Parish, sheriff’s office team up for Blessing Bags community project

DENVILLE  St. Mary’s Parish of Denville recently presented the Morris County Sheriff’s Office Hope One van, a mobile recovery access vehicle offering critical support for those struggling with addiction, with almost 300 Blessing Bags.

The parish community collected items for the bags, and the Confirmation candidates sorted and collated the contributions and filled each large Ziploc bag with a new pair of socks, a snack, lip balm, deodorant, a toothbrush and toothpaste, mints, nail clippers, mini hand sanitizer, travel size shampoo, and a mini tissue pack.

The goal of the Morris County Sheriff Office’s Hope One van is to prevent drug overdoses and deaths and additionally offer mental health services. Hope One distributes the bags to the homeless in Dover, Morristown, and other communities.

Sheriff James Gannon was appreciative of the efforts and donations. “The Morris County Sheriff’s Office Hope One program is grateful for the donation of Blessing Bags from St. Mary’s Parish,” Gannon said. “The grace of providing a Blessing Bag to a person in need reminds them that someone cares. These bags will spread hope for all who receive them. “

A social media post a few months back mentioned the Hope One van would be in the Denville area in early and late August, and the post suggested that the van could always use Blessing Bags. PJ Miller, the director of Religious Educa­tion at St. Mary’s Parish for 20 years, always on the lookout for initiatives for the CCD classes to get involved in, took notice and acted — and so did the St. Mary’s Parish community.

“We had moved Confirmation from 10th grade down to 8th grade three years ago,” Miller said, who then explained the Blessing Bags process. “We did a collection through the parish. Many of the parishioners either gave us full Blessing Bags or just gave us bulk from the list that I got from the Hope One van site. Then we brought everything into the office, and the kids spent a couple of different days doing the collating and counting them out. Also, in every bag, Miller had the Confirmation candidates write out index cards with a variety of inspirational messages, including “You are great!”, “You got this!”, “You rock!” and more, with the addition of a little flower or rainbow to accompany the words drawn on the little card. “Just a little statement of affirmation,” Miller said. “That's all somebody needs to hear when they're having a bad day.”

On Sunday, Oct. 16, at the opening Mass for the Confirmation class, representatives from the Sheriff’s office accepted the Blessing Bags and gave a presentation to the 6th, 7th, and 8th grades regarding their services, explaining what they do and what their mission is. According to the Morris County Sheriff’s office, the Blessing Bags should provide for each homeless individual for about three to four weeks.

The pastor of St. Mary’s, Father Martin Glynn, is very impressed by the efforts of the CCD students but also grateful to his entire parish for their response to the Hope One van need. “I have always found that the parishioners of St. Mary’s of Denville are very generous when the need is genuine and true. They respond with generous open hearts.”

St. Mary’s challenges its CCD program and their Confirmation students to exit their comfort zones. Miller said, “We don't want the kids just doing something they're comfortable doing. We want them to get out of their comfort zone. We want our program to have growth opportunities.” And as a summation of the Blessing Bags project, she says. “It was a whole, tireless effort.”

For more information about the St. Mary’s CCD program, visit www.stmarys-denville.org/ccd