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Diocese of New Ulm - December 2002 by Ellen Vancura After touring the garage-turned-food shelf of Mary Larsen, it is difficult to find words to describe the emotion and reality of what one has just witnessed. Peaceful, quiet, unassuming, faith in action, unbelievable. On an ordinary residential street in Morgan, MN sits a white house and a detached garage. There is nothing that would make one turn to look or notice. Yet out of the 4-car garage, 150 families in need receive 13,000 pounds of food every month. They might also receive a warm quilt, a used stove, or cash to buy a tire, along with sympathetic ears and hearts that care. For thirty-three years, Mary Larsen has operated her ministry of We Care out of her garage. The ministry has no phone number because as Mary says "We do fine without it." Her clientele is any person dealing with the lack of basic needs because of tragedy, illness, death or whatever reason. There are no questions asked, no criteria or paper needed to receive a box of food or whatever she might have to share. One need not even speak English because as Mary says "Everyone smiles in the same language." Mary is seventy something, a mother of 11 children, with heart trouble and bad knees. In most people’s book, she has every right in the world to sit back, relax and say "I have done my share, now it is someone else’s turn." It probably has never even crossed her mind. Mary and her late husband, Gilbert received their passion for giving from Mary’s parents, Frank and Clara Schwab. Mary’s parents were subsistence farmers with 6 children of their own. Still, they knew they were more blessed in material goods than the 60 migrant workers down the road who had one bathroom and no running water and lived in what we would describe as chicken coops. Mary’s parents would organize games, potluck meals, and a version of today’s garage sale on Sunday afternoons. Mary and her husband had challenges of their own raising 11 children without a lot of cash. Mary says they never bought anything much. How about shoes for 11 children? Someone brought them a box and there was always a pair to fit everyone. She sewed all the children’s clothes, even Confirmation suits. Prior to marriage, Mary taught school for four years before she added the ministry of We Care. To help her family out in a time when women did not work outside the home, Mary baked cakes. Her first one was her own wedding cake, 55 years ago. She baked more wedding cakes, up to three or four a week. She baked Confirmation cakes, graduation cakes, and First Communion cakes. Since First Communion is all on one day, she would stay up all night when necessary to fill the orders. Still, they were more blessed than the people who came for help to her garage. Mary had a food shelf before it was even a word. Mary’s dear husband is now gone but she has the daily support of her faithful co-workers Sister Magdalen Schwab (who is Mary’s biologic sister) and Sister Gladys Meindl. Both of the religious sisters have worked as teachers or administrators for over fifty years. Sr. Magdalen belongs to the Order of St. Benedict and Sr. Gladys belongs to the Franciscans of Rochester. When they aren’t helping with We Care, Sister Gladys and Sr. Magdalen are busy in their work as hospice volunteers. After a working lunch, they both were anxious to get on with the four visits to the dying that they had scheduled for the day. One gets the feeling that neither of them has ever thought of slowing down the work of their 4th and 5th careers. The core team is rounded out by Joseph Larsen, Mary’s son who provides some welcome lifting power for that 13,000 pounds a month. When a semi truckload of food comes from Second Harvest, other family members, church groups and many supportive people come lend a helping hand. That extra help is especially needed at Christmas time when the We Care team reviews the list of clients from the last year and delivers a package of toys and food to each one. Last Christmas 292 families received yet another lesson in the true spirit of Christmas which truly lasts all year at Mary Larsen’s house. As many charitable organizations struggle to keep their overhead under 50%, the annual report of We Care leaves a smile on your face. It reads: Director’s salary $00, staff and clerical wages $00, Staff benefits, $00, number of paid staff, 0. The "office" of We Care is the kitchen table of Mary’s house minus computer, fax and cell phone. Ditto for the office of Srs. Magdalen and Gladys. In fact, none of the four has ever owned a credit card. Sr. Magdalen was able to secure grants from the McKnight Foundation and the Southwest Initiative. Grants also helped them to purchase their first freezers and refrigerators and to begin purchasing food at 18 cents a pound from Second Harvest. Over the years, help has always come from many different sources, all without advertising. Local farmers donate eggs, local grocery stores donate bread and other items, and other organizations help out too. The We Care Project has received the Governor’s Volunteer Award, the KEYC TV Jefferson Award, and the WCCO Good Neighbor Award and was featured on the Channel 5 Jason Davis program. When talking to this faith-filled foursome, their modesty gets in the way of hard facts, but in 1999 they distributed over 39 tons of food to people who would ordinarily fall through the cracks. Dignity of the person is the mantra that the We Care Four carry in their hearts. Sr. Magdalen did share their small memory album, which Mary says is not up to date. In the book she keeps articles and pictures of the history of the We Care ministry. One article from the Morgan newspaper written at Christmas time started out by saying that "Only four presents lay under the Larsen’s Christmas tree last week. All the other packages were going somewhere else - the presents piled on the dining room table, stuffed into bags along the walls and stacked in cartons in the garage." By any standard, Mary Larsen had not enough to feed and clothe 11 children, yet she fed and clothed them just fine along with the needy of 11 counties. One also wonders where the energy to care for a family, run a cake making business, and coordinate an extraordinary ministry of unconditional love comes from? Why does one have nothing and yet is able to give everything? It must be grace, which we all receive, but which Mary, Sr. Magdalen, Sr. Gladys , and Joe refuse to squander, not even a tiny drop. Looking at the garage out of which 156,000 pounds of food was distributed last year, one wonders how many times Mary has had to scrape windshields in sub zero temperatures over many winters. Or worse yet, how many times the car didn’t start from lack of a warm nitch. Gentle women, quiet light. Living witnesses of faith, hope, and love. As we approach another winter, another Christmas, we know that We Care is a love-filled stable in the heart of the New Ulm Diocese. If you wish to donate to this tax-exempt charity where every cent will go to feed the hungry and console those in need, checks may be sent to: We Care Project, 11 County Area, P.O. Box 84, Morgan, MN 56266. Ellen Vancura is a member of St. Mary’s Parish, New Ulm.
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