So Many More Needs to Be Filled
Most people are probably not aware that the nation is commemorating National Social Work Month in March. “We’re one of those groups that goes unnoticed,” said Doreen Quaranto, a licensed clinical social worker and director of parish outreach at Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church in East Hampton, “even though we’re in great numbers everywhere.” And, she added, “We do great work.”
It was an understatement. The church’s outreach efforts are not limited to its large and diverse congregation; rather, they are extended to anyone residing in the greater East Hampton area. And the needs are many.
“My program is to help anyone, whether it’s financial, physical, mental, spiritual,” Ms. Quaranto, who spent 20 years as a trauma nurse in Connecticut, said. “They walk in and we see what we can do. The idea being, I know all the federal, state, and county programs, and the other programs in town. If one of those can help the person, I set that up. If not, we look to do the help that’s needed.”
The road to East Hampton has been long and winding. One of the first trauma nurses to be certified in Connecticut, Ms. Quaranto’s work at St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Bridgeport brought valuable experience to her current role, she said. “I liked working out of the emergency department at the trauma center, and my office is that way. Every day I don’t know what I’ll be working on or with whom, but I love it.”
In between those roles, Ms. Quaranto spent four years doing missionary work with the Trinitarians, two running a shelter in Panama City, Fla., and two more setting up health clinics in rural Alabama. “When I was in the missions,” she said, “I felt there were so many more needs that needed to be filled. In social work, I would still use my medical background but could venture to a much bigger role.”
She earned a master’s degree from Fordham University in the Bronx, where she met her husband, Richard, a Huntington native who owned a house in East Hampton.
Contrary to popular perception, there is hunger and homelessness on the South Fork, while moral failure and its consequent behavior know no boundaries. Ms. Quaranto, like all of the South Fork’s social workers, has no shortage ofwork. Along with other houses of worship, Most Holy Trinity collects food for, and encourages donations to, the East Hampton Food Pantry. Her role, however, includes a search for long-term solutions to hunger, she said.
“If you come in tomorrow and say, ‘I can’t pay my rent,’ I will go over your whole budget,” she said. “I will give you the food pantry hours, what you need to do to sign up. Can you get there? Are you elderly, do you need to have someone pick up food for you?” Special circumstances, such as food allergies, are also considered, she said. “I look at the overall picture, which is how social work teaches: look at someone in their environment, so we’re not putting square pegs in round holes.”
Churches on the South and North Forks meet homelessness head-on. “From Nov. 1 to April 1, we make sure no one freezes to death,” Ms. Quaranto said. Guests are given a hot dinner, a place to sleep with bedding, an opportunity to wash up, and medical screening. “Then we give them a hot breakfast, a bag lunch, and send them out during the day.”
Domestic abuse and worker exploitation are other societal crises the parish tries to resolve. “I get people whose husband is beating them, but they’re afraid because they don’t want to lose the children, or they’re undocumented,” she said. “We send them for counseling to the Retreat and try to make a plan for them. We get people who say their boss fired them and didn’t pay the last week or two. I write a letter to these nice American bosses saying, ‘I represent the biggest Catholic church in the area and we’d like to fix this.’ Very few say they want to meet face to face.”
Ms. Quaranto helps those lacking health insurance navigate health care programs and insurance plans, and Most Holy Trinity’s outreach extends to those learning English as a second language. “I have volunteer teachers who love working with our people. It’s wonderful to see,” she said. Most students have to walk to the weekly classes, she said, “but they think nothing of walking two to three miles.”
Last night, Most Holy Trinity hosted the winter’s final interfaith community soup dinner, sponsored by the East Hampton Clericus. Ms. Quaranto, who coordinated the dinner, said that the event was more about fellowship than feeding. “People meet each other on a level playing field,” she said. “We’re all sitting around a table eating soup together. A lot of social workers come and hand out literature.”
After years as a trauma nurse and missionary, Ms. Quaranto said, she had considered retirement. Such a move would have left a considerable void in a world where so many are in need of so much. Retirement, she concluded, “didn’t appeal to me as much as I thought it would. I’ve never regretted it. Though I saved a lot of lives in trauma, I have probably saved a lot more families in social work.”