She was 71, and had simply misplaced her job. Patricia O’Donnell was strolling alongside Market Avenue, close to Independence Corridor, when she seen the folks round her — a few of whom gave the impression to be residing on the streets. Her ideas turned to them, to how she would possibly assist them.
Then, the reply got here to her:
“I’ll bake!”
And she or he does, greater than eight years later, making cookies and muffins. And each Thursday, O’Donnell traverses Heart Metropolis Philadelphia, shelling out goodies to folks experiencing homelessness. The meals is barely a part of the nourishment.
“Simply to say good day, and acknowledge their existence is essential,” mentioned O’Donnell, who will flip 80 in April. “The primary time I did this, most individuals thought I used to be making an attempt to poison them or one thing, however some folks took it instantly. And people individuals who didn’t take something from me to start with, after I stored returning each week, I believe they began to belief me, and knew I wasn’t making an attempt to do them any hurt.”
The way it’s carried out
O’Donnell has been giving freely her baked gadgets since 2016, toting 60 to 70 cookies and 20-odd slices of cake, which she arms out from a colourful duffel bag. She additionally carries a grey-colored cooler pouch that retains issues chilly and shares it with bottled water and Gatorade (“Hydration is essential,” she says). She carries the cooler on her shoulder, and handles the bag along with her arms.
Mobility is a matter. She had each knees changed (one wasn’t carried out proper, she says, and it hurts) and has arthritis in her foot, arms and shoulder. None of these illnesses cease her from using the 9:42 practice on the Warminster SEPTA Regional Rail Line into Jefferson Station, the place she begins her trek.
O’Donnell’s generosity is all her personal. She does all of the baking and distributing herself, and isn’t affiliated with any group past “fellow human.” She buys all of the substances for the baked gadgets.
“When the value of vanilla extract went sky excessive, I purchased vanilla beans and made my very own. For $24, I should purchase 35 beans, from which I could make 5 8-ounce jars of extract,” she mentioned. She additionally buys flour, chocolate chips and different substances in bulk.
Except for the pandemic, when she went into city each two or three weeks, she has missed only some Thursdays over these eight years, when she had bodily remedy.
Within the a whole bunch of visits she’s made into the town, she’s developed just a few guidelines:
- She by no means asks an individual’s identify the primary time she approaches them, as many initially are cautious of her.
- The second time she arms them cake or cookies, she’ll ask their identify.
- She by no means awakens anybody.
- “After some time they belief me sufficient to inform me their names,” she mentioned, however solely first names — she doesn’t ask for surnames.
Baking classes
Within the tiny kitchen of her Roslyn residence, O’Donnell bakes muffins on Tuesdays and cookies on Wednesdays. On a current Tuesday, she’s making pumpkin bread with raisins; tomorrow she’ll make brownies with a marshmallow topping and oatmeal raisin cookies. O’Donnell makes some extent of getting totally different muffins and cookies every Thursday.
A Philadelphia native, O’Donnell was divorced when her two sons have been 3 years and 18 months outdated, respectively. She put them to mattress at 7:30, and questioned what she’d do for the remainder of the night.
“I didn’t need to watch tv,” she mentioned. “I all the time needed to bake, so I taught myself.”
She labored as a authorized secretary for a number of regulation corporations through the years. To complement her earnings, she typed courtroom transcripts, which stored her up late. “I used to be getting about two hours of sleep an evening,” she mentioned.
Eight years in the past, she obtained a bundle from an excellent niece in Florida. Inside was a paper doll. Her nice niece had a category project to ship the doll to a relative and have them {photograph} it by a landmark. O’Donnell and her son Shane took the doll to Independence Corridor to take an image. She despatched the picture again and her nice niece bought an A-plus on the project. O’Donnell started baking, and began to get an schooling on the lives of these experiencing homelessness.
She realized they’re reluctant to remain at shelters, the place they are often robbed of their possessions and even attacked. If it rains on Thursday, she is unlikely to go, as folks will likely be searching for shelter – underneath a cover or an awning – to maintain themselves and their possessions dry. If it isn’t raining the next day, she’ll make the journey. Then once more, it’s arduous for some folks residing on the streets to maintain observe of the times of the week — “however they all the time comprehend it’s Thursdays after they see [me],” she mentioned.
Hitting the city
Exiting Jefferson Station on a current Thursday, she meets three males. One she has by no means met, one she is aware of, and the third is Lance, “the very first one that took one thing from me,” mentioned O’Donnell.
Later, Lance discovered housing in West Philadelphia. “He was in a position to get a driver’s license, which he confirmed me, as a result of he had a residence, and he was so proud,” she mentioned.
She has a semi-regular route, strolling up and down 12th Avenue, then over to Chestnut Avenue. On one nook is the “residence” of Jonathan, who likes to learn, so she brings him books too. On this present day, she sees his blankets however no Jonathan. “Typically he sleeps in a doorway on this avenue,” she says, however he’s not there. Throughout the road, she sees a big man, walks as much as him and provides him cookies wrapped in plastic.
“God bless you,” says the person.
On one other nook, she spies a girl sitting on the bottom. O’Donnell has seen her solely two or thrice, and doesn’t know her identify. She offers the lady a few of her goodies, and notices the lady is studying a e book she gave to Jonathan. A short time later, she sees Jonathan, who’s studying a James Patterson novel. They greet one another warmly, however O’Donnell doesn’t ask why he’s not at his typical spot or why there are blankets there. She considers it an invasion of privateness, and he or she doesn’t need to threat alienating him.
Across the nook, she sees Sharon, who’s sitting on a red-colored walker. After the cookies and cake are distributed, the 2 chit-chat. Later, O’Donnell says Sharon will transfer from one spot to a different that she is aware of is on O’Donnell’s route.
Her subsequent cease will likely be on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway close to the Free Library. In a small, round park, she meets two girls, Norah Lynn and Marie, they usually converse for a bit. Not distant, O’Donnell meets a pair, Wayne and Mandy, who she’s identified for just a few weeks. They inform her somebody stole practically all their possessions. O’Donnell mentioned she’s heard the town will transfer folks away from vacationer areas or from websites of occasions such because the Mummers Day Parade.
As her provides dwindle, O’Donnell heads to Jefferson Station to catch a practice again to Roslyn. She stops to see a wheelchair-bound lady who’s normally discovered underneath a cover for the 13th Avenue Market-Frankfort subway. She is normally O’Donnell’s final individual to go to. This present day, she’s asleep, so O’Donnell gently locations cookies within the pocket of a sweater.
Christmas week
O’Donnell likes to vary up her muffins and cookies. In line with the vacation spirit this week, she’s bringing lemon pound cake (“which is a favourite,” says O’Donnell) and chocolate chip oatmeal cookies (“They’re a favourite, too.”)
She retains her good deeds in perspective. “I imply it’s not a lot,” she mentioned. “It makes me really feel like I’m doing one thing for them, that after I’m there with them and speaking with them and giving them one thing, it kind of offers them 5 minutes of consolation and lets them know that anyone cares about them.”
“I most likely get extra out of it than they do.”