Communion Dress Donations Build New Bonds

Makayla Shinnick followed her mother Teresa up the side stairs of St. Helena’s of the Cross, both carrying several white dresses wrapped in plastic and a couple small suits. Doris O’Connor followed the two, holding a few dresses and several veils she made herself, gripping the clothes hangers as the materials flapped in strong winds.

Once inside the school, near Halsted Avenue and 99th Street and about a 20 minute drive from the Shinnicks’ home in Orland Park, the two women and nine-year-old Makayla handed off the clothes to Patricia Durkin, principal of St. Helena’s of the Cross Catholic School. Durkin smiled and thanked the three, before looking for a place to hang the latest donation of communion clothing.

It took Durkin a minute to find places for the latest drop off. The clothing rack is still full from the last time the Shinnicks stopped by with white dresses and boys’ suits.

“We’re going to have to convince people to donate racks now,” Makayla said, followed by a round of chuckles from the women.

The economic reality of the past two years has meant different sacrifices to people on varying financial levels. Crossed off many Catholic families’ buying lists are new dresses and suits for children’s first communion. But the Shinnicks had no idea if a call for donated communion clothing would net anything at all. Would there be enough people out there who needed the donated clothes? Would people want to part with the timeless dress or suit that stayed the same shape and size long after the child grew?

But in the weeks since an article by Karen Caffarini appeared in the SouthtownStar, and later the Chicago Sun Times, a lot of people have chosen to donate to the cause.

“We had no reference for this, and didn’t know if it had even been tried before,” Teresa Shinnick said. “This is very specific to religious sacrament, so right away the audience is smaller than say a prom dress exchange.”

The audience was apparently there all along. The Shinnicks’ phone started ringing often with willing donors asking where to send. Some who didn’t own any communion dresses offered to buy brand new clothes and ship them. Others wanted to know if there was a drop off station in Chicago. To date, 47 dresses, 5 suits and several veils have been donated.

One of the callers was Lockport resident Doris O’Connor, who had both her first communion and wedding at St. Helena’s in 1957. O’Connor didn’t have a communion dress, but has been making her own veils for family and friends for a number of years. She donated so many of them the Shinnicks lost count.

“Even when I was a girl the dress prices were ridiculous,” O’Connor said. “That’s how I came to work on the veils. I went and looked at it and said ‘I could do this.’”

O’Connor said getting in touch with Teresa Shinnick was “meant to be.”

For Teresa, the effort reminded her of the struggles her parents went through to send her to Nativity of Our Lord when she was a girl. Some parents recently told her that after paying tuition, they couldn’t afford the communion clothes.

“When you look around, the yards are clean, the homes are nice,” Teresa Shinnick said. “And you have no idea that they could be living in as tough a situation as they are.”

When some of the dresses needed mending, Max Cleaners at 18006 Wolf Road in Orland Park offered to work on them for free. St. Francis of Assisi, who is the sister church of St. Helena’s, served as a drop off point for parishioners willing to donate. Durkin said she started getting calls from people she’d never spoken with before who asked about the donated clothing. When her students were taken care of, she contacted other area churches who gladly accepted the dresses and suits.

“One family came to us on a Thursday, and they had their communion that following Saturday,” Durkin said. “We know that one was appreciated."

And the experience led to a blossoming in Makayla. Her mother sees more confidence in her, and that she has a better awareness of the effect such an effort can have on people in need. Since the donations began, Makayla was awarded by her brownie troupe for the effort.

“This project is making it easier to learn somehow,” Makayla said. “I learned how to meet other people more easily, and I feel like a better person.”

For information about donating communion clothing, call 773-426-8147.