NYC Area has successfully launched its new Mobile Ministry!

On November 8, 2024, the NYC Area Mobile Ministry began with the debut of our new 15-passenger van parked outside the White Cross Ball. Since then the NYC Mobile Ministries team has already started serving the poor and the sick: it filled food pantries across Manhattan, transported auction items for the White Cross Ball, helped a team of Sisters move furniture into a new halfway house, maintained a presence outside Saint Patrick’s Cathedral during Investiture, and delivered 400 supply bags for our Investiture Weekend Malta Walk. This incredible tool enhances our ability to live out our mission more fully: Tuitio Fidei et Obsequium Pauperum.
 
Deeply moved by the NYC Area’s celebration of the Feast of St. John the Baptist Mass, a longtime NYC Area KM approached Area Chairs Steve Bujno, KM, and Eric Vitale, KM, this June with a desire to reach even more of those we serve. At the Mass reception, he offered to purchase a vehicle so the NYC Area could create a Mobile Ministry. Motivated by the donor’s deeply Christian sense of charity, Steve, Eric, and NYC Area Mobile Ministries Coordinator Michael Smilek, YOF, worked with the donor to make this project happen. They began with an analysis of all the Malta Mobile Ministry programs running across the three associations nationwide. Additionally, they studied local need, raised critical additional funding, and squared away important details—including insurance, parking, and scheduling. Most importantly they assessed community impact and member participation.
 
In addition to supporting existing works of the Order, the NYC Area Mobile Ministry team has created a critical partnership with Thrive for Life, a Jesuit run prison ministry non-profit that helps formerly incarcerated individuals reintegrate into society. Our new van will help bring the formerly incarcerated to spiritual retreats, stock food pantries for families of those affected by justice, and transport construction materials for housing. Fr. Zach Presutti, SJ, Founder of Thrive for Life, and James Greenwood, KM, Chief of Staff for Thrive for Life, were instrumental in bringing this partnership to fruition. This partnership allows the New York City Area to participate in prison ministry, a void that the Area has been hoping to fill for many years. It will bring fresh faces to the Volunteer Corps and activate existing Members with an entirely new charism.
 
Inspired by our main donor’s generosity, two more angel donors stepped in to provide first-year operational costs. The St. John Committee led by Mercedes de Guardiola, DM, and Catherine Boorom provided the remaining necessary funds with money raised at their highly successful Spring Knights Gala. Critically, Sal Ervolino of Trinity Automotive Services, who has provided many vehicles for the Archdiocese of New York and the greater Church—including a vehicle for the Pope himself—helped the team purchase, wrap, and register the new vehicle. 
 
Over this months-long creation process, Michael, Eric, and Steve collaborated with many Members and friends of the Order. Sue Bonaventre, DM, Mobile Ministries Coordinator for Detroit, explained how her Area formed a partnership with Catholic Charities to better serve their joint dental clinic. The New Jersey Area, namely Michael Ligorano, KM, Brandon Sipple, KM, and Troy Simmons, KM, provided important contacts for wrapping and insuring the vehicle. Kathy Gantz, DM, and Greg Gantz, KM, showed how St. Louis sought and achieved the support of additional donors. Tim Shannon, KM, founder of the first Mobile Ministries program in California, demonstrated how to complete important regulatory documentation, and Rory Kelleher, GCMob, helped review said documentation. Hospitaller of the American Association Anne Peach, DM, ensured the Mobile Ministries team accounted for all logistical considerations, and President of the American Association Ken Craig, GCM, helped champion the project. This was an act of great love and charity from so many members across all three associations.
 
The NYC Area Mobile Ministry is off to a fast and active start, and its expected daily use schedule will serve so many of the poor and the sick. In the future, the team hopes to transport Lourdes pilgrims to the airport, bring Malta Walks bags to the Path to Peace Gala, and broaden the reach of NYC Area Malta Walks. The Mobile Ministries team is already lining up exciting additional partnerships with Catholic organizations beyond Thrive for Life, including the St. Francis Breadline, the Sisters of Life, and Servant of God Dorothy Day’s Catholic Worker. It hopes to respectively help expand the radius of NYC’s longest-running (90+ year) breadline, move young and vulnerable mothers into new apartments, and bring food to the hungry outside Manhattan.

If you would like to participate as a driver, passenger, or loader, or if you have an idea for a new mission for the van, please reach out to NYC Mobile Ministries Coordinator, Michael Smilek, YOF, at: msmilek@alumni.princeton.edu.