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Inn Makes Room This Christmas
Priest reaches out to those in need and gives them a special holidayBy
BOB GARDINIER, Staff writer
First published: Monday, December 18, 2006
MENANDS -- It's not hard to get a kid to smile on Christmas, but some need to more than others.
The Rev. Peter Young, a priest who has made it his mission to ensure there is room at the inn for the wayward, knows that better than most. His programs reach out to those with addictions and other problems that push them out on the streets, often with a child in tow.
Scores of those kids got an early Christmas, and a visit from not one but two Santas, Sunday at the Schuyler Inn.
"The need is growing because society would rather have it pretty than practical," Young said in a banquet room surrounded by children looking at a pile of gifts and glancing toward the door, awaiting the expected "ho, ho, ho!"
"There are so many rules and regulations and residential codes now, most of these people cannot get an affordable apartment."
The Schuyler Inn, one of Young's several Capital Region programs, houses and feeds 40 families with 71 children from Albany and Rensselaer counties.
"It averages about three kids per family here and the mothers are getting younger every year," said Larry Sheffield, one of Young's many volunteer helpers Sunday.
Excitement built as the kids sang "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and Santa's deep laughing could be heard outside the door.
Then two Santas, one white and the other African-American, came in to entertain the kids and to pass out gifts.
"People come in here and they have no self-esteem and they can't even look you in the eye," Sheffield said. "Many of them are black, so we thought we'd get a black Santa. Anything to help them build self esteem and make them feel a part of things -- teach them that just because you're poor, it doesn't mean you're stupid."
Father Young runs a 28-day inpatient rehabilitation center in Altamont and other reintegration programs like the Schuyler Inn, which provide supportive housing, parenting and life skills classes, GED and other education classes, parole stabilization, training in culinary arts, motel operations and job placement services.
Melvin Whittingham smiled and gazed quietly at the excited kids.
"That was me back in the '60s," said Whittingham, a homeless Army veteran who lives at the inn. He has sought Young's help on and off forseveral years and this time he wants to make it stick.
"He has helped me keep trying, helped me along with a little structure," Whittingham said.
"A little structure?" Sheffield shot back.
"A lot of structure," Whittingham said, patting Sheffield on the back. "This guy makes sure I keep my i's dotted and my t's crossed, and I've had a lot of i's and t's."