WMMR’s Preston and Steve collect tons of food for the hungry at their annual Campout for Hunger program.
When the St. Patrick’s Day Parade Ring of Honor marches down the Benjamin Franklin Parkway on Sunday, March 10, you’ll see a custodian who came to the attention of Parade Association President Bob Gessler when he was running a drive to collect coats for the needy in Delaware County.
You’ll see the co-founder and special projects coordinator of an organization that has been credited with helping thousands of people break the cycle of homelessness and poverty in the Philadelphia area.
You may recognize a couple of local DJs who hold a “Campout for Hunger” every year that raises hundreds of tons of food for the needy. That’s right—hundreds of tons. Every year.
And by their side will be the volunteer coordinator for St. John’s Hospice at 12th and Race Streets that was founded in the 1960s by the Little Brothers of the Good Shepherd to minister to the homeless.
And the executive director of the Metropolitan Area Neighborhood Nutrition Alliance (MANNA), a nonprofit that delivers nutritious meals to people and families living with life-threatening illnesses.
And the owner of a food company that not only supplies food for holiday baskets for the poor, but has his workers help load them, alongside volunteers from the Ancient Order of Hibernians, and always throws in a few extras. Okay, a lot of extras.
And a board member of an Ancient Order of Hibernians project that collects and prepares thousands of meals for shut-ins every year.
Are you picking up a theme?
Gessler hopes you do. This year’s parade theme is “The Philadelphia Irish Memorial: A Decade of Remembrance.” It honors the tenth anniversary of the memorial, a 12-foot high and 30-foot long bronze sculpture by Glenna Goodacre, at Front and Chestnut Streets that is dedicated to the memory of the more than 1 million people who died in Ireland between 1845 and 1850. Those who don’t know their history call it “The Great Famine.” Those who do call it “The Great Hunger:” An Gorta Mor.There was no famine; the Irish starved to death while food grown on their soil was exported to Great Britain.
Gessler was part of group that raised $2 million to build the memorial and in the middle of it all, he had an attack of guilt. “I kept thinking, how can we, as an organization justify spending all the money on a memorial about the famine and not do something for people who are hungry today,” he told us back in 2008. With the help of his brothers and sisters in AOH/LAOH Div. 87, Gessler founded the Hibernian Hunger Project, which is now an official national AOH program that provides food for the needy.
As the new president of the Philadelphia St. Patrick’s Day Observance Association, Gessler gets to pick a parade “Ring of Honor.” And this year, he stuck with his favorite theme—doing good. The honorees:
Dan Harrell, former custodian at the Palestra at Penn, who went from coat drives to bringing students from St. Malachy’s College in Belfast, a Catholic grammar school for boys dating back to 1833, to the US every year to play basketball—and music. St. Malachy’s Orchestra has marched in the parade for several years.
Sister Mary Scullion, co-founder with Joan McConnon, of Project H.O.M.E., the provides housing, employment, education, and health care to chronically homeless and low-income people to break the cycle of homelessness.
Will O’Brien, special projects coordinator or Project H.O.M.E. who also coordinates The Alternative Seminary, a grassroots program of biblical and theological study.
Sue Daugherty, executive director of MANNA.
Gerry Huot, volunteer coordinator of St. John’s Hospice.
Jim Tanghe, president of Shamrock Food Distributors.
Ed Dougherty, a member of the Ancient Order of Hibernians National Board Chairing for the Hibernian Hunger Project who serves the same role with the Pennsylvania State Boards and Philadelphia County Board.
Preston and Steve (Preston Elliot and Steve Morrison), popular morning DJs at WMMR and founders of Campout for Hunger.
And Timmy Kelly, a young singer, now 18, who has been performing at Phillies games, Eagles games, the Irish Festival in Wildwood, and opening the ceremonies at the parade since he was only 10 years old. Born prematurely, he has cerebral palsy and is blind, but his powerful voice has made him an Irish community favorite (he also sang for presidents and opened for the Jonas Brothers in Philadelphia). “I wanted him to know that the Irish community appreciates him—a lot,” says Gessler.
The 2013 Ring of Honor will receive their sashes at a dinner on March 7 at the Doubletree Hotel on Broad Street in Philadelphia, following a ceremony in the late afternoon at City Hall with Mayor Nutter. Also being honored: 2013 Grand Marshal, Harry Marnie, a retired police officer who is president of the Emerald Society, an organization of police and fire personnel of Irish descent.
