My mother was a tough cookie. My grandparents came over from Eastern Europe when she was little, and my grandfather worked at Bethlehem Steel, until a boiler blew up. Although he survived the explosion, he was badly injured, didn't speak much English, and it was the Depression to boot. Both my mother's parents died young, during the 1940's. My mother did have a few soft spots, one of them being that card sent every year by Father Flanagan. You wouldn't want to get in her way when she was headed to the mailbox with her contribution. I suppose the scandal broke in the late 1950's. Apparently, my mother wasn't the only one with a soft spot for the boy carrying his brother. Turns out Father Flanagan received so many envelopes he couldn't even open them all. He had rooms full of money. Last year, the Allentown Rescue Mission had
revenues of $3.5 million dollars. Their Father Flanagan, Gary Millspaugh, is searching for a COO, chief operating officer, to hire. Alan Jennings announced yesterday that Lehigh Valley Community Action will
expand their operations into the Slate Belt. Soliciting to our soft spots has become big business.
UPDATE:The Rescue Mission has the city contract to sweep the sidewalk on Hamilton street, and refers to it as their
work program. Yesterday, they announced that they would be
discontinuing their drug addiction program. So in total, they seem to being doing less with more, and being subsidized by Allentown taxpayers to boot.
above reprinted from October of 2012
ADDENDUM FEBRUARY 28, 2024:This post ranks right up there with my pieces which have offended people. Please understand that my mission as a blogger is to cast light on those institutions and practices which usually get a free pass. The free pass phenomenon is especially true for the sacred cows in our community.
If you see me at the counter in a diner, please give me the time of day, and maybe even a cup of coffee...nobody else will.
The rescue mission is still plugging away, I know many of those on the board, they are good people. Yes, the mission gets a lot of donations but they use the money correctly and wisely. Presently Ce-Ce Gerlash has her sights on their clean team which picks up litter on the downtown streets. My guess is she wants that contract cancelled because as a Christian Charity they won't bend the knee to the current culture.
ReplyDeleteThe post itself goes back 12 years, and the opinion of the mission even farther. I have no reason to doubt that their operation has greatly reformed.
DeleteI see these men every work day. They do good work. It is one of the few "obvious" successes of the new Allentown. Hamilton Street is generally clean, and the people who live in the area or work in the NIZ know these men. If only there were more foot traffic to see their good work and create some energy in the NIZ.
ReplyDeleteI agree with 8:35 - the Clean Team does a great job and those guys are out there before most downtown workers arrive and certainly before anyone from City Council shows up to work.
ReplyDeleteI see them daily around 7:45 and their cans are often close to full already! Imagine what downtown would look like without them.
Naturally, living up to your contract and doing a good job cleaning up downtown can’t be tolerated by some on City Council. Perhaps the Clean Team doesn’t kick back to politicians as well as some other organizations.
This practice of having a non-profit have the cleaning contract goes back to Pawlowski in around 2007. He gave and pulled it from several groups. I assume it's still given out by the mayor, as opposed to city council. I consider being on council a thankless job.
DeleteYou don't fit the profile of what is a suitable Allentown council person. You are clearly not a team player and have a long record of speaking your mind. You need not apply! You and everyone like you are persona non grata in city hall and every other respectable meeting or organization.
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DeleteAs noted above, my post about the street cleaning hails back to 2012. Because I have no knowledge of who holds the current contract, or their affiliation to any other organization, I will not host comments with allegations of wrong doing.
DeleteMichael, next time I catch at a diner counter…I’ll buy you a cup of coffee. There is a number you can call out in Harrisburg that will tell you if the non- profit group that is trying to solicit money from you is legit, what there leadership gets paid, and how much money they spend soliciting more money. Very Eye Opening!
ReplyDeleteThe scandal you refer to took place in 1973 when an Omaha weekly newspaper, of all things, published a series about how the poor orphanage was rolling in dough. The editor who green-lit the series said that when they learned that Boys Town had the largest post office in Nebraska, he knew it wasn't all the boys writing home to mom. A later scandal involved sexual abuse allegations.
ReplyDelete