(Pictured above: Nancy Robert at the YWCA event with her brother, Terrance Doolen, and sisters, Pat McCraith (left) and Phyllis Rood.)
By Robert Stronach, OFS, contributing writer & photographer
UTICA — Nancy Doolen Robert grew up in Utica, where she graduated from St. Francis de Sales High School. She went on to Le Moyne College in Syracuse before heading to the North Country to pursue a career and raise a family.
After retiring as director of St. Lawrence County Office for the Aging, Nancy relocated to Forestport with her husband, closer her hometown. And she found herself asking what she should do now?
Nancy Robert in Mother Marianne’s West Side Boutique.
“I was lost for a period of time,” she told 400 attendees at the Mohawk Valley YWCA’s Women of Distinction luncheon on March 30, where she was receiving the Y’s Social Justice Award.
“But in 2017 I found Mother Marianne’s West Side Soup Kitchen to be the perfect fit for me.”
Despite being apprehensive, as she had never been in a soup kitchen, her concern was quickly eased as she became “the coffee lady during mealtime.”
After a year of getting to know the hungry and the homeless, Nancy decided she wanted to do more. With the support of then-kitchen director Ed Morgan, Nancy and her sister Pat McCraith started “a basic cost-free clothing shop” in the basement. Mary Gearhart, owner of Queen’s Closet in Yorkville, “donated clothing items for us to get started.”
By November 2018 they relocated to a large classroom on the second floor (as the soup kitchen is located in the former St. Joseph’s School at St. Joseph & St. Patrick Parish).
“In no time,” she noted, “volunteers came on board and merchandise now included donations of clothing, bedding, towels, toiletries, footwear, coats, bikes, games, books, jewelry and non-prescription medications.” They also turned a second classroom into a supply room. And they began calling the ministry “Mother Marianne’s West Side Boutique.”
Today the boutique boasts 18 volunteers, “also known as personal shoppers to help our guests locate items they need.” Plus, a hairdresser provides monthly haircuts, a musician provides entertainment during mealtime, an interpreter assists with Spanish-speaking guests, and a nurse oversees monthly health screenings (which has been able to refer guests with high blood pressure for immediate medical care).
“We help over 250 people monthly, including the homeless, working poor, refugees, families in shelters, and many others,” she said. “We also have partnered with many local agencies. No one is charged; everyone is treated with kindness, dignity, respect and compassion.”
She thinks the ministry at Mother Marianne’s kitchen and boutique “exemplifies the best work of social justice.”
She recounted a recent encounter with two women in need of coats, boots and gloves. Nancy knelt down to help one woman try on boots. But the woman stopped for a moment, lifted Nancy’s head and said: “Thank you for treating me like a human being.”
“I’ll never forget that,” Nancy said. “That’s what social justice is all about.”
