Volunteers gather to pack dental kits to honor Pittsburgh synagogue shooting victims
By Chilekasi Adele
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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Volunteers came to Catholic Charities in Downtown Pittsburgh to pack dental care kits for those in need on Sunday.
It’s something the 10-27 Healing Partnership did with Catholic Charities. The volunteer event is one of five that took place Sunday morning to honor the 11 people killed at the Tree of Life synagogue seven years ago Monday.
“It’s just a wonderful thing to be a part of,” Jessica Anderson of Whitehall said.
Anderson brought her three kids to Sunday morning’s event: a 14-year-old, a 6-year-old, and a 4-year-old.
“On my way to church this morning, we decided that we were going to stop and make sure we got to volunteer,” Anderson said.
They and others got to work and packed dental kits. The goal was to pack 1,000 of them. They’re for the dental patients at Catholic Charities Pittsburgh.
“We serve over 30,000 clients through our six-county footprint at Catholic Charities,” said Angie Zambito Hill, chief development officer at Catholic Charities Pittsburgh.
Zambito Hill said the work done on Sunday will help those clients get daily service.
Service is something Peg Durachko and her first husband, Dr. Rich Gottfried, valued immensely.
“He and I both volunteered as dentists back when Catholic Charities was located on Ninth St.,” Durachko said.
Durachko was referring to Dr. Gottfried. He was killed in the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting on Oct. 27, 2018.
Sunday’s volunteer project is in his memory, as is the dental clinic on the third floor of the Catholic Charities building downtown.
“His legacy relates to the way that we serve our clients with compassion and dignity,” Zambito Hill said.
Durachko said she knows Dr. Gottfried would be honored to have his name connected to the facility, part of an organization the two of them gave years to.
“It’s very heartwarming to provide something that we were trained to do that would help another person,” she said.
Sunday did not require as much training.
“It was just kind of a simple task,” Anderson said.
That simple task continues Dr. Gottfried’s legacy throughout Catholic Charities: one of service, but also one of bringing faiths together. Dr. Gottfried was Jewish and gave so much of his time to a Catholic organization.
“His spirit is still here,” Durachko said.
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