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News and Press Articles
"The hard lives of the needy made easier" Boston Herald 9/11/98
"College students learn how to give of selves" Patriot Ledger 12/11/99
"They give gifts and keep faith" Boston Herald 12/15/04
"More people than ever need a helping hand" Brockton Enterprise 11/19/06
"Helping one family at a time" Boston Globe 12/17/06
"Special Delivery" Boston Globe 1/25/07
"Golfers make pitch for charity" Brockton Enterprise 6/22/07
*RECENT ARTICLES*
"My Brother's Keeper rare among non-profits" Brockton Enterprise 6/11/08
"Volunteers serve and learn at My Brother's Keeper" Brockton Enterprise 6/11/08
"The coming charity crisis" Newsweek 6/12/08
"The hard lives of the needy made easier"
by Beverly Beckham
Boston Herald
September 11, 1998
The call to My Brother's Keeper came a few days before.
"What do you need?" Terry Orcutt had asked. That's what she always says. There are no histories taken. No judgments made. Ask and you shall receive. It's that simple.
The woman needed everything, but she asked only for beds for her three children.
“Do you have a table? Chairs? A couch? A chest of drawers?” Terry questioned.
“No,” the woman said.
They brought food first, and some pots and pans and silverware and dishes, because the woman had only two plates, two knives and two forks. That’s the way it is for millions of Americans. The United Nations reported Wednesday that 16.5% of Americans live in poverty, despite the fact that we are one of the wealthiest nations on earth. A mother and three children sleep on the floor and take turns sitting.
One of every six Americans lives like this.
The woman this day greeted the men delivering the furniture and asked only one question: "Did you bring me a cross?”
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"College students learn to give of selves "
by Michael P. Quinlan
Patriot Ledger
December 11, 1999
For Jim Orcutt, there is a poor side of town everywhere he goes. In frayed apartment buildings, small rooming houses and homeless shelters throughout southeastern Massachusetts he meets people nestled in their worries and fears, barely holding on. Some are filled with quiet desperation or cynical resignation, hovering below the horizon of prosperity that glitters like the polished dream of America. Others are mentally ill people prone to sudden outbursts of confusion or children caught in some painful transition.
"What can we do to help the poor?" asks Orcutt, who with his wife, Terry, founded My Brother's Keeper, a group devoted to helping the neediest people in society. Since 1988, the Orcutts and a group of volunteers of the ministry have gathered in a Brockton warehouse every day to prepare furniture and household items for delivery to the area's poorest poor.
"Many of the people we serve have a strong faith in God," Terry Orcutt says. "These are women who may have escaped an abusive relationship, unwed teenage mothers, people recovering from drug or alcohol addiction, or old folks with no one left on this earth to bring a message of love and hope. Very often we find a mother and her children living in an empty apartment. They may have food stamps from the government, but no one to give them a refrigerator or a bed for their children."
The group accepts no government funding for its work, but instead relies entirely on donations from local institutions and individuals. The volunteers include accountants, teachers, printers, priests and carpenters. They are Catholic, Protestant, Jewish and Muslim.
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"Special delivery"
Easton couple's flash of inspiration has given
thousands a better life
by Sandy Coleman
Boston Globe
January 25, 2007
In a world hungry for giant plasma TVs and supersized mansions, Jim and Terry Orcutt have chosen the other extreme. They live in a modest rented apartment. They drive old cars. And their furniture is, by their own estimation, not as nice as the furniture they deliver daily to area families in need..
"But, you know what?" says Jim Orcutt. "When I get up, I hear the heat come on.... I have electricity. I have milk and bread in the refrigerator." Says Terry Orcutt: "We have everything we need."
The Orcutts embrace their spare, spiritual life -- and in doing so, they are receiving national attention from those who share their devotion and want to shed light on how others can follow the same path to kindness.
Nearly 20 years ago, the Easton couple founded My Brother's Keeper, delivering food and furniture to people in need. The nonprofit organization -- which has grown over the years -- is the subject of a new DVD produced by Family Theater Productions of Hollywood. Entitled "The Luminous Mysteries: Compassion to Service," it is the latest in a series that explores the rosary and how to turn beliefs into action. It will air on Catholic TV's cable network.
The Orcutts -- he is 67, she 62 -- last year made 5,000 deliveries of food and furniture from their sizable warehouse. Clients include the elderly deciding between buying fuel oil or prescriptions, single mothers working minimum-wage jobs, and fathers who have lost their jobs, but not their hope to provide the best they can for their families.
"People tend to stereotype the poor. They think people are stupid and in a situation because of their own fault," said Jim Orcutt. But most of the people the organization helps are working but still struggling, he said.
The Orcutts are quick to say that they are not just delivering bread and beds; they are delivering hope. They also say they are not so special, that anyone can choose to be their brother's keeper.
"We have this inherent part of our soul... that says help others. But we also want to be successful," said Jim Orcutt. "We need to find the difference between that point when we have enough... and having it all."
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"Helping one family at a time"
by Beverly Beckham
Boston Globe
December 17, 2006
Terry Orcutt spends her days on the phone and most evenings, too, listening, taking notes, asking questions. "Where do you live? What do you need? How many children do you have?" Her concern is real. Her love for people she doesn't know is real, too. It's what drives her and what sustains her, call after call.
"Love one another as I love you." This is Christianity's number one rule. Terry Orcutt lives this rule. She loves without question. She sees God in all people. So does her husband, Jim.
Eighteen years ago, a made-for-television movie, "God Bless The Child" changed their lives. It was a true story about a young woman who lost custody of her daughter because she didn't have a place to live. "That's all she needed. A place to stay and someone who cared," Terry said.
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"More people than ever need a helping hand"
by Elaine Allegrini
Brockton Enterprise
November 19, 2006
Last year's high heating costs, combined with the ever-rising cost of living, has left a residual effect on those who live on the edge, according to area social service leaders.
With the winter heating season just a cold-spell away and the holiday season on the doorstep, requests for food stamps, heating assistance and holiday help are on the rise.
In Brockton alone, requests for food stamps are up 10 to 15 percent, an indication that more and more people are falling under the national poverty guidelines, said Robert Martin, director of human resources for Mayor James E. Harrington.
“More people who work full or part time call this office for assistance,” said Martin, who links the needy with social service agencies in the city and the region.
Martin recently joined several social service providers from Brockton, Taunton and area suburbs to kick off the annual Enterprise Helping Hands drive, the annual holiday drive supported with donations from families, individuals, businesses, civic and school groups and administered by The Enterprise Charitable Foundation.
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"Golfers make pitch for charity"
by Matthew Leonido
Brockton Enterprise
June 22, 2007
Last year, the rain put a damper on the first charity golf tournament for My Brother's Keeper, but its second annual event Friday was held in the sunshine, and drew more golfers in its first day than the entire three-day event last year.
"Tough weather last year, but the sun is shining, God is shining on us so we expect a big turnout," Jim Orcutt, founder of My Brother's Keeper, said.
My Brother's Keeper is a charity sponsored by Orcutt's volunteer Christian ministry, which he founded with his wife Theresa in 1988. They provide furniture and food to more than 2,500 needy families each year.
They also promise to provide a $1 million prize for a hole-in-one, but there has been no grand-prize winner yet.
The qualifying round of the second annual tournament continues today at Stonehill College, leading up to the semifinal and final rounds to be held Sunday at the Easton Country Club.
To qualify for Sunday, participants have to land a ball within 6 feet of the pin, located about 125 yards from the row of tees. Buckets of golf balls were available for donations of $10 and $20, with all proceeds benefiting My Brother's Keeper.
Abington resident Arthur Greenlaw was glad to donate toward a good cause while having fun.
"I've been looking forward to this. You can go hit a bucket of balls at the driving range, so why not do it for charity," said Greenlaw, 39.
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"They give gifts and keep faith"
by Beverly Beckham
Boston Herald
December 15, 2004
Three time a day they stop and pray. There's a prayer room outside the warehouse. Prayer keeps them on course. Prayer keeps them focused on God.
It's all about God at My Brother's Keeper. You step into the warehouse, converted for Christmas into Santa's workshop, and it's magical. You hear ``Frosty the Snowman'' and see rows and rows of new bikes and shelves packed high with toys.
Men are sorting things and women are wrapping and volunteers come and go through one door, while a police officer, with a bag of gifts, appears at another.
It's typically Christmas.
What is not typical is that all this is being done in the name of God. Christmas is about Christ here. My Brother's Keeper is unapologetically a Christian ministry whose mission is ``To bring the love and hope of Jesus Christ to those we serve.''
God guides, God provides.
My Brother's Keeper serves all people, whatever their faith. Eleven months of the year this Brockton-based ministry provides furniture and food. Need is the only criteria. Ask and you shall receive. It's only at the end of a delivery, when people are saying thanks, that the guys who lug in the furniture reply, ``Don't thank us. We're just the delivery people.'' And hand over a crucifix.
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"My Brother's Keeper rare among non-profits "
by Vicki-Ann Downing
Brockton Enterprise
June 11, 2008
Dennis Carman, president of the United Way of Greater Plymouth County, says that My Brother’s Keeper is rare among non-profits because it has remained true to its faith-based origins by not accepting public funding.
“They provide a needed service without any of the strings that come attached with other funding sources,” said Carman, who is former director at Father Bills and MainSpring Coalition of the Homeless.
“They have been there consistently through some difficult times, and I’d say some even more difficult times to come. As the need increases, they increase their efforts, and in a very quiet way they succeed,” said Carman.
“They ask from their hearts and they believe people give from their hearts.”
For 2005, the last year for which public records are available, My Brother’s Keeper reported revenue of $1.49 million and expenses of $1.35 million.
Early on, Jim and Terry Orcutt, founders of the Christian-based non-profit, decided to provide what they could to anyone who requested it without requiring proof of financial need or eligibility.
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"Volunteers serve and learn at My Brother's Keeper "
by Vicki-Ann Downing
Brockton Enterprise
June 11, 2008
As much as the ministry of My Brother’s Keeper means to the families it serves, it means just as much to the volunteers.
Each year, 100 students from Stonehill College and another 150 from Catholic high schools volunteer at the Easton-based non-profit. Most are from upper middle-class or affluent families, said Jim Orcutt, co-founder of the charity.
The student volunteers might study sociology and theology in college, but most have never been inside a three-decker where a family might be keeping the oven door open to get some heat. “They go in and they learn to attach names and faces to people, and not to think of them as just a class of people, the poor,” said Orcutt.
“These students are the future doctors, lawyers, judges and legislators who will one day make decisions affecting the lives of the poor, not from an academic perspective, but from the heart,” he said.
The volunteers see real-life examples of faith, whose true measure “is the extent to which we rely on God in our time of trouble,” says Orcutt, who founded the charity with his wife, Terry.
The volunteers begin and end each day with a prayer, seeking intercessions for family and friends. “People come in here and they’re very comfortable talking about God and their spirituality,” said Terry Orcutt, Jim’s wife and co-founder. “They bring their laughter, tears and problems.” They also have fun, Jim said. They take the mission seriously, but never themselves seriously.
"The coming charity crisis"
by Daniel Gross
Newsweek
June 12, 2008
The latest victims of the sagging economy: charities. In May the annual gala of the Robin Hood Foundation, an event at which a few thousand hedge fund magnates and leveraged buyout titans conspicuously display their wealth and commitment to social justice while rocking out to A-list musical guests (Shakira, John Legend, Sheryl Crow), raised $56.5 million, down 21.5 percent from $72 million the year before. (Tom Wolfe profiled the 2006 gala in Portfolio.) No surprise here. Many of the regulars have seen their net worths crushed in the past year.
But it's not just the charities of the swank that are suffering. The Salvation Army caters to a somewhat different crowd—i.e., tens of millions of middle-class Americans. And while it had a good Christmas, "since the first of the year, we've seen some slippage," says Maj. George Hood, a Salvation Army spokesman. Overall donations are down compared with 2007, and donations of used clothing and furniture to thrift shops have fallen by 20 percent. While natural disasters typically inspire a spike in donations, Hood says the earthquakes in China, the cyclones in Burma and the floods in the Midwest have yet to generate such an outpouring.
It would be unfair to say that Americans—whether they are accountants in Kansas City, Mo., or bond traders in Greenwich, Conn.—are becoming stingier. Rather, philanthropy is a pretty large industry. Charitable giving in 2006 was $295.2 billion, according to Giving USA 2006, about 2.2 percent of gross domestic product. For comparison's sake, Wal-Mart has annual sales of about $350 billion. And like every other industry, philanthropy is tethered directly to the health of the overall economy, and in particular to the health of the upper-middle-class consumer. If the past is any guide, it's likely to be a lean year for nonprofits.
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"As it celebrates its 20th year, My Brother’s Keeper bids farewell to founders"
by Vicki-Ann Downing
Brockton Enterprise
June 8, 2008
The simple bungalow on Everett Street in Taunton doesn’t look like a place where grace struck two decades ago. But it was there, on a Sunday night in March 1988, that life changed forever for James and Theresa Orcutt, empty-nesters in their mid-40s, full-time employees at the Paul A. Dever State School.
That moment grew into their Christian-based ministry, My Brother’s Keeper, which operates now from a 15,000-square-foot warehouse on Congregation of Holy Cross land next to Stonehill College. It has an 11-member board of directors and an eight-member development team and is funded entirely through private donations.
My Brother’s Keeper will mark its 20th anniversary with a dinner on Wednesday. at the Marriott Hotel in Quincy.
Each year, volunteers deliver furniture and food to thousands of needy families in 25 communities from Dorchester to Taunton and Pembroke to Mansfield. There is no pre-qualification process. People need only ask to receive.
The couple also has a Christmas program, which began at Terry Orcutt’s urging in 1991 when toys and clothing were delivered to 14 families in Brockton.
Last Christmas, with operations running around the clock for two weeks, My Brother’s Keeper delivered gifts to 1,836 families in 59 communities from the North Shore to Cape Cod. More than 1,300 volunteers helped, 550 for the first time.
One day at a time
On that evening in March 1988, the Orcutts sat down to watch a made-for-television movie, “God Bless the Child.” Actress Mare Winningham starred as a mother battling homelessness to provide for her young daughter.
Their plight touched the Orcutts deeply. Perhaps, they say now, the seeds had been planted weeks before, when they each took part in a Cursillo retreat at the Holy Cross Retreat House in Easton.
Jim said Terry stood in the doorway of a small bedroom at their rented home, looking at the twin bed, dresser, lamp and chair. With tears in her eyes, she told Jim, “This is all they needed: Some place to stay and someone who cared.”
The Orcutts stayed awake talking until 3 a.m. “It was the most important conversation of our marriage,” Jim Orcutt said.
They held hands before a crucifix and made a covenant with God, which Jim points out has always been a two-way agreement: “God, we’re serious about this. We will spend the rest of our lives bringing your love and hope to people. If you guide us, there will never be another day for the rest of our lives when this won’t come first.”
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"Whatever
you do for the most humble of my people, you do for me."
Matthew 25:40