O n c e   U p o n   a   T i m e….

Do you remember Walt Disney’s, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”?  I’m thinking of the scene when Snow White declares their tiny cottage to be very dirty and dusty and with just her dazzling smile and beguiling ways she not only sets the dwarfs to work, but all the woodland creatures too.

If you were at St. Joan of Arc on Saturday, May 1, you would have known we have our own, “Snow White” in the form of Norine Larson who worked the same kind of magic.

That is how Norine and her husband Bart became the chairs of the first Spring Clean-up. Norine spoke very briefly at the Sunday masses and voila! 130 people signed up immediately and more called in later to make a group of 150 people. (No woodland creatures applied, however).    Norine and Bart confered with Steve Friedrichs and Erwin Templin to determine what needed to be done, then decided that the most efficient way to approach the job would be to divide the group into crews.  They looked over the list of those that signed up and chose leaders who could be crew chiefs. These people were contacted and they met the week ahead to be assigned their tasks and crews.

There were 13 teams which varied in size according to the job. When they chose people for crews they tried to suit the job to the people. They even scoured the parish directory when they didn’t know someone to guess where they would best work. For example, they didn’t want senior citizens on the power washing crew or climbing ladders to do windows.

Promptly at 9:00am, on a chilly windy morning,  the group met in the gym where Norine paid tribute to the wonderful spirit of the people of St. Joan of Arc. Father Jim D. then displayed his Irish working stick on which a ribbon is tied when the job is done – new to most of us! (Perhaps it was a little trick his mother played to get him to clean his room).  After raising the more traditional branch dipped in holy water and blessing the workers – everyone was  off!  People raced to their assigned crews and positions with considerably more fervor than Snow White’s dwarfs.

There was hardly an area of the SJA campus that wasn’t touched. Chairs from several areas were taken out to the parking lot and power washed; concrete parking bumpers around the entire perimeter of the parking lot were given a coat of yellow paint; another crew was removing weeds and power washing the concrete garden structures. The parish center was a beehive of activity with people up on ladders vacuuming vents and lighting, others on their hands and knees washing floors, a crew removing window screens and sending them out to another crew for washing while they shined up the inside windows. Others performed death-defying feats as they scaled tall ladders to clean the windows on the east side of the Parish Center. In each kitchen there was a crew of women removing everything from cupboards, cleaning all utensils and serving ware and scouring the appliances. When Fr. Jim saw the clean statue of St. Theresa his comment was, “Who put makeup on her?” There was even a crew of people working on the kid’s house next to the Parish Center.

One of the crews was assigned to have a lunch ready for the crew. They set up long tables with platter after platter of sub sandwiches and chips In the back of the gym. Everyone wandered in as they completed their assignments or when they needed a break. There they sat in small groups to rest and share their observations about their morning. There was no doubt that everyone was tired but clearly, enthused about the part they played in such a significant undertaking. As the morning was fading into early afternoon and people were leaving, Norine heard one enthusiastic young man say, “That was great!  Where can I sign up for something else!”

Norine told me that someone saw Fr. Jim surveying everyone so hard at work and got tears in his eyes, “I really didn’t believe this could happen”. But it isn’t a fairly tale – it not only happened, but it seems to be the unanimous opinion that it needs to happen every year. There has never been any doubt that the people of St. Joan of Arc don’t just talk about doing good. They simply step up to the plate and do it, whether it is cleaning our buildings or volunteering in any number of social justice activities throughout the Twin Cities and beyond. Snow White would be pleased.

Written by Sue O'Brien - This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.    Photos by Fred Vagle and Sue O'Brien