Community fills void left by stolen angel

The kindness of strangers has eased the pain of staff and residents at a Hamilton hospice caused by thieves who made off with a guardian angel that decorated the building exterior for the Christmas season.

When Emmanuel House director Maria Bau-Coote purchased a set of guardian angels that light up for the hospice, she expected they would bring Christmas cheer to the residents and to the neighbourhood in a year that had been isolating and challenging for so many. So, when she drove past one day and noticed that one of the five angels had been stolen, she found it especially disheartening.

“I was personally devastated,” said Bau-Coote. “I really took it personally because I thought, how dare someone take one of these angels from a hospice.”

Bau-Coote remembers after the display was installed in early December what an encouragement it was to residents and passers-by who would stop outside to take in the beauty of the scene. She recalled one bed-bound patient with incredible faith in God who asked to be wheeled outside to see the angels after they were first lit.

“They weren’t just Christmas decorations, they were meant as symbols of hope and encouragement,” said Bau-Coote. “I grew up Catholic and still practising, but I think to anyone, regardless of faith, there is a connection that people have as soon as they see an angel.”

Removing the angel, which like the others stood five feet tall with 250 lights, would have been no easy task. Bau-Coote was also heartbroken to find the stolen angel’s flute smashed at the side of the road.

The Good Shepherd, which runs the hospice as well as other critical supports for the city’s most vulnerable, got the story out to the media and as news spread it touched the hearts of people in the community. The hospice received everything from words of encouragement to monetary donations, even a lighted Christmas tree from the Pasquali family, for whom the theft really struck a nerve.

Michael Pasquali, the father of two young daughters, saw the story on the news two nights before Christmas and immediately called his wife Carmie to discuss what they could do to help. The previous Christmas, the Pasqualis experienced the destruction of a tree decoration outside their own home, and a few years prior Pasquali’s mother had also spent her last days receiving care at a hospice.

Unable to match the exact angel that was stolen, they settled on an eight-foot lighted tree they found at a local store. That same night they drove down to the hospice and plugged in the tree in the place of the angel to send the message to the hospice and to the neighbourhood that this is a community that cares. For Pasquali, it was also a teachable moment for his daughters, eight-year-old Rosabella and her four-year-old sister Angela, on the power of kindness in the face of wrongdoing.

“It was six o’clock when I saw the story and I just kept thinking about what happened to us and my mother who was in a hospice as well,” said Pasquali. “I know that bringing joy to people that are there in that bad situation really means a lot.

“My wife and I explained to our kids what happened and asked if they remembered when it happened to us. We told them we’re going to bring some joy to people by doing this because Christmas is not all about what you get, it’s about giving. Someone took our tree, and someone took an angel from them, and now we’re going to put something where that angel was.”

The community’s generosity and acts of kindness have spurred Good Shepherd to create an Angel Fund so Emmanuel House can be surrounded with more “guardian angels” next Christmas.

“It sort of magically happened that so much support has come from this,” said Bau-Coote.

“We’ve developed this fund and we’re hoping to do the decorations again next year to say to whoever did this, just try it again but it won’t stop us from putting them up.”

This has been a full circle moment for Bau-Coote who through this has been reminded of her own mother who passed away in 2009 and was a devout Catholic with a special affinity for angel statues. Bau-Coote continues to marvel at the incident as a reminder of the power of God and how the story of one stolen angel could ignite so many to become messengers of joy and hope to those in need.

“It’s just funny,” said Bau-Coote. “I definitely think God works in mysterious ways.”