Mary Ellen Mitchell

by Mary Ellen Mitchell, Lydia’s House Co Director Mary Ellen just completed a 5 month sabbatical and returned to work at Lydia’s House Jan 2. Here’s her final reflection on the time away. It’s, effectively, the last night of this sabbatical. Sam and I leave Mexico tomorrow, and I’ll start back into Lydia’s House rotations January 2. To end this time our family took a walk on the beach, to watch the sunset. We did so in gratitude, first for the many people who hold the work we do at home so we can be here, and also for God,

By Mary Ellen Mitchell When we first started Lydia’s house we had a category of volunteer that we called “Bread and Roses.” Meridith came up with it, with the thought that we needed a place for people that would bring both practical and nice things to the guests. A few months back I cleaned out the old volunteer folder and got rid of that job, thinking “well that never panned out.” And then I paused and reconsidered… actually it did, surprisingly well with one person, Anne. The term Bread and Roses—a Catholic Worker Favorite—has a storied history. It started in