Community Corner
Young Adult Responds to Call to Assist Victims of Superstorm
Melissa Chedid of North Brunswick worked with Catholic Charities to assist families affected by Hurricane Sandy.
Written by Joseph Sapia
In her 20s, Melissa Chedid has dreams in front of her.
“I really just want to help vulnerable populations,” said Chedid, 24, of North Brunswick. “As a Catholic, we’re supposed to care about vulnerable populations, people who are voiceless. Wherever you go, people are oppressed.”
Go back to Oct. 28-30, when Superstorm Sandy hit causing flooding, electricity outages and major property destruction in the diocese.
As Chedid learned, the victims of Sandy “are a vulnerable population,” she said. “Maybe this is the first time they’re encountering such vulnerability, powerlessness,” she said. “That’s probably one of the worst feelings. You have no power.”
Chedid had been planning to go to Lebanon — where her father, Joseph, was born — in January for a few months to improve her command of the Arabic language. But a few weeks after the storm, Msgr. Joseph J. Kerrigan, a member of the board of trustees of Catholic Charities, Metuchen, asked her to assist with the Superstorm Sandy relief effort.
She agreed, working as a case manager with victims.
Chedid had to decide if she was going to Lebanon or staying home, continuing her Superstorm Sandy work. So, as 2012 rolled into 2013, she made the decision to stay home.
“I was driving home,” she recalled. “I just said, ‘I’m not going, I’m going to stay. I’m going to keep doing this.’ I’m a pretty indecisive person, it was refreshing,” she added.
Chedid has family roots in the New Brunswick area going back about 80 years. She worships at St. Augustine of Canterbury Church, Kendall Park, and St. Sharbel Church, Somerset.
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“Why would I get up and leave when this all just came to me?” she asked.
Catholic Charities served more than 300 families affected by Sandy, Chedid said.
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Interestingly, Chedid’s North Brunswick home was not affected by the storm.“I didn’t even lose electricity,” she said.
Chedid’s work impressed Msgr. Kerrigan, who also serves as administrator of the future Holy Family Parish.
“A recent college grad and a person with strong Catholic identity was basically the point person for those needing assistance during the storm,” Msgr. Kerrigan said. “In a lot of ways, she leapfrogged over some more experienced candidates to do such a job.
“She also approached the job vocationally, working seven days a week and well into the night,” he said.
“For a 23-year-old with a lot of options, that was very impressive. As a Church, we basically say that once a person receives the sacrament of confirmation, they are basically adults. The reality still favors older people. Melissa was someone to break that glass ceiling in an important way.”
“What I found, I think, the most interesting, disasters don’t discriminate,” Chedid said. “It puts all of us in this situation.” That is the commonality, rather than the divisiveness, between people, she added.
“A lot of Catholics think Catholic Charities is just an agency of faceless social service [people],” said Msgr. Kerrigan, who also serves as diocesan director, Catholic Charities Solidarity Team. “If we’re going to continue to attract people to helping the poor, sometimes it’s not only the work itself but the people who do it who need to be highlighted.”
In May, Chedid left her work at Catholic Charities and has a new upcoming adventure. Chedid, who earned a bachelor’s degree in social work from Rutgers University, also New Brunswick, and is a Fulbright Program fellow, is entering Columbia University in New York City this summer to work on a master’s degree in social work.
“I have goals,” Chedid said.
She may get a doctorate, teach, do research work and travel. But, she said, she leaves room for what God has planned for her.
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