Sister T.
People in Long Island, N.Y., couldn’t believe the destruction delivered by Superstorm Sandy’s fury last year. Lives and homes changed in an instant.
And after seven agonizing months of broken promises to help repair their houses, five New York families couldn’t believe that a sister would organize a busload of volunteer youth and adults to come all the way from southern Indiana to help put their shattered houses and lives back together.
But they didn’t know the boundless energy and passion to serve others of Sister Teresa Gunter (better known as Sister T), life teen coordinator for St. Anthony Parish in Evansville. And they didn’t know how persuasive she is in enlisting others to join the cause.
So after four days of work last summer by a crew of 54, including 34 youth and 20 adults, the lives and homes of those five families changed again, but this time for the good.
One beneficiary, Laurise Frey, who has the added challenge of being handicapped, said of Sister T, “I will never forget that woman. I tell stories about her all the time. I call her the crazy nun they should make a movie about, because she gets on a bus and drives 20 hours from Indiana with all these youth. It was at a time that was so hard for me, when I didn’t remember that I knew how to laugh, but they were so much fun, they made me laugh. It was so joyful.”
Frey said it’s still heart-wrenching to look around her Long Island neighborhood. Four nearby houses have been torn down. Most of her neighbors still haven’t returned home.
“But Sister T doesn’t let you get sad or feel sorry for yourself,” said Frey. “She’s so full of energy, so bouncy, and has such an ‘up’ attitude. She’s like the Energizer battery.”
Sister T’s enthusiastic and lighthearted approach spreads easily to the teenagers and adults she works with. But she shares life lessons along the way, too.
As a youth minister, she takes under her wing many teenagers from less-than-ideal family and home situations. Better yet, besides building up their confidence, she also inspires them to serve others.
“I try to make everything fun,” says Sister T, 46, a Sister of St. Benedict of Ferdinand. “Life is too serious, and many of these kids are going through a tough enough time as it is. The ironic thing about the New York trip is that some of these teenagers don’t have much of a home either. One lives with 14 others in his grandma’s house. They know what it’s like. But I tell them there are still people worse off than them. They saw that in New York. Some of them thanked me.
“Some even went to Miss Frey and told her it was going to be OK, because they know they’re going to be OK with their own situation.” Sister T is particularly thrilled when her youth deliver such messages of reassurance to others in tough circumstances. Of course, she sets a pretty clear example.
When members of her teen group suggested last spring they go to New York to help the hurricane victims, Sister T didn’t flinch. She simply set about rounding up adult home repair experts to go along, lined up a bus, called to see who they could help and where they could stay, and organized fundraisers to finance the $14,000 trip.
Her approach to tackling such a daunting task?
“I pretty much live by the Phillipians 4:13 verse ‘I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me,’” she says. “When kids say ‘I can’t do that,’ I just reply, ‘I know you can,’ simply because I believe in them.”
Just like so many others believe in Sister T.
Jonna O’Bryan, a youth minister from Evansville’s Good Shepherd Parish who also went on the New York trip with some of her teens, has known Sister T for 15 years.
“Sister T helps kids see Christ in everybody they meet, so they’re able to be that compassionate heart along with her,” says O’Bryan. “The Lord showed His face everywhere while we were there. The kids saw that, and they felt it as well.”
One of the Evansville youth, Emily Earhart, a 2013 Reitz Memorial High School graduate, says, “You don’t think you can do a lot of this stuff until Sister T goes, ‘You can totally do this.’ She pushes us so we learn a lot about ourselves and what we can do. She’s persuasive, but she does it in a fun manner. She’s so much fun.
“In New York, she helped us a lot, and she didn’t have much sleep, because she had to keep an eye on us,” said Emily, laughing.
But Sister T embraces the potential of youth, and delights in helping turn it into reality.
“A lot of people couldn’t believe I was going all that way with 34 kids, being loud, crazy, and goofing off,” says Sister T, “but people who say that don’t know youth, they don’t know the capability of getting 34 youth behind a common goal and how they can accomplish anything. They don’t know the other side, that these kids WANT to be servants, they want to help people.”
The mess they confronted in New York was stunning. One elderly lady’s yard was still engulfed with debris, electrical wiring, ruined appliances and furniture. Other homes needed walls removed, new ones erected, carpet replaced, and roof holes covered. The Indiana contingent quickly came to the rescue, providing repairs that moved disbelieving homeowners to tears. The volunteers ripped up rotted linoleum, laid down tile, installed carpet and drywall, painted, put up ceilings, fences and lattice work. The bus driver even pitched in with the know-how to replace busted windows.
Angela Schweers was among the absolutely amazed homeowners.
“They were a fantastic group of kids,” she said. “Just meeting them, listening to them, it really restores your faith in youth. And Sister Teresa was fantastic. She has this leadership ability where people just flock to her. She makes you feel comfortable, and she’s there for your concerns. That group did a tremendous amount for the people out here. It was a really great experience for my family.”
Stephanye Smith, an Evansville adult volunteer, said it was noticeable how much the devastation the New Yorkers endured weighed heavy on Sister T’s heart.
“You can tell when somebody feels this is where we need to be, helping these people,” she said. “And Sister T does a good job of making people realize good things come to those who are faithful and humble. You can tell how excited she is that these kids are giving of themselves. But she has helped create what they’ve become. Many would not be where they’re at in their faith walk without her.”
Sister T prepped the teenagers for the trip by showing them the 1987 movie The Princess Bride. In the film, whenever a young woman gives her farmboy an order, he quickly replies “as you wish” and happily complies. That’s how Sister T wanted them to answer whenever someone asked them to do something in New York. They did, and they continue to jovially use the phrase within their group.
“It was pretty neat that she related to a movie what she wanted us to be for our trip, to give of yourself to others,” says Smith. “Think of yourself last, put others before your needs, that’s why we were there.”
Another of Sister T’s fitting touches was presenting a foot-long cross signed by all the volunteers to each of the New York families. Signifying that it was only through God that the mission trip happened, the crosses found honored places in the refurbished homes and brought more tears of happiness.
Father Kevin Smith, a New York priest and long-time acquaintance of Sister T, provided lodging for the group. “She’s feisty,” he laughed, “and generous and compassionate, and really knows how to get the best out of young people. The amount of people she brought was amazing. They were on the buses so long, and worked so hard, and they did all that for the goodness of God. It was great.
“Sister T is extraordinary. You don’t meet too many religious consecrated women like her. She’s just so bubbly and positive, keeps everybody’s energy and morale going. She is a real asset to the Church.”
The most rewarding part of the trip for Sister T was seeing hope restored to the New York families, seeing smiles return to their faces, and knowing that she helped “in some little way.” She was also moved by how the volunteers took the phrase “as you wish” to heart. “They worked together to do things they never thought they would do, and just showed love to each other. At the beginning, people were strangers, and then they were family. Amazing.”
They helped people in need, and lives changed. Both for those being helped and those helping.
As they wished. And as Sister T wished.
