If you follow our blog regularly, then you've read a number of stories about the types of folks you'll find here in Vienna. They are warm and friendly and big-hearted. I've told you about my neighbor Sheila (the Cupcake Fairy) and my other neighbor down the street (the Anonymous One) and I've shared lots of stories about charity fundraising events and other "good deeds". People like Sheila and the "Anonymous One" are why I love living in Vienna.
So - back to sharing good news.
One Sunday a few months back, we had a guest homilist at our church. His name is Father Keith O'Hare. He is a priest in our Diocese (the Diocese of Arlington), but he is currently serving the people in Banica, Dominican Republic. This particular Sunday, he was at our church here in Vienna (St. Mark Catholic Church) and he shared a number of stories about what life is like for the people in Banica.
One of the stories he told was about the children in Banica and how little they have. He told us that the little girls in the towns he visits often carry around stones.
Stones? Why stones? To protect themselves maybe? Why on Earth would girls carry around stones?!
Because these are what the little girls play with as dolls. The stones are cuddled and kissed and nestled in the little girls' arms - just the way our girls here in Vienna walk around with their Baby Dolls. Sometimes the girls find ways to draw eyes & mouths on the stones, but mostly their dolls are just simple stones.
Father O'Hare shared, "To me what is so beautiful is that children who are hungry and malnourished will put their physical needs aside and ask me for a doll...it shows me that they hunger to love and be loved, as much as they feel physical hunger. (Of course we're working on their hunger situation, with various projects in motion now on that front.)"
Wow. That paints a picture. Doesn't it?
Sitting in another piew at St. Mark's that day was Katie Vitale. Katie didn't just listen to the stories Father O'Hare told, she HEARD them.
Fast forward 2 months - and 26 boxes containing 850 (new & gently used) dolls and teddy bears are on their way to the little girls in Banica. All thanks to Katie Vitale!
Katie organized the parish and school at St. Mark, along with her friends and neighbors, and after a mass collection of dolls & bears - it looks like Father O'Hare may be able to give a doll or bear to every child in the communities of Pilón, Guaroa, and Manyaya. Wow! Despite the distance in miles - these children will know how much we love them and how much their love touched us.
People like Katie Vitale and the St. Mark parishioners & schoolchildren at St. Mark Catholic School are just another reason why WE LOVE LIVING IN VIENNA!
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