Volunteers bring Christmas cheer to Mercy Centre

By Bill Doyle | CFP Correspondent

WORCESTER - It was Wednesday so Bill Gibbons made his weekly visit to the Mercy Centre to volunteer his time with the men and women with developmental disabilities who take part in the training and employment programs at the Catholic Charities Worcester County facility.

Because it was the Wednesday before Christmas, Mr. Gibbons made a party out of his visit.

As usual, the former Holy Cross women’s basketball coach had the participants – the term that the Mercy Centre uses to describe them – shoot baskets in the gym. Some of them shot at the regulation-height basket and others through a circle that Mr. Gibbons formed with his outstretched arms. Bank shots were allowed in the former, but not the latter.

Then they played cornhole before Mr. Gibbons, who wore a Grinch T-shirt, led a game of charades in which he had the participants, a couple of whom wore Santa hats, guess the names of such Christmas songs as “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” and “Little Drummer Boy.”

After that, they played a game of “Simon Says” and another game in which they had to freeze when he stopped playing a recording of Grinch music.

The participants enjoyed all of it and had no trouble hearing Mr. Gibbons, who used his loud coaching voice. It’s been often said of Mr. Gibbons that he never needs a microphone.

Mr. Gibbons, 65, coached the HC women to a record of 613-410 from 1985-2019 and in the late 1980s he began bringing his team to the Mercy Centre three or four times a year. Each year, the team played a game against the Mercy Centre participants and the Mercy Centre team never lost. After he stopped coaching, he continued to visit the center each week.

Every Wednesday, Mr. Gibbons volunteers at St. John’s Food for the Poor in Worcester and at the Mercy Centre before traveling to Needham to take former Holy Cross men’s basketball coach George Blaney out to lunch.

Mr. Gibbons, a parishioner at St. Peter Parish in Worcester, has felt a deep connection with the Mercy Centre for a long time. His late aunt, Ann Marie Daly, helped Msgr. David Sullivan and the Sisters of Mercy found the Mercy Centre School in 1961 and his late uncle, Tom Fitzgerald, had Down Syndrome.

“It’s kind of near and dear to my heart,” he said. “I’ve been doing it for a long time. They’re God’s special children and it gives me a lot of joy and it used to be a great lesson for my team. My alums still talk about it.”

Gibbons said he’s warmed by the cheers he receives when he arrives each week.
“They look forward to it,” he said, “and if I do miss a week, [they ask], ‘Why weren’t you here Coach Bill? We missed you, Coach Bill.’ They just love having a little release and going to the gym.”

“He does such a nice job volunteering every Wednesday,” Mercy Centre operations manager Alejandrina “Milly” Hernandez said, “and engaging them in activities. They are waiting for Wednesdays for him to come and go to the gym and do activities with him.”

Mr. Gibbons also enjoys spending time with his grandchildren, Willy, 5; Welles, 3; and Winston, 5 months old, and he has brought Willy with him to the Mercy Centre.

After a while on this Wednesday, everyone left the gym to head to a classroom where they sang Christmas songs. Then Chris Spring, owner of the Chick-fil-A franchise on Gold Star Boulevard, arrived to donate chicken sandwiches and waffle fries to all after everyone said grace. Mr. Gibbons passed out chocolate chip cookies his wife, Lisa, had made. After lunch, people sang “Happy Birthday” to a participant and “God Bless America.”

Mr. Spring, 53, began donating chicken sandwiches to the Mercy Centre a few times each year about six years ago when Mr. Gibbons was still bringing his HC team. He has learned some of the participants’ names and he even hired a former Mercy Centre participant a few years ago and she accompanied him to deliver chicken sandwiches at the Christmas party.
Mercy Centre policy prohibits using names or photos of the participants without written permission from the family.

“Since I was a boy,” Mr. Spring said, “I’ve had a soft spot in my heart for all God’s children, especially ones who are special. This is a great opportunity for me to connect with some of those folks and show some care and some love. If I can do it with chicken sandwiches and waffle fries, it’s super easy for me.”

Mr. Spring is pleased to work with Mr. Gibbons at the Mercy Centre.

“I love partnering with people, through my restaurant, that do good things for other people and he’s the epitome of that,” Mr. Spring said.

Mr. Spring’s 22-year-old daughter, Katie Spring, works for him and she dressed up at the Mercy Centre as Cindy Lou Who, the little girl from Dr. Seuss’ “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.” To look like Cindy Lou, she retrieved a seltzer can from her recycling bin, placed it on top of her head and wrapped her hair around it.

“I think it’s so amazing to see these people have so much joy,” Miss Spring said, “when I feel like we live in such a sad world. You come here and you’ve had a hard day and they’re literally so excited to see you, so excited to show you what they’re working on, their projects.

They just show you so much love right off the bat and I feel like it’s something we can do as a company to help to show God’s love for these people that not a lot of people have a heart for.”

Kayla Newton, 33, Chick-fil-A director of operations, wore a Grinch sweater while visiting the Mercy Centre for the first time.

“Unbelievable,” she said. “Everybody is so grateful for us to be here, eager, excited, genuinely happy. For us, we’re all about care and creating moments of care. So for me, there’s no better place to be than here right now. It’s been such an awesome experience.”

Chick-fil-A also provides Mr. Gibbons with gift cards to distribute to students who perform well in his basketball clinics sponsored by District Attorney Joseph Early in Worcester middle schools.

The Mercy Centre offers day programs for 33 adults aged 22 and older to help them become more independent. In addition to the regular programs, an artist does art projects with them on Tuesdays, they have cooking classes on Thursdays, and they have karaoke and watch movies on Fridays.

Who enjoys Mr. Gibbons’ visits to the Mercy Centre more, the participants or him?

“I would say it’s pretty even. He likes it just as much as they do,” Mercy Centre job coach Sandra Coolidge said.

The Mercy Centre and Catholic Charities headquarters are scheduled to move into a new facility in West Boylston in February. Mr. Gibbons plans to be there on Wednesdays.