‘The older I get, the more in tune I feel with people that are hurting:’ 92-Year-Old St. Michael’s Parishioner Steadfast on Making a Difference

At 92 years old, Marcia McGrail says there are many things she no longer has the physical capacity to do in her community. But instead of wasting any of her moments dwelling on this, she focuses her mental and spiritual energy on what she can do, channeling that golden quality that is available to us all: kindness. 

Having been a member of the Merrimack Valley League of Catholic Women for many years, Marcia’s support of Catholic Charities Boston goes decades back as she’s watched the agency make a tangible difference in her community. For the past fifteen years, Marcia and fellow parishioners of St. Michael’s in Lowell have been giving back by collecting and donating cereal to Catholic Charities Boston’s Lowell Food Pantry every month.  

“I lecture every Monday at church and so one day, I stood up at the 7 am mass and said, ‘Perhaps when we are all shopping, we could buy an extra box or two of cereal to donate,’” said Marcia. “Since then, everyone has been incredibly generous. Some people bring a box every week. They feel it is their duty. Everyone gives what they have and even those who don’t have much give what they hardly have.”  

As she shops for and organizes the cereal donations each month, Marcia says she tries to envision the recipient of each box in her mind’s eye: a child eating Cheerios before catching the school bus, a nursing assistant rushing to work, heating instant oatmeal, an elderly person, like her, who may no longer have family around to help cook. These people, Marcia says, are her neighbors – integral members of the community who she feels called to help, as they would help her.  

On the third Friday of each month, after 7 am mass, Marcia drives to the Lowell Food Pantry, her trunk stuffed to the brim with cereal boxes for the pantry. Having lived in Lowell for almost all her life, Marcia has seen the need in her community firsthand: food insecurity, homelessness, parents struggling to afford childcare and pay medical bills.  

“The older I get, the more in tune I feel with people that are hurting,” she said. “I just want to do something, and I can’t do the big things anymore as I once could, so the small things are what I do. We all can do something.”  

To learn more about how you can help Catholic Charities Boston’s clients in need, visit our Ways to Give page. To find out how you can get involved as a volunteer, click here.