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11/14/2008 11:53 PM

NYer Of The Week: Priest Uses Doodles To Feed The Hungry

By: Cheryl Wills

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Our latest New Yorker of the week thought up a creative way to make sure some of the city's neediest would never go hungry. NY1's Cheryl Wills filed the following story.

On any given Wednesday hundreds can be found waiting for food at St. John's Church on 31st Street in Manhattan. Father Francis Gasparik says the line has gotten longer in recent months, but he pledges to never let one person go away hungry.

"While we would love to go out of business because there is no need, the fact is that the needs continue and the needs need funding," Gasparik says.

Nine years ago Gasparik came up with a creative way to fund the ten Capuchin food pantries. Working with a colleague, he drew up plans for "Doodle for Hunger." The organization sends paper, crayons, and a return envelope to celebrities in the hope they'll create a "doodle" and send it back to be auctioned off.

"The doodles go to raise funds to literally keep the food on the shelves of the food pantries, keep the volunteers going, and to provide the clothing and social services that people need," Gasparik says.

He now receives doodles from the likes of Donald Trump, Howard Stern and Yogi Berra. Each doodle can sell for up to $15,000 dollars apiece, and this year's auction raised more than half a million dollars.

"He's a very kind man," says volunteer Dorothy Donnelly of Gasparik. "He's very generous and he's very interested in the poor, and he works very hard to raise money to help the food pantry."

Over the years Gasparik has collected more than 2,000 doodles, raising more than $3 million.

"He's always coming back and saying we need to do more this year, there's more people in need," says Joseph Sano the Capuchin Food Pantries' managing director.

For many New Yorkers, not being able to get food at St Johns could mean they'd end up going hungry.

"We rely on this every Wednesday," says Maria Diaz. "My kids are anemic and they would be even more and they would probably end up in the hospital or something."

"I am passionate about helping the poor, and this is a very happy marriage of how celebrities and ordinary New Yorkers can come together to help their neighbors in need," says Gasparik.

So for helping New Yorkers help those in need, Father Francis Gasparik is our New Yorker of the Week.

If you'd like to nominate someone to be NY1's New Yorker of the Week, send an email describing their qualifications to nyer@ny1.com or mail a letter to:

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