By Sam Lucero of the Catholic Herald Staff

It had all the ingredients of the first Thanksgiving feast: new arrivals to the community enjoying a harvest of good food and friendship with the natives. This time, however, it was the natives of Brookfield hosting the new arrivals, evacuees from New Orleans who were displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

Members of St. John Vianney Parish treated about 55 people to a meal of turkey and all the holiday fixings Nov. 22. The meal was the latest in a series of good-will gestures that began a few days after victims of Hurricane Katrina arrived in Milwaukee in early September.

The first was a charitable offer by parishioners and optometrists Lynne and Phillip Roy to provide free eye examinations and glasses to evacuees from the Tommy G. Thompson Youth Center. It has since turned into an outreach ministry at St. John Vianney headed by Ellen Heiteman, parish director of Christian formation.

“It’s very appropriate to be having this Thanksgiving meal because we are very thankful to have them here tonight,” said Heiteman shortly before leading the community in a dinner prayer.

Among the parishioners sitting down for dinner with Katrina evacuees were the Roys, who own and operate their optometry office inside the Brookfield LensCrafters store. Lynne Roy said that after learning Milwaukee would host hurricane evacuees, she contacted the LensCrafters regional headquarters and they agreed to donate eyeglasses to those in need.

After receiving clearance from the Red Cross to offer eye exams to evacuees, she needed volunteers to drive people from State Fair Park in West Allis to the Brookfield LensCrafters and back. Thanks to a plea by Fr. Leonard Van Vlaenderen, pastor of St. John Vianney Parish, following Masses, some 40 parishioners volunteered.

“We treated over 100 people with exams and eye glasses,” said Roy. “Many of the people affected by the hurricane left literally with only the shirts on their backs. For many, their glasses were either broken or left behind.”

During those visits to Brookfield, volunteers befriended the evacuees and soon learned of other basic needs. To help meet these needs, Heiteman and Fr. Van Vlaenderen approached the parish council and received a $20,000 donation on behalf of the parish to assist hurricane victims.

“The money has been used from everything to supplying gas cards to paying for funeral expenses,” said Heiteman. She explained that two brothers, Ashton and Michael O’Brien, 47 and 45, died almost three weeks apart at the Tommy Thompson Center in October. “When (Ashton) died (in his sleep), we were able to be there (for Michael) with a shoulder to lean on,” said Roy.

Although the outreach effort was meant to serve hurricane victims regardless of religious affiliation, about 12 people who are Catholic, including some who have not been to church in years, began attending church at St. John Vianney. Among this group is Rubin Gray of New Orleans.

“The congregation has been very nice and the hospitality has been great,” said Gray, who lived at the Tommy Thompson Center for six weeks before moving into an apartment. “I’m here every Sunday and I’m planning on my membership.”

Gray said he has no family in Milwaukee and it “means a lot to be with my brothers and sisters” at St. John Vianney. “I’m very happy and I’m glad to make Milwaukee my home.”

Another hurricane evacuee, Kim Scott, who arrived in Milwaukee Sept. 1 with her husband, son, daughter-in-law and four grandchildren, also found the parish’s spiritual and moral support inspiring. “A lot of people are here by themselves and have no family here,” she said. “This church is making it easier to adapt to our new surroundings.”

Parishioners like Lynne Roy have also found the experience to be a moment of Christian witness.

“I think the biggest difference we’ve made has been to fill in the gaps from the Red Cross and the Salvation Army,” Roy said. “It was a real neat intersecting of my faith and my profession, said Roy, noting that she’s volunteered time for church and work projects, but never for the same cause. “For me, it was one of the coolest things that came out of this whole event.”

Heiteman called the Thanksgiving meal “Eucharist in the fullest sense.”

“I truly had the sense that we sat down as brothers and sisters, not the haves and the have-nots, not northerners and southerners, not rich and poor,” said Heiteman. “It was truly brothers and sisters in the Lord breaking bread with one another.”

At evening’s end, following an exchange of hugs and good-byes, the dinner guests received food boxes prepared by the parish, along with grocery store gift cards.

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