Deacon Don & Martha Yochum
If there is one person who embodies the SVdP spirit at St. Theresa/Good Shepherd it is Deacon Don Yochum. Deacon Don began his work with SVdP at Good Shepherd a number of years before he became a Deacon in 2005 — just because he liked helping people. And especially in the last few years, he has made a very large percentage of the St. Theresa calls.
Through his contacts with some furniture distributors in the area, he has obtained many truck loads of new but slightly damaged furniture and bedding, which he often personally delivers (up the stairs) to those who have no furniture.
And how did he get these contacts? Deacon Don spent his pre-Deacon years in the trucking business after he got out of the Navy. He started in the business about the time he met a friend of his sister, named Martha, and they were married June 10, 1961. Don dispatched, drove and helped build the trucking industry. He retired after 25 years with Consolidated Freightways.
The remarkable thing about Deacon Don’s SVdP calling is that he continues to do it through some very tough times. In the last couple of years, he has had a vision impairment that has made it very difficult to read and impossible to drive. He and a ladder “parted ways” leaving him with very painful broken ribs. Martha has suffered a death in her family that has been emotional and time consuming. Yet through it all, Deacon Don continues to make sure that the poor in our area have what they need.
It takes the whole family to make the tremendous commitment to our SVdP clients that the Yochum family accomplishes. All of us at SVdP, Good Shepherd & St. Theresa want to say “Thanks” to Deacon Don and Martha.
Please join in thanking them when you see them!