First Posted: 1/2/2015
EXETER — Christmas is the season of giving and members of St. Barbara’s Parish stayed true to the phrase.
Throughout the month of December, the parish, through its Social Concerns Committee, had a Giving Tree set up in the parish halls with the names of children and their clothing sizes put on tags hanging from the tree.
Parishioners would then select a name off the tree and donate clothes for that child.
Josephine Hatrak, 74, of Exeter and a founding member of the Socials Concerns Committee explained how the Social Concerns Committee and the Giving Tree were always meant to help the community.
One part of the community they wished to help this year was the Pittston Care and Concern Free Health Clinic and the Kids Clothes Closet in Pittston.
“We decided to do something to help them out,” said Hatrak. “The other two years it was for a Christmas giveaway and Toys for Tots, but this year it was decided we would give to the Kids Clothes Closet because they were in desperate need of clothing for needy children.”
Hatrak said she came into contact with those running the Care and Concern Free Health Clinic to organize the donating and Susan Lombardo, the head of the Kids Clothes Closet, said she was very thankful for the donations.
“We are always very grateful when groups or organizations choose our Kids Closet for their generous charity,” said Lombardo. “The amount of clothes we received from St. Barbara’s was overwhelming. Many children received beautiful clothes because of their generosity.”
One of the big things about the Giving Tree was the clothes that were donated to the Kids Clothes Closet had to be new clothing rather than previously worn, as St. Barbara’s Reverend Fr. Michael Finn said, “because it’s Christmas.”
For four weeks, between Thanksgiving and Christmas, Hatrak said the clothes were picked up once a week and that they stocked up the car to full capacity. She said she even delivered a load of clothes herself two days before Christmas and that her car could barely contain the amount of clothes she took over.
As for how many clothing items were donated, neither Finn or Hatrak could give an exact estimate.
“We had about 450 tags,” said Hatrak. “As the tags were removed from the tree we would put them back on, so it’s hard to say, but I would say at least 500 items.”
The Giving Tree is one of the many things organized by the parish’s Social Concerns Committee, which was started by Hatrak three years ago.
“It was my dream about three years ago to begin a Social Concerns Committee,” said Hatrak. “We reach out to our elderly in the parish and our shut-ins, parishioners in nursing homes. So, we did begin a Social Concerns Committee on a small scale and we all worked with the Diocese of Scranton.”
Finn, when he first became Reverend of St. Barbara’s back in July of 2013, said the process of going through with the Social Concerns Committee, among other things, came to a halt prior to his arrival.
“As pastor, when I got here… things had come to kind of a stand still,” said Finn. “Josephine and I got together, we were talking one time, and she told me what had happened and I always had committees similar to this in the parishes I’ve been in and I said this will work, let’s go for it. So, we called a general meeting, had a nice showing from the beginning, people giving suggestions, thoughts and it kind of took off from there.”
Finn said after the wheels were set in motion with the Social Concerns Committee and ideas like the Giving Tree, he gave them his full support.
Hatrak and Finn said they are thankful to the parishioners for their support and contribution to the Giving Tree, saying boxes and cars to deliver apparel to the Kids Clothes Closet were always overflowing.
