Volunteer of the Month
July 2009Father Ross, the Face Behind Believe In Tomorrow's House at St. Casimir
Father Ross Syracuse injected himself into the faith community at St. Casimir twelve years ago. With his arrival came an unexpected and unbelievably supportive presence for pediatric bone marrow transplant patients and families who come for treatment at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. Through Fr. Ross, Believe In Tomorrow families gained a new home and a lifelong friend.
“We wanted to offer it for a good work,” says Fr. Ross of the four row homes that once made up part of St. Casimir’s parish, first purchased in 1927. “Our intention was to reach out to the community; share our blessing.”
The row homes that gleam in pastel colors just beyond O’Donnell Square used to stand as a connected building for a convent that at one point housed 25 nuns. When Fr. Ross arrived to the parish, the building stood vacant and in disrepair. The parish used it for storage and certain group meetings, but Fr. Ross saw its potential for much more.
Today, on the cusp of the facility’s third anniversary, Believe In Tomorrow families who have stayed at this facility have benefited first hand from Fr. Ross’ forward thinking and benevolence.
“We had about 10 different groups looking at it,” says Fr. Ross. “But it always needed too much work or it was too big for them.”
Believe In Tomorrow Founder and CEO Brian Morrison learned about the property right around the same time Fr. Ross learned of Believe In Tomorrow. The mission of the organization - providing hope, joy and support for critically ill children and their families – coupled with the idea of using the building exclusively for pediatric bone marrow transplant patients and their families, was a perfect fit.
Fr. Ross and the faith community helped Believe In Tomorrow secure zoning and permits to purchase the building in 2005 for $150,000 knowing that the row homes needed a lot of work. The parish could have sold the building for $750,000 to one million dollars.
The first Believe In Tomorrow family moved into the refurbished row homes, converted into apartments and decorated by professional designers, in the beginning of July 2006. But Fr. Ross’s involvement didn’t stop there.
“Whenever I see a new family there [at St. Casimir] I always introduce myself, let them know who I am, invite them to share whatever they can with us, tell them the chapel is open all day, and let them know about the school [all children staying at the house are invited to attend the parish school],” says Fr. Ross.
Fr. Ross even goes so far as to come to the house with his spare set of keys when families lock themselves out. His involvement allows him to develop special relationships with many of the families, including a family of eleven who he lent the keys to the parish gym and one Puerto Rican family caring for an infant with a critical illness.
The Gonzales family came from Puerto Rico to The Believe In Tomorrow House at St. Casimir in its first year of being open. Collectively, the family spoke little English, so Fr. Ross used his fluent Spanish to put the family at ease as they battled the disease.
“I would help them pray and give spiritual consolation,” says. Fr. Ross. “I wasn’t so much being an interpreter for them as just there for them.”
A short time after their child passed, Fr. Ross held a special mass for the family, entirely in Spanish.
The parish work extends to other Believe In Tomorrow properties thanks to pastoral assistant Bernadette Vece. Vece served the organization initially by working in-step with Fr. Ross in making the Believe In Tomorrow House at St. Casimir happen. As the Time and Talent Coordinator for the faith community, she continued giving to Believe In Tomorrow after St. Casimir opened its doors. She reached out to the community and collected a group of people interested in volunteering their time and talents for the Children's House and who continue to do so. More recently, as chairperson of the Parish Festival, Vece worked to obtain a room full of paper goods and a donation of $500 for Believe In Tomorrow.
While Fr. Ross and his faith community might serve as inspiration for many who pass through The Believe In Tomorrow House at St. Casimir, Fr. Ross is continually inspired by the families he meets.
He says: “That’s the common bond: hope, not giving up, doing whatever needs to be done. It’s not a blind hope. It’s not any kind of denial. But they are very hope-filled people and it’s the hope that’s based on love that they have for their child. Hope flows from love.”