Gifts of the season: Young and old take special Christmas outreach to heart

Photo caption: Ann Spitzig-Cady holds a photograph of her 1-year-old grandson, Serj, near a crystal cross—two Christmas gifts that have helped her through a difficult time.

By John Shaughnessy

The story of the unusual Christmas event involving young people will come later.

So will the story of the 90-year-old volunteer who has found abundant examples of faith during the Christmas season.

Both stories are part of the special effort being made by Catholic schools, parishes, agencies and volunteers in the archdiocese to make Christmas more Christ-like.

Yet, right now, the focus turns to the Christmas story of the young grandmother who is sitting at the hospital cafeteria table, where she holds a photograph of her 1-year-old grandson near a crystal cross.

As Ann Spitzig-Cady begins her Christmas tale, it soon becomes clear that the crystal cross is at the heart of her story of faith, hope and rebirth.

Fifteen months ago, Spitzig-Cady was in the midst of what she calls “a terrifying time” in her life. Her marriage of 17 years was crumbling, her daughter was unexpectedly pregnant and her health was suffering. Still, she tried to do all she could to make a good home and a good life for her two teenage sons, one who has a form of autism.

She drew strength from one of the foundations of her life—her job at St. Vincent Hospital in Indianapolis, a job she started two years ago. She works as a clerk in the medical imaging department, where her goal is to treat each patient with care and dignity.

“When I have patients come through, I can see the fear in their eyes,” she says. “I try to give back to people in the way of understanding and compassion—to get them a blanket if they need it or to hold their hand.”

Her co-workers saw her compassion toward others. They also knew about the hardships in her life. So they secretly recommended her for the Hope for the Holidays program that has been a part of St. Vincent for about 20 years.

The Christmas-giving program is set up to help patients and employees who have faced overwhelming struggles within the past year. Like the family who lost a child to cancer. Like the parents whose child had a serious heart condition. Like the family of Spitzig-Cady.

“The program was developed by nurses and social workers who felt a need to do more for patients and their families,” explains Lisa Harden, the coordinator of the Hope for the Holidays program. “They knew the families were going home to situations that were difficult. They wanted to make Christmas better for them.”

Individuals who work at the hospital sometimes “adopt” a family for Christmas. More often, a group of employees combine their efforts to make Christmas more

special for the 140 or so families who annually need help.

The caring efforts usually touch the families who receive the gifts. Sometimes, the gifts even change lives. Just ask Spitzig-Cady. Her sons received presents. So did her daughter. Her newly-born grandson was given toys and clothes.

“I was just astounded and so grateful,” she recalls. “I had been praying, not asking for anything specific. I told God I don’t know how I’m going to get through everything, so I was leaving it in his hands. My sons and I needed something to hold onto, to see there are people who care. It’s not just the gifts under the tree. It’s hope that there will be light at the end of the tunnel. I feel they saved my life in more ways than one.”

That feeling especially overwhelmed her when she opened her gift and saw the crystal cross.

“I don’t normally get Christmas gifts,” she says. “When I opened it, it spoke to me. It let me know I’m on the right path. Before I go out the door each day, I look at the cross and say a little prayer with my sons, ‘Lord, help us to have your strength. We’re asking for your guidance to use our minds and our hearts in the way you want us to use them, to use our gifts in the way you see fit.’ ”

This year, as another Christmas looms, the hope continues in her life. Her grandson celebrated his first birthday on Dec. 11. Her relationships with her sons and her daughter are closer. She even arranged to have money deducted from her paychecks to give to the St. Vincent programs that help others. And this year, she will contribute to the Hope for the Holidays program to make Christmas special for another family.

“This year is still not easy for us,” she says. “My divorce will be final soon. But I don’t have the feelings of despair and fear that I had. I know the Lord will be with us. It makes me walk much stronger in my faith.”

Here are three other Christmas efforts that share that same goal.

Singing from the heart

In her 24 years of involvement in youth ministry, Norma Seib had never heard of a carol-a-thon.

Yet when the Junior High Youth Council at St. Thomas Aquinas School in Indianapolis approached her with the idea, Seib smiled and gave her blessing, especially when she learned that the seventh- and eighth-grade students wanted to donate whatever money they received from caroling to the parish’s sister parish in Haiti.

On the evening of Dec. 15, the students will stroll through the parish, stopping at the homes of people who requested a visit. The group plans to sing Christmas carols for free at each of their stops, but they will accept donations for specific songs. In a lighthearted vein, they also said they will accept donations from people who want them to stop singing.

“It’s the very first time I’ve heard of this,” Seib says. “It’s a new breath of life. I’ve been doing this long enough that I think fresh ideas are a good thing. I never thought of caroling. I don’t know how

successful it will be, but with the kids

having the idea and taking it forward it’s already a success.”

She was touched when the youths chose the parish’s Haiti outreach program as the beneficiary of the carol-a-thon.

“It makes it go beyond our boundaries, beyond the church here and the neighborhood,” she says. “The Haiti outreach program has been ongoing at St. Thomas. This shows how the kids have taken it inside themselves, as a part of them. All the kids on the Youth Council are giving. They’re putting their faith into action.”

The heart of a child

Joan Hess and Lucious Newsom haven’t forgotten what it’s like to be a child at Christmas. So both individuals are directing their efforts this season to adding a touch of Christmas joy to the lives of children who need it.

In her first year as the director of Catholic Charities in Tell City, Hess is hosting a Dec. 17 Christmas party for 37 foster children in Perry County.

“It’s the first time we’ve done this,” she says. “I was talking to a social worker and she said, ‘I wish someone would do a Christmas party for our foster kids.’ So we’re doing it. We’re going to have a visit from Santa Claus, and the gifts are being provided by the local firefighters and Toys for Tots.

“Christmas has to be a hard time for these kids, being away from their parents. We just want to make it happier for them and let them know that people care for them.”

Lucious Newsom has the same wish in Indianapolis. The 90-year-old, self-proclaimed “Lord’s beggar for the poor” will host his first Christmas party for

500 children on Dec. 23. The party will be at “Anna’s House,” a clinic and learning center that Newsom built and established this year to offer food, dental care,

medical help and educational services to people in an area often scarred by poverty, crime and drugs.

“This will be the first time we’re doing this,” says Newsom, a member of Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ Parish in Indianapolis. “We got the toys from

Toys for Tots and a lot of the Churches. This will be a place where the kids will get to pick the toys they want. The parents won’t be in there. I’ll have a room set aside where the parents can get gloves, socks, hats and pajamas.”

Newsom feels confident the party will be a success for one special reason: He’s putting the party in the hands of the Catholic high school students who volunteer regularly at Anna’s House.

“Kids from all the Catholic high schools come here to help,” he says. “I’m turning this over to them. I’ll pray with them and talk with them, and then I’ll let them loose. They’re the leaders. I don’t have to guide them. We’ve got the best kids in the country right here in our Catholic schools. It shows our Church for the future is in great hands. That’s what they show me—the Church moving on.”

It’s one more gift of the season. †