Catholics were well represented among the 400 volunteers who participated in the Homeless Outreach Event Saturday, Sept. 13 at Riverfront Park in Little Rock.
Held every other year, the event is sponsored by the Arkansas Homeless Coalition. Sandra Wilson, executive director and founder of the coalition, wrote in an e-mail sent to all the volunteers: “More than 1,200 homeless came to the river … to be helped. Almost half of the homeless population of our four-county region (Pulaski, Prairie, Saline and Lonoke) were on the river bank with us last Saturday.”
Many of the Catholics participated through Catholic Charities of Arkansas or Christ the King Parish in Little Rock. Christ the King had a group of adults who helped throughout the day at various services. There were also members of Christ the King’s Honduras Mission team who ministered to the homeless.
Karen DiPippa, director of the Westside Free Medical Clinic, which is a part of Catholic Charities, said “We had a number of registered nurses from Christ the King who are helping with health screenings. The majority are from the mission in Honduras.”
Dr. Tom Cannon, an ophthalmologist and member of Christ the King, ran the eye clinic at River City Ministries in North Little Rock during the event.
“Patients that needed full eye exams and glasses were referred to River City Ministry where Dr. Romona Davis and I performed full eye exams, glaucoma screening exams and distributed donated eye glasses that were matched with their refractive error,” he said. “We identified two glaucoma suspects, saw several diabetics that had not had eye exams in years and diagnosed one veteran with glaucoma.”
There were also volunteers at River City Ministries from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and the Veterans Affairs hospital.
Christ the King’s youth group also participated in the day by bringing 16 youth to work for two hours at the children’s tent.
“Christ the King CYM is working to improve our focus on service this year by providing assistance in various worthwhile projects and increasing our awareness in how we can use our gifts to better serve others,” youth director Bevie Davies said.
The youth painted faces and played soccer with the homeless children. The teens entertained the children while their parents could take advantage of the services offered, including voter registration, tax return preparation, employment assistance, food, clothing, health care and haircuts.
Catholic Charities of Arkansas was represented at the event by DiPippa and Tom Navin, social action director, who provided Spanish-speaking interpreters during the event.
DiPippa, who helped run the medical screening tent, said the medical services included “general blood pressure screenings, diabetic screenings, mental health and substance abuse counseling, HIV testing … and dental screenings.”
“We got involved through the Arkansas Homeless Coalition, by being invited to one of the early meetings for health care service at the event,” DiPippa said.
Wilson, event coordinator, summarized the day, saying, “The donations of food, clothing, medical, dental, eye care and services were overwhelming. So many volunteers stepped out of their comfort zone to reach out a helping hand to the homeless, and they left having received much more than they had given.”
