WILMINGTON — Tucked away behind St. Patrick’s Church between 14th and 15th streets in Wilmington, the St. Patrick’s Center has provided a lifeline for area residents in need of food, clothing, a shower and more for 53 years.
The center is about to get a big boost, as students from Salesianum School, Ursuline Academy and Padua Academy have selected it as the beneficiary of the 12th annual SALSthon, which takes place March 16.
SALSthon is an annual dance marathon involving students from the three schools. In previous years, it has been an overnight event, but this year, the hours have been changed. It will start at 5 p.m. and end at midnight on March 16, a move made with the safety of students in mind, said Alison Hildenbrand, a college counselor at Salesianum.
“We also hope this change will allow more students to attend. There were some who couldn’t be here overnight or whose parents weren’t comfortable with them being here overnight,” she said.
Frank Holodick, a senior at Salesianum and president of the student council, said the St. Patrick’s Center was selected after a thorough vetting process that included interviews with several organizations. The student councils from all three schools met to discuss their individual interviews and the merits of the nonprofits under consideration.
“In the end, we just thought St. Patrick’s Center, with our money, they were going to have the biggest impact for what they needed,” Holodick said.
One of the facts from the presentation made by representatives from St. Patrick’s Center was that the organization can feed a family of four for up to a month for $250. That, coincidentally, is the amount of money each student must raise to be able to attend SALSthon. Students can bring a guest for every $100 they raise beyond that.
The center, which is rented from St. Patrick’s Parish, is in the former parish school, and the building is more than 100 years old. Representatives also said the funds would help with maintenance costs.
“With all that information gathered, we thought they could really use the money for good,” Holodick said.
Last year, the thon brought in a record $243,791. Since its inception, SALSthon has raised almost $2 million for local nonprofits.
A few miles away from Salesianum, Joseph Yacyshyn and Peter Slattery know the impact this money will have on the seniors who come to the St. Patrick’s Center every day. Yacyshyn is co-chairman of the board of directors, and Slattery is the executive director.
Yacyshyn said the St. Patrick’s Center folks who attended the interview at Salesianum were very impressed with the research and diligence of the students. They met twice, each time for about 35 minutes.
“It’s great to see kids of that age, with everything they’ve got going on in their lives, take the time to raise money for organizations primarily based in Wilmington. We’re thrilled,” Yacyshyn said.
The center has been around since 1971, and its operations continue to grow. Aside from serving meals every day, it offers clothing, activities for seniors, some mobile medical care, showers and referrals for additional services. Many of the seniors who visit each day are homeless, Slattery said.
The section of Wilmington where St. Patrick’s Center sits has been hit hard by poverty, Yacyshyn said. There are other senior centers and other organizations that provide services, but they do not all overlap. The center does not pay power bills, but they do offer laundry vouchers so a person can have clean clothes.
They have dedicated staff and volunteers, but the amount of services they provide is “the thing that keeps us up at night,” Yacyshyn said. For a few years, the center received COVID funding from the federal government, but that is gone.
“It’s a juggling act trying to meet needs,” Yacyshyn said. “You don’t have to be Catholic. You don’t have to be Irish. You just show up. We’re not asking a lot of questions. We’re just trying to help you out. We’re trying to get you through a bad patch.”
Staff members help at the center and by making visits to collect donations or buy food. Slattery said they have partnerships with 18 area grocery stores that allow St. Patrick’s to get food for a quarter of the cost of retail. For that reason, the center can do more with a donation of cash than an equivalent amount of food.
There is also the issue of maintaining a building that has been around for more than a century. Yacyshyn said they are always looking to see if there are ways to use the space in a better way.
The need for mental health services has increased in recent years, and for some of the services St. Patrick’s does not provide directly, it collaborates with other nonprofits to help clients. Their next-door neighbor is the Ministry of Caring, which has a network of social services. They also work with Catholic Charities and others. A lot of that starts with people coming in for a meal, Slattery said.
“If I can get you in for food, I can start addressing with these case managers the underlying problems of why you’re trapped in a cycle of poverty,” he said.
In addition to SALSthon, the St. Patrick’s Center’s primary fundraiser is coming up. Each year, the St. Patrick’s Day Society holds a Mass and breakfast. This year, it’s the same day as SALSthon.
Yacyshyn sees a value in SALSthon beyond the money raised.
“Envision an iceberg,” he said. “There’s what you see above the water line. But it’s what’s below the water line that you’ve got to watch. What it provides us is an opportunity to get our message out to people who are 50 years younger than our clientele.”
Several of the people involved with the St. Patrick’s Center have been around from the beginning or close to it. They are always looking out to get their message to a younger crowd.
“Hopefully, we can instill in kids, this is a part of your life. It’s like giving blood,” Yacyshyn said.
Donations are accepted at www.salsthon.org.
