer or a tennis player. I also enjoyed working. After I retired, I got to the point where I wanted to do something," he recalls.
"I asked our pastor [at Sacred Heart] what I could do. That was a mistake!" he jokes, laughing. "He asked me to help get the parish involved in community service."
Involvement in the Homeless Care Force was one of those services, which Reilly says has given him and the other four Saratoga regulars a chance to make new friends while also experiencing a sense of fulfillment.
"The thing I'm so proud of is that we [the HCF] have not missed one Friday! I think that says a lot for the character of the volunteers," he says. "This might sound corny, but the world has been good to me, so I want to do things to help others."
People of all religious backgrounds and age groups are welcome in the Homeless Care Force. For more information, call Pat Reilly at 408.867.0205 or Bob Trefry at 408.984.2265.
Saratoga, California Since 1955
