Holy Alliance: Seven Mile Beach Has Strong Link with Holy Redeemer’s Charitable Missions

Food Pantry staffers (from left): Marion Matticola, Cass Rosmini, David Barry, Marty Kindsvatter, Evelyn Gordon, Pinky Badyna, and Rocky Santarcangelo

The gifts denote happiness, hope and encouragement. They come both wrapped and unwrapped, dispersed from communities like Seven Mile Beach to needy families throughout Cape May County. They lift people’s lives, giving them something to eat, something to wear, a gift to open. They create a smile, a sense of excitement and inclusion in one of life’s biggest celebrations.

Human nature is the real bow on these presents. And it’s been that way here for a long time.

Avalon and Stone Harbor churches, civic groups and individuals form a philanthropic pipeline with the Swainton-based Holy Redeemer Food Pantry and specific programs housed there such as Healthy Families. This unique partnership began when Sister Mary Anne McDonagh, of the Sisters of the Holy Redeemer in Huntington Valley, Pa., founded the Holy Redeemer Jersey Shore Food Pantry in 1989. She was a licensed practical nurse, resided in this area and frequently visited homebound patients. A native of Ireland, McDonagh passed away five years ago at 73, but her mission thrives.

Holy Redeemer has become a favorite vehicle for Seven Mile Beach residents to spread their compassion. The company serviced roughly 1,700 individual patients via the Cape May County office in the last year. Approximately 80 employees work out of the Swainton location.

The Avalon Lions Club, with its 141 members and full-fledged philanthropic track, donates more than $100,000 to Cape May County charities each year, according to first vice president Marianne Snyder. Seventeen county organizations were recipients this year.

Holy Redeemer stands high on that list. The Avalon Lions Club donated $16,000 to their pantry and roughly $2,000 more for winter coats. The Lions Club-Holy Redeemer connection stems in part from Jeff Snyder, Marianne’s husband and the Lions Club’s administrative treasurer. He volunteers at the food pantry and has developed relationships that connect it with Cape May Country groups.

“When you are in a position that you feel comfortable financially and see people around you that are struggling, not only to put a good meal on the table but to clothe their children, it warms your heart to know you are doing some good to help a family,” Marianne Snyder says. “Especially with the children. They are the innocent victims in all of this. It’s a fact that there are children in Cape May County who don’t even have a winter coat.”

Many of the donations are practical. Some are magical.

Avalon Lions Club members presented a donation to Holy Redeemer for the Holiday Food Drive. From left, Phil Cooper, Marty Kindsvatter, Sister Maryanne King, Jim Lutz, Tony Adamoli, Jeffery Snyder, David Barry, and Rocky Santarcangelo.

“We heard one story about one of the children putting on her coat and she wouldn’t take it off, she was so excited,” Snyder says. “It wasn’t even cold and the girl was indoors, but she was so excited about having a brand-new coat, cozy and warm.”

Marie Nugent has witnessed the transformation of spirit. The director of the Healthy Families program housed at Holy Redeemer witnesses the outpouring of holiday joy. One such occasion unfolds at the annual holiday party, which will be Dec. 12. The other will come from what she hears after gifts are delivered to homes.

“The families are blown away by the generosity of strangers,” Nugent says.

“I have heard it more than once, people saying they are so grateful that somebody will be able to do this for them. People giving gifts will often adopt an entire family; that might be 50 or so [donors] this year. That means you are buying gifts for a number of people.”

Nugent also credits the Lions Club and Sue Keen, the liaison for Avalon and Stone Harbor, with making a monumental impact on people’s holiday.

Some know Keen as an executive assistant for Avalon Mayor Martin Pagliughi. Many in this realm know her as the prime mover of the Seven Mile-Holy Redeemer connection. Although she downplays her role, Keen has been described as indispensable, rallying the Lions Club, civic groups, churches and businesses in this effort. She will assemble the names of adopted families, purchase the coats presented by the Lions Club and remain organized to help donors meet deadlines.

It’s a natural extension of her job with the mayor. Keen knows how to balance a schedule and direct a spotlight onto others.

“This is totally about them,” she says of people receiving gifts.

Some of those presents have been frying pans, toaster ovens, dolls. And some are felt strongly by those who give and receive. Keen recalls one man crying upon receiving a new coat because “he knew that somewhere out there, someone cared.”

For Marion Matticola, the coordinator of the Holy Redeemer Food Pantry, the gift of turkeys is an extension of the vision McDonagh had on the health and human-services track. McDonagh viewed empty cupboards as both a health and spiritual problem. The food pantry might service hundreds of families in a given time period. Its big push is Thanksgiving.

“People have run up against the wall, no matter how hard they are trying,” Matticola says. “There was a report out that 10,000 jobs were lost in this area in recent times. Think of how that extends to families. When you can give something to people who are food insecure, or who have very little, it is something we feel good about. We could not do this without the help of organizations like the Lions Club, the churches, etc.”

Matticola says the Avalon Lions Club donates a substantial amount of the turkeys for its signature holiday, Thanksgiving. She also salutes the visiting nurses who bolster the sick, the other end of McDonagh’s vision.

“You bring joy to people with a smile, a touch of the hand,” Matticola says. “That is a powerful gift. It reminds people that they are connected, they are special.”

Hitomi “Tomi” Armstrong is a registered nurse who reflects the zeal and compassion needed to help people reach another holiday. Her contribution enables people to clear another milestone, sit down for another family meal.

For 22 years, this Dennisville resident has served the Cape May County community. Armstrong’s territory includes Avalon, Sea Isle City, Clermont, Seaville, Woodbine, Dennisville and Tuckahoe. Armstrong will make 40 to 50 house calls per week, checking vital signs with human warmth.

“From head to toe, there is no limitation on what we do,” Armstrong says. “Blood pressure, heart, lungs, etc., you name it. You may be seeing patients who have been recently hospitalized and this is their post-surgical assessment to see how they are progressing. I like the idea of seeing them where they want to be, which is in their home, providing them with whatever level of care is needed to make sure they can stay there. If they are medically housebound and confined to home, we are keeping an eye on them and hopefully see their health get back to pre-hospitalization levels.”

A home nurse will often visit patients daily, perhaps indefinitely. Armstrong monitors their progress and, when the time comes, might connect them with a subsequent level of care. A nurse might consider a patient at risk for falling and suggest an elevated toilet seat or inclined ramp, or the removal of a throw rug. Armstrong will make clients aware of county services like Meals on Wheels, fare-free transportation and Contact Cape Atlantic, an organization that makes 68,000 annual telephone reassurance calls. A client can sign up free for a daily call, with family members being reached as backups in case the person does not answer it.

And who is this medical Santa Claus?

Armstrong was bound for this profession. After spending the first six years of her life in Japan, she moved to Lancaster, Pa., and found a calling. The signs were evident early, at age 14, when she worked as an aide at a nearby nursing facility.

“The nurses there encouraged me to go on with this,” she says. “They felt I had a knack, probably the compassion for people, no matter what is going on with them. Whether they are sick, disabled or cannot speak, you just adjust to their needs and make them more comfortable.”

Somewhere along the line, Armstrong shortened her first name to the more informal “Tomi.” Her studies intensified via the Lancaster General Hospital School of Nursing and Kutztown University. The medical family tree expanded. Her husband Steve’s parents were physicians. The couple have three children, two of whom are in college and involved in pre-med.

The list goes on. Countless individuals making contributions. Extending the joy. Expanding the spiritual feast.