Replacing Sarah Schneider could be a tall order for St. John Neumann Church in Franklin Park.
AGE: 62
HOMETOWN: McCandless
EDUCATION: Bachelor's degree in journalism, Duquesne University
OCCUPATION: Community outreach coordinator, St. John Neumann Church, Franklin Park
ACTIVITIES: Reading, working on her 91-year-old house, spending time with her grandchildren
FAMILY: Husband, Charlie; daughter, Jeanne; son, Jeff
They'll need to find someone who is as comfortable with senior citizens as with teenagers. Someone who's willing to drive half a day to help people in need, but who can recognize need when it's half a mile away. Someone who can feel just as comfortable working at a soup kitchen as a bake sale.
As the church's first community outreach coordinator, Mrs. Schneider, of McCandless, molded the position to fit not only the needs of the community, but also her personality.
Now 62, she's been on the job for 21 years and will retire at the end of August. The church hasn't yet found a replacement.
What qualities will the next person in her job require? They don't need to know construction, but it couldn't hurt. More importantly, they'll have to be able to juggle all the responsibilities that have grown up around the position since Mrs. Schneider took it on.
"They'll have to be very organized, a self-starter," Mrs. Schneider said.
She was a self-starter, literally. She wrote the job description for her position before she took it.
Trained as a journalist, Mrs. Schneider was working as a public relations consultant when she volunteered for a church work crew that went to a poor Kentucky town to help improve homes.
When the group returned, the youths, especially, were so invigorated by the project that they wanted to do more. Mrs. Schneider got the approval of Father William Bovard, pastor of the church, to continue the mission, and she also got a job offer.
Write the job description, the pastor said, and take the job. At first she wasn't interested, but Father Bovard asked again six months later.
"I said 'I'll do it for two years,' " she said, and 21 years later, she is still on the job, and, she said, much better for it.
"I think I've grown in my faith, and also in my empathy level and skill level," Mrs. Schneider said.
The missions in small towns in Appalachia became an annual church tradition, with Mrs. Schneider organizing and participating in every trip.
She recently returned from Preston County, W.Va., where church volunteers stayed in a 4-H camp, sending crews out every day to improve the homes in that poor rural area.
In a few weeks she'll head to Erie with another group of workers to help on an annual Habitat for Humanity building project.
To cover the cost of the work trips, Mrs. Schneider coordinates fund raising, a year-round challenge. The West Virginia trips cost about $40,000 each year, she said, and the Erie project, about $15,000.
In between the big projects, Mrs. Schneider has a long list of smaller projects locally.
"We go beyond the parish but we also work within the parish," Mrs. Schneider said.
If parish families are facing financial troubles, they get help.
Closer to home, if there is a soup kitchen that needs volunteers, a food bank that needs stocking, or dilapidated homes in need of repair, Mrs. Schneider is ready with volunteers to provide support.
Mrs. Schneider enjoys taking young people to visit with those who live much differently, and seeing the responses of her charges.
"A lot of times they come back and look around and say 'This is too good, why do we live like this?' " she said.
And she also enjoys watching them build confidence as they learn basic construction skills while helping others.
"We're empowering young people," Mrs. Schneider said.
When she retires, Mrs. Schneider said she will be available to serve as a resource for her replacement.
But that's only if they can find her. She expects to continue serving others when she retires, and even hopes to join a Habitat for Humanity project lead by former President Jimmy Carter.
First Published: July 20, 2007, 1:15 p.m.
