Helping those in need

WAYNE  The closing of its physical building during the COVID-19 pandemic hasn’t prevented DePaul Catholic High School here from springing into action to help the local efforts of medical personnel and other first-responders fight the spread of COVID-19 and care for patients, who have been infected. DePaul has been putting into practice lessons of faith from school about lending a hand to people in need largely by leveraging the power of technology and the charity of their tight-knit community.

Since diocesan schools have been shuttered, DePaul has launched a multi-pronged campaign — thanks to staff, teachers, students, parents and alumni self-quarantined at home — that included a drive to supply personnel at St. Joseph Regional Medical Center in Paterson with critically needed personal protective equipment (PPE). They also have been sewing protective cloth face masks for staff at St. Joseph’s; conducting a drive to provide snacks to the COVID-19 ward at Holy Name Hospital in Teaneck; and shot a video to say “thank-you” to emergency personnel for their work and sacrifice. DePaul’s efforts, digital and physical, have been aided by word of mouth; technology, including social media; and their close sense of community.

“We have experienced a tremendous outpouring from the DePaul community,” Russell Petrocelli, principal, who donated several unopened boxes of rubber gloves from his house and contributed more boxes of gloves taken from the school’s nurse’s office. “These medical professionals and first responders are going to work every day, putting their lives on the line for us. They need our help,” he said.

DePaul held the PPE drive outside thanks to donors, who dropped items into a cardboard box in front of the main doors — all while practicing “social distancing.” During drop-off times on three days recently, people contributed boxes of face masks, rubber gloves, painters’ overalls, rubber shower caps, hairnets and gowns. Several donors cleaned out their homes, while others ordered the hard-to-find supplies or got them from their employers. Several families made donations, which have totaled $500 to date, said Coleen Brophy, Class of 1979 and DePaul’s director of special events and alumni relations, who coordinated the PPE drive and is making surgical masks.

It was Carlin Keil, daughter of DePaul Athletic Trainer Nancy Keil, who inspired the PPE drive. A scribe in the emergency-department of St. Joseph’s, Carlin Keil told her mother that the hospital was “in dire need of face masks.” The first drop-off on March 26 had attracted local media attention, Brophy said.

“It’s great that we can help St. Joseph’s, which doesn’t have enough of these items,” Brophy said. “The beauty of these [different outreaches] is that it’s all about giving in this time of pandemic — about giving to others in need. It’s great to see our students asking, ‘What more can we do?’ They are living out their Christian faith. Also, we as the DePaul community are growing together,” she said.

Meanwhile, the DePaul girls’ lacrosse team has been collecting snacks and paper products for the staff of Holy Name’s COVID-19 ward. Because of the deadly contagions in their area, staffers are prohibited from leaving during their breaks. The team’s 27 players are buying cereal; snacks, such as chips and popcorn; coffee and tea; and paper cups and plates and have created a “wish list” on Amazon.com, said Kelsey Hall, a team coach.

The inspiration for the team’s “snack attack” was Lisa Cifalino, a nurse manager of Holy Name’s COVID-19 ward and mother of Sal, Class of 2024, and Gia, Class of 2021, who is also a member of the squad. The items will be sent directly to Cifalino’s house to minimize human contact, Hall said.

“We wanted to do something for the staff at Holy Name, who are putting their lives at risk for people they don’t even know,” said Alex Lomonaco, a senior and team captain. “This team is like a family to me and we wanted to support Gia and her family,” she said.

Cifalino launched her own drive for the purchase of Crocs, rubber sandals, which the Holy Name staff can wear while in the hospital without tracking germs back to their homes. For this, she created an Amazon.com “wish list,” according to a recent DePaul newsletter.

While self-isolating in their homes, some parents and staff volunteered to sew surgical masks. This involves such steps as cutting pieces of tight cotton or flannel material of all types of patterns; leaving a space for placement of an air filter later; attaching the string to be tied behind the head; and installing a wire or a pipe cleaner to be bent around the nose to keep the mask in place, Brophy said.

DePaul’s charitable efforts also went digital, when Michael Orlando, a freshman, led the development of a short video to thank local police departments and hospitals in the midst of this crisis. So far, about 35 of the school’s students and staff submitted 10-second clips, “expressing their appreciation for their work in combating the virus.” The clips were edited into a video package that was posted on DePaul’s web site, www.depaulcatholic.org, and social media, said Angelica Sarcona, a senior, who came up with the idea on one of her shifts on the West Milford First Aid Squad.

“What we are doing [with the various outreaches] may be local but it is very effective. We are rooting for the police and hospital workers and also getting them the supplies that they need,” Sarcona said.