If you’ve ever crossed the street during one of our conferences to get to the Q, you’ve probably seen Dick. He’s one of our crossing guards, working hard to keep us all safe.
And if you’ve ever been sick, or tired, or sick and tired of being sick and tired, perhaps you’ve met Pat, who volunteers in First Aid.
Dick and Pat have been married for 39 years, and have two children and two granddaughters.
This is their 16th year volunteering at our Mid-America conferences. That’s almost as long as our conferences have existed. They only missed the first one in 1999 because they didn’t know about it!
Dick is a retired federal prosecutor, whose title was “Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division” of the US Attorney’s office. He has worked with numerous federal law enforcement agencies and has met many of our past United States presidents. As you can imagine from his picture, he is also constantly mistaken for Brad Pitt.
Pat is a retired professional nurse with a passion for serving the poor. She also loves volunteering with the REAP Team, a ministry of the Catholic Youth Apostolate of the Archdiocese of St. Louis.
Though retired, they stay plenty busy by serving the poor at two St. Louis parishes – Blessed Teresa of Calcutta in Ferguson, and St. Vincent de Paul in the Soulard neighborhood. They are parishioners at St. Vincent de Paul.
Here’s an awesome fact ~ every year, one of the conferences falls on the weekend closest to their wedding anniversary, which is July 9. And, even though they could spend their anniversary weekend having a romantic getaway, they can’t think of a better way to spend it than with thousands of teenagers. How cool is that?
Quotables
“These conferences continually reinforce my belief in the vitality of the younger generation – and it makes me feel better about the future of our world. It helps offset, in my mind, all of the negative publicity often heard in the news about young people.” – Dick
“Since I work with the poor every day, it can be easy to get discouraged. But coming to these conferences and seeing thousands of teenagers on fire for Christ and praising Him revives my faith and gives me a mountaintop experience that keeps my hope alive. God is here, and His work will continue. I love teenagers, and they challenge me in my faith.” – Pat
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