When people commit crimes and are convicted in the halls of justice, the County or the State Courts will sometimes sentence them to do community service as part of their punishment. Locally, here on Long Island, individuals can be sent any number of places to pay their debt to society. On occasion, for some, the place they are sent is a Church in Wyandanch named Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal. This is how one of our OLMM parishioners, Luke Apperson* came to know and work closely with a man who had been convicted of criminal conduct. He was a young man with an uncertain future, trying to find his way in the world....who was "sentenced" to work on a home that needed fixing, right in the heart of Wyandanch.

Luke has always been a very active member of the church and is a highly skilled, retired construction contractor. He’s a spirited person who’s always worked for social justice, and has always felt very much at home in the OLMM community, along with his wife and family. Though he’s been retired for several years now, Luke still enjoys working and has volunteered his time, his energy, and his skills on many occasions. In recent years he’s helped with re-building, painting, miscellaneous fix ups, and other work on homes in local neighborhoods.

Not long ago, Luke was working as a volunteer on a house rehab project over on Brooklyn Ave.: a home that was bought by OLMM several years ago. This was a modest home that is offered by the parish as an interim residence (for up to twelve months, if necessary) for individuals or smaller families that have been going through significant difficulties, and who need time to get back on their feet and become independent. It actually was one of two homes OLMM has been able to purchase for the purpose of helping people in genuine need.

The County had sent this young man who’d been in trouble and found guilty, to lend a hand. "Doing time" this way is not really too bad a thing when one considers some unpleasant possible alternatives. Yet, Luke noticed that the man did not seem too thrilled about the idea of having to do this work. Luke treated the young man in a friendly and respectful way, but the man was not very happy with community service, and was basically just forcing himself to "go through the motions". His heart wasn’t in it at all.

As they worked together, Luke began to talk to the man. Luke learned that he was actually good natured, and was a college graduate. Luke took time to explain how and why they were working on this modest home: it was an act of caring, compassion and good will being done for no monetary compensation at all. It was a project being done to benefit a family that did not have the resources it needed to fix the house, and a family that had endured hardship-hardship that was perhaps more serious than what the young man himself was currently going through. Luke’s words seemed to intrigue the young man, drawing his interest. Luke explained further, telling the young man what a special parish OLMM is, about how much genuine helping, caring and love there is inside and outside our small Church on Straight Path.

Luke also was teaching the man new skills that he would be able to use in the future-construction skills. It soon became obvious that with this new understanding and trust, a new viewpoint was forming in the young man’s mind and heart. A more energized, more committed attitude was evident. The young man perceived that there was a higher and nobler purpose in the work he was doing with Luke.

When they were done, the young man thanked Luke and shook his hand. He told Luke that when he was finished doing his time, he wanted to find some similar volunteer work he could do himself?just like the work he had done on this day.

Where this young man is today, we do not really know. Perhaps we could look him up, track him down, and see what his life is like right now. But Luke knows that a life was changed on a single day, even if it was only for a few hours. There was a revelation-maybe an epiphany. Sometimes, that’s all it takes to help put someone on an entirely new pathway-a pathway that can lead to a much more fulfilling future. Maybe we will find out what became of the young man who was assigned to do community service on an OLMM.project...just maybe we will.

* - A fictitious name, to respect the privacy of the individual described in this story.

Almost everyone at OLMM knows who Helen Morlock is. Having reached her 100th birthday, she has been getting more attention than ever lately, as illustrated by this recent article from Newsday. Helen's photo appeared on the front page of Part II, and the following story is the full Newsday article that ran on April 8, 2006. We all salute Helen and wish her continued good health and a strong bowling average!

Newsday photo by Michael E. Ach

But Morlock is not just any bowler. She is 100 years old, with no signs of slowing down. She has not missed a week of her two senior leagues at Deer Park Bowl since the seasons started in September, bowling every Monday and Friday, averaging a respectable 119 in each league ... and sometimes beating her competitors.

Along with bowling, Morlock keeps an active schedule: bingo on Wednesday, beauty parlor on Saturday, church on Sunday. And living alone since her husband, Jacob, died in 1977, she works hard taking care of her Deer Park ranch house.

"I sweep the [street] gutters and weed and have the flowers looking nice," Morlock said. "Anyone comes in my house and it’s nice and clean. I shoveled the snow to make my way."

Activity is her secret to longevity. She knows no other way than to work hard. She worked with her husband for many years in a business manufacturing and selling dog collars. According to her daughter Jean Klein, who lives a few houses away, her mother was always active and will never slow down.

"She said you can’t retire and sit down and watch TV," Klein, 74, said. "You have to keep yourself moving. Sometimes she doesn’t remember everything. Some days she’ll be very well and some days she has a little trouble, like losing her keys in the house."

Yet Klein says her mother always bounces back. Aside from glaucoma that requires her to take two pills and eye drops nightly, Morlock is healthy. She rarely visits a doctor, nor does she have the desire to do so.

"I just don’t want to go to doctors," said Morlock, who added that others in her family lived into their 80s.

She doesn’t drive and said she never wanted to, explaining that she once got her license but thought she was going to kill someone and so she didn’t drive. Not that she has to, with devoted friends and family taking her everywhere. Every night she walks over to her daughter’s house for dinner. She also has another daughter, Rosemarie Seiler, 78, of Glendale, five grandchildren and nine great- grandchildren.

Morlock said she doesn’t think about slowing down or how much longer she can go on. "As long as our Lord wants me, I’ll stay," she said. "Sometimes I get disgusted and I say, ’I wish God would take me,’" she added, laughing at the idea of living to 125. "As long as I can keep going. If I can enjoy bowling and go to bingos, that’s what I like."

Text and photograph copyright 2006 Newsday, Inc. Reprinted with permission.