Parking Update: Safety Concerns for All

Patience is the companion of wisdom. – Saint Augustine

The work we accomplished this past summer to increase the parking spaces in our Front and Middle Lots has been tremendous.  We have almost another 100 spots for proper parking due to this re-engineering (and the loss of trees from Hurricane Irma).  However, we still have a small minority of our Parish Family who park in the critical roadways of the campus, potentially blocking emergency vehicle access.  We began to gently remind people of this situation two weeks ago in the bulletin, and then this past weekend, we began to place flyers on the cars, vans, and SUV’s that continued to park inappropriately.  I hope this will be effective in communicating our safety concerns.

Unfortunately, we had an incident this past weekend that illustrated why this concern is real.  A woman passed out in our church during the Saturday, January 20 5 PM Mass.  Her sister called out for someone to call 911 and the brave EMT’s responded immediately.  The ambulance had to navigate between multiple poorly parked vehicles in order to reach the front of our church to assist this woman, who was then taken to the hospital.  Sometimes the difference between life and death can be mere moments and I would hate to be responsible for someone’s pain due to my parking.  Here are some examples of this past weekend’s parking situation.  I hope we can come together as a Parish Family to ensure everyone is safe and protected while on our campus.

As we Build Our Future, Serve Our Past, we still need all the gifts, prayers, and support of our Parish Family.  If you have any questions, please contact Jean-Paul Boucher, at 239-566-8740 or email: [email protected].

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