On November 8th, 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.

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.

Already off to an active start, the Mobile Ministry is quickly building to its goal of a daily use schedule. 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.

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. We greatly appreciate the generous donation of the van by a longtime NYC Area KM, and we thank the St. John Committee and two additional angel donors for their critical financial support towards operational expenses. 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, (click here to email Michael).