By Christina Leslie | Staff Writer

Six women were recognized for their selfless assistance to the community and area poor at the annual Mount Carmel Guild’s 20th annual gala held Oct. 16 in the Trenton Country Club. 

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Nearly 200 people filled the ballroom to honor Loretta Bercuk, social concerns committee chair of St. David the King Parish, Princeton Junction; Cecilia Gallucci of St. Gregory the Great Parish, Hamilton Square; Milady Gonzalez of St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral, Trenton; Mary Lombardo, youth director of the CRASH youth club in St. James Parish, Pennington; Franciscan Sister Maureen Maguire, chaplain in St. Francis Medical Center, Trenton, and Mary Meyer of St. Paul Parish, Princeton. 

Students from Trenton Catholic Academy, Hamilton, and St. James Parish, Pennington, served as hosts and assisted during the restaurant raffle and silent auction. Proceeds from the annual gala were slated to benefit the Guild’s Emergency Assistance and Home Health Nursing Programs to clients residing in the inner city Trenton area.

Daughter of Charity Sister Joanne Dress, diocesan executive director of Catholic Social Services, delivered the invocation and extended thanks from Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M. , for the Guild’s 95 years of “providing hope and preserving dignity,” in the words of their mission statement.

Dominican Sister Loretta Maggio, director of the Guild’s emergency assistance program, read aloud a letter of thanks from a client, Beverly, who once worked for a local government agency but, due to disability, was in need of the Guild’s food bank.

“If it weren’t for Mount Carmel Guild, I don’t know what I would do at the end of the month when I have a shortage of food,” the client wrote. “The sisters are polite and kind and you can’t find a better source of help in my time of need. They are an anchor that gives me a life line when my grounding is not firm.”

Sister Loretta said of the Guild’s work, “We are working out the Gospel imperative to be compassionate, merciful and kind.” Later, she reflected on the importance of the annual fundraising event.

“We really depend upon it to keep our lights on and heat in the building,” Sister Loretta said frankly. “We moved into a new, larger facility last September and have had 100 extra households coming to us for help. Seniors are concerned because there was no increase in Social Security. The gala helps us to be able to provide services.”

The Guild was founded in 1920 to serve the poor of the Trenton area with food assistance, and supply nursing care to elderly homebound. Its Emergency Assistance Program offers a three-to-five day supply of food, emergency prescription assistance and utility assistance. In 2014, the Guild distributed 17,450 bags of food to more than 8,400 households, and its Feeding Families Fridays assists families with children with fresh foods and kid-friendly meals during the summer months when school meal programs are not available. Through its Home Health Nursing Program, Mount Carmel Guild’s nurses last year visited 50 patients every two weeks.

Mount Carmel Guild Board and staff members introduced six honorees and presented each of them with a plaque, a medal of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, and letters of recognition from local N.J. State Legislators, Congressional representatives, and Eric Jackson, mayor of Trenton. Guild caseworker, Sister of Mercy Rosetta Buckley, received a bouquet of flowers and a resounding period of applause as she marked her retirement from the agency.

Award recipient, Mary Lombardo, and her fiancé, Michael Ranbom, smiled as they watched 10 teens from their CRASH (Christian Recreation and Spiritual Harmony) Club circulate the ballroom, displaying jewelry items from the silent auction table and coaxing attendees to purchase chances.

“St. James has been very involved in the Guild since the days of [former pastor] Father Jim McConnell,” Lombardo explained. “The more than 30 teens in the group enjoy aiding the guild, especially putting together bagged meals for the Thanksgiving food distribution. They have a blast.”

She added, “They realize that, only 10 minutes away from where they live, people are living in poverty, in a totally different lifestyle.”

Cecilia Gallucci was effusive in her praise of the Guild’s good works in the community. “I had heard about it for years, but last year I came for a tour,” she said. “The nursing program amazes me. I was very impressed with the people. They blew me away.

“You can just feel the love and the caring,” Gallucci continued. “I forget how fortunate I am when I listen to them, so how can I not help?”

Gala honoree Mary Meyer declared her admiration of the Guild, saying, “Any organization that helps needy people is great. I hardly know how I can put it into words! They do wonderful things for the homeless.”

Loretta Bercuk learned about the Guild at a meeting of the parish Social Concerns committee. “They’re a Godsend,” she exclaimed. “I know there is no such word, but they are the ‘bestest.’ Everyone we deal with over there, all the staff I’ve met, is terrific.” Bercuk and the committee donate excess holiday turkeys from the St. David the King food drive to the Guild, and the organization is a regular recipient of funds from the Princeton Junction parish’s coffers.

As she received her awards, Milady Gonzalez, a lifelong city resident, thanked her Puerto Rican mother in her native Spanish tongue for raising her and her three sisters to keep God foremost in their daily lives. Referring to the Guild, Gonzalez noted, “They are an important ministry. They do all of the things the Pope says we need to do more of for people. It’s a perfect example of his words.”

For further information on Mount Carmel Guild, or to volunteer, see their website at mcgtrenton.org, or call 609-392-5159.