Florham Park Prayer Shawl Ministry Supplies Warmth and Blessings

BY STEVE SEARS STAFF WRITER

FLORHAM PARK - Kathy

Memoli knows both the benefit of being a prayer shawl creator and giver, as well as receiver. She has been blessed. “I have stage four kidney cancer,” she explains. “I was only 48 years old at the time, so it has been almost 30 years, and I have been blessed beyond belief. And I have had multiple surgeries. Originally it was stage one cancer, but over the years it metastasized, and I had more surgeries. I have been under the care of Memorial Sloan Kettering for all these years, and I have done very, very well. If I do meet someone who is going through any kind of a trial, I like to share my story, because I have found that is a big support, especially to cancer patients.” Memoli and a host of other ladies are members of the almost 10-year-old Florham

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Park Prayer Shawl Ministry. Founded by the late Barbara Tinari, it is an offshoot of the original Prayer Shawl Ministry, which dates to 1998 and was started by Janet Severi Bristow and Victoria Galo. Both were graduates of the 1997 Women’s Leadership Institute at The Hartford Seminary in Hartford, Connecticut.

“It became a way to reach out to others and pass along a blessing,” Memoli says. She is one of two current leaders of the Florham Park group; Pat Schwartz is the other. “She (Tinari) wanted to do something to help others who have been undergoing, not only health issues, but it could be someone has lost a spouse or a member of their family, or it could be a child who’s undergoing some kind of treatment.”

It could also be a caregiver for those suffering with an illness, they themselves needing blessing and peace.

Initially all members were parishioners of Holy Family Parish in Florham Park, but the topic of expansion beyond those church doors came up. Memoli adds, “We decided that rather than have it come just out of Holy Family, we would expand it and try to get the word out as best we could to include anyone who wanted to join.”

The group, which currently consists of 12 active members, as well as ladies who knit or crochet at home and drop their shawls off, meets year-round every Tuesday morning from 9:30 a.m. until 11:30 a.m. in the Florham Park Senior Center. Some members already know how to knit and crochet, and there are also those who want to learn and help. All are welcome. When the group gifts a prayer shawl, the package includes a letter, and sometimes Memoli will write a note, or if one of the members knows a recipient, they then will pen the note.

“We enjoy being together,” Memoli happily states. “There is always a need for a prayer shawl, and the Florham Park Senior Center has welcomed us with open arms. It is a lovely place to be.”

For more information about the Florham Park Prayer Shawl Ministry, contact either Kathy Memoli at (973) 377-7611, or Pat Schwartz at (973) 3770156.

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