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Written by Jason Koshinskie
Photography by Art Becker
“Oh Sister, it’s so sad,” little Juan said to Sister Mary Herrmann, SSJ, executive director of the Sisters of Saint Joseph Neighborhood Network in Erie, after cooking class one day. “What is it Juan, what is making you so sad?” she asked, thinking he was going to talk about some difficulty he might be having with his school work. “Well, it’s like this,” he told her. “Someday, I’m going to be a famous chef. I’ll be cooking for the President and he’s going to say, ‘Chef Juan, these are the best mashed potatoes I’ve ever had. Where did you learn to do all this?’ And I’ll have to say, ‘Mr. President, Sister Mary taught me and she’s been dead and gone for years!’”
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Sister Mary laughs as she retells the story, but she is also a little bit misty as she remembers how moved she was by Juan’s comments. Not only was he learning how to cook, he was learning how to dream big dreams. Juan’s life, like that of scores of others, has been deeply impacted by the presence of the SSJ Neighborhood Network in inner-city Erie. One family that has experienced nothing less than a total transformation is the Shultz family, headed by their mom, Erlinda. The most significant change has been housing. Thanks to the sisters’ advocacy, the Shultz family moved from a tiny, poorly insulated flat which was essentially wall-to-wall bedroom space except for the kitchen, to a home on the same block for the same rent featuring a living room, dining room, kitchen, five bedrooms, a full basement and a yard.
“I just thank God every day,” says Erlinda, a native of Mexico City whose English is improving every day. “I could not believe it when I saw this house,” she exclaims. “I still just say, ‘Oh, thank God for sending the sisters in my life. They made a big difference.’”
“The results are incredible...In no time at all, their reading ability just jumps off the chart.” — Sister Mary Herrmann |
The Sisters of Saint Joseph established the Neighborhood Network in Erie at the beginning of the new millennium. Sister Mary and Sister Carol Wilcox, associate director, both continue to work full-time in the ministry. They began in the same way their community’s foundress began her ministry in France in the 17th century: by going door-to-door, introducing themselves and inquiring about each family’s needs. “We chose this neighborhood because it had been really good at one time and was rapidly going downhill,” Sister Mary explains. “There was a lot of crime and a lot of poverty, which led to many problems.” As they met with hundreds of families—all but two of which immediately invited them in for conversation—they began to uncover common problems, the most surprising of which was the pervasiveness of hunger in the area.
First on the agenda was a soup kitchen, which remains in operation on a weekly basis at St. Paul Parish. The sisters also give out emergency food whenever someone is in need, but that is never the end of the story. “We try to find out why they are in need,” Sister Mary says. “Based on the why, we start one-on-one advocacy to address the problems.”
Today, the ministry remains flexible enough to respond to new needs as they arise. “At first we thought we were going to be really smart and offer a class teaching mothers how to cook and budget and manage their households,” Sister Mary remembers. When no one responded, the sisters started with the neighborhood children. Their twice-a year cooking classes for kids ages 10 to 13 have become quite popular. The first cooking classes revealed another problem: many of the children were unable to read well enough to understand a recipe. Sister Carol responded by coordinating a group of certified reading tutors for the children in the neighborhood. “The results are incredible,” Sister Mary says. “In no time at all, their reading ability just jumps off the chart.”
The sisters are careful not to duplicate services, working closely with organizations such as Catholic Charities, the St. Martin Center and HANDS. Although they are committed to keeping the scale of their programs small—Sister Mary says they try to keep classes to no more than 12 people at a time—they have hired a full-time staff member to deal with the ins and outs of housing, which can be complicated and time-consuming. One rule that remains in place: staff members are not to do more work on a situation than the people who are being helped.
It’s hard to measure the results, to quantify the success of an effort such as the SSJ Neighborhood Network. But one statistic is impressive: crime in the neighborhood has dropped 29 percent in the last five years. Sister Mary Herrmann says credit for this improvement also belongs to Erie’s Weed and Seed Program and the Neighborhood Watch program, among others.
Two years ago, Daniela Shultz was a quiet student failing first grade. After learning to read and participating in other activities with the sisters, she began the next school year with enthusiasm. Sister Mary remembers the first report card Daniela received the following year. “She came running down the street with her report card in her hand exclaiming, “I’m not stupid anymore, I’m not stupid!” she says, shaking her head at the memory. Daniela, who is now in third grade, has an excellent reading mentor who takes her to the library regularly. “Now she comes out of her house with an index card saying, ‘These are the books I want to get to read to my younger brother and sisters,’” Sister Mary observes. “It’s just a complete turnaround.”