A Bungalow for the Browns Is Among the Fruits
TORONTO, JULY 25, 2002 (Zenit.org).- Thanks to World Youth Day participants, Brenda and Barry Brown now have a roof over their heads.
Late Wednesday afternoon, some 200 WYD pilgrims, speaking a half-dozen languages, put the finishing touches on the Browns' new bungalow, the first house the couple have ever shared.
The new house was a fruit of a social-service program manned by WYD participants, the first of its kind at the event.
In this year's WYD, volunteer work was scheduled for Wednesday and today. Organizers had a challenge finding projects that WYD volunteers could do at the same time.
«Social service is an innovative interfaith and civic dimension of our World Youth Day,» Basilian Father Thomas Rosica, WYD national director. «Volunteer service will leave a legacy of charity and goodness to Toronto and to Canada.»
About 100,000 pilgrims are participating in social service, offering 300,000 hours of service. They could choose to be involved in direct service, discussions, or service tours.
Direct service included sorting food at food banks, environmental cleanups, working with the homeless or the disabled, and visiting seniors. Discussion topics include international development, homelessness, refugee services, and youth service groups. Service tours let pilgrims see how Toronto agencies operate to address various needs.
Of the 60 agencies participating, 20 are affiliated with the Catholic faith.
The Browns' home, for example, built through the Christian charity Habitat for Humanity, was constructed over two and a half days, at a site less than 150 meters from where John Paul II will celebrate an outdoor Mass on Sunday.
The Pontiff will bless the dwelling from his «popemobile» as part of an evening vigil the day before. After the Mass, the single-story structure will be transported to Scarborough, a Toronto suburb. It will be the first time the couple will live together in a house of their own.
Brown, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, now resides in a decrepit nursing home, Canada.com explains.
His wife's residence is not wheelchair-accessible, and the couple - largely supported by Mrs. Brown's hospital clerk income - cannot afford a place of their own that can accommodate a wheelchair.
«We are just so grateful. We can't even believe it,» said Mrs. Brown, a petite woman with wavy brown hair.
The couple met when Barry Brown applied to live in his future wife's building. She sat on the co-op board. But his health deteriorated and he became too ill to live with her. In 1998, they applied to Habitat for Humanity.
The 950-square-foot home already has flowerpots outside, donated by a local greenhouse. Volunteers stuffed the walls with insulation panels. The front door is wide enough for Brown's wheelchair, and a front porch is already partially assembled.
Milliard Fuller, founder of Habitat for Humanity, toured the Toronto construction site to meet the international pilgrims on Wednesday. Founded in 1984 in the United States, the organization now operates in about 80 countries.
«We hope these dedicated young Catholics might be the catalyst God chooses to bring this [Habitat for Humanity] back to their home countries,» Fuller said.
«Our goal is the elimination of poverty housing,» he said. «The only way we can accomplish such an audacious goal is to engage millions of young people around the world.»
The housing charity operates in 56 Canadian cities. The Toronto arm of the charity is planning to build 40 homes in 2003.
ZENIT - The World Seen from Rome
25. juli 2002