As cases of COVID-19 soared to new highs into the fall, St. Bonaventure alumni found ways to ease the burden on those most impacted by the pandemic. Meanwhile, our students, faculty and staff made the most of a semester on campus like no other.
Mark Quandt:
Faith and determination
to serve all
By Mike Hogan, ’21
In a normal year, Mark Quandt is a busy man. A 1976 graduate of St. Bonaventure, Quandt is executive director of the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York, which collects large donations of food from the food industry and distributes it to charitable agencies serving hungry and disadvantaged people in 23 counties.
When the coronavirus pandemic commenced with force in March, though, Quandt’s job and the food bank’s purpose took on a whole new level of importance: People were out of work, kids were out of school and the need for food became greater. Quandt and his team were ready for it.
“Within a few days we started to see our member agencies ordering more food, food pantries primarily, because they were getting hit with a lot of new people who never really used pantries before,” he said. “They needed to replace the food that they were going through, and we started getting calls from municipalities and other groups that recognized the needs in their communities.”
There was little time to adjust to a world that changed overnight.
Quandt and the food bank quickly added to their business model by organizing special distributions and drive-through food pantries.
The food bank worked with school districts and low-income senior facilities to distribute food to those in need. They added other programs as needed and responded to all special requests that came in. Distribution is up 40 percent compared to last year at this time, and it was much higher earlier in the pandemic, Quandt said.
“We provide food to children through the schools so low-income children have enough food to eat on weekends. That had to change because schools were closed,” he said. “We had to work with the schools to see if they’d be able to do something. Almost all of them continued the program by delivering food to the families.
“We started receiving a lot of calls from low-income senior housing facilities. Seniors were so severely impacted by COVID and were encouraged to stay home and not go shopping. So we started doing special distributions there.”
Quandt and the food bank entered the holiday season — their busiest time of year — with the coronavirus pandemic still ravaging the country. The goal for them remained the same, and that is to serve the Latham, New York, area, their member agencies and food pantries, soup kitchens and other agencies in any way possible.
“It will be extremely busy. The pandemic is still with us. People are still out of work, so the need is going to be greater than ever,” he said.
When the pandemic began, Quandt and the food bank felt prepared. The food supply was ample. They knew they would be able to weather the early storm. But there have been obstacles.
Faith and the determination to serve all enabled Quandt to persevere through them.
“We made a commitment right off of the bat that the answers would always be ‘yes,’” he said. “If there was a community in need, people in need, we would respond. We’ve been able to do that.”
Rijo Maracheril:
Proud of health care
workers’ resolve
By Tom Donahue
A heart-wrenching phone call to a young parent and spouse is what jolts Rijo Maracheril, ’14, whenever he looks back on his role as a front-line worker during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It was a Saturday morning and we had just finished our rounds,” said Maracheril, an emergency medicine resident at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. “We had a relatively young spouse who had passed and I called the family to let them know.”
He was braced for a difficult call to a devastated family.
“The spouse was very distraught and crying, which is understandable,” said Maracheril. Pandemic safety protocols had prevented family members’ visits with the sick patient or their bedside presence when the patient died.
But what Maracheril was not prepared for was the second voice coming from his phone.
“It was a very young child who was telling the parent, ‘It’s OK, you don’t need to cry.’ The child was saying that the deceased is in a better place now, with God,” said Maracheril.
“I remember that voice. I remember everything about the call. How do you explain to a child why this is happening? For a young child to have to understand that and to be the source of comfort and strength for the parent … That was hard,” he said.
Dually admitted to St. Bonaventure and the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences through SBU’s Franciscan Health Care Professions Program, Maracheril earned his B.A. in biology and a minor in business administration from SBU in 2014 and graduated from GW Medical School in 2018.
He’s serving his residency at Mount Sinai in Manhattan, the first hospital in New York state to receive a COVID positive patient.
“I was there at that time, then moved to Elmhurst Hospital (a Mount Sinai affiliate), which soon became known as the epicenter of the epicenter,” said Maracheril.
A trickle of COVID patients turned into a flood in March and April, with 100 people in the emergency department at all times. “We went from one day wearing normal scrubs to the next day in full jumpsuits, N95 masks, respirators and goggles,” he said. It was 12-hour shifts and “all hands on deck.”
Maracheril contracted the virus himself, quarantined at home, recovered “fairly easily” and returned to work.
He’s proud of how everyone in the health care system, “from techs to nurses and doctors, cafeteria workers and cleaners,” stepped up in a time of crisis. “We saw things that were very traumatic and difficult to deal with, but it’s what you do, it’s what you sign up for. No one thinks they’re doing anything extraordinary,” he said.
He’s also grateful for the support shown to him and his colleagues during the height of the pandemic, from the daily 7 p.m. New York City ritual of people cheering from balconies to a double dose of Bonaventure kindness and good will.
One of Maracheril’s former professors, Dr. Xiaoning Zhang, professor of biology and director of SBU’s biochemistry program, spearheaded a campaign that sent surgical masks to her former student and his Elmhurst Hospital colleagues. (See story, page 15)
Then there were the phone calls from Fr. Dan Riley, O.F.M., founder of the community of Bonaventure friars at Mt. Irenaeus, and friend, confidant and spiritual adviser to countless alumni over the past 40 years.
“Fr. Dan called me multiple times throughout the whole thing, just to check up on me and talk,” said Maracheril. “He was a source of strength for me, and I would be remiss if I did not mention that the Mountain is probably my favorite place to be.
“You know, the whole mentality of taking care of the person next to you regardless of creed, skin color or religion, Bonaventure preaches that. And now it’s my job. It’s never even a question if we’re going to go to work and take care of these patients, because it’s what you do.”
Becky Fatta:
Determined to keep
elementary kids learning
By Jennifer Pulver
Rebecca (Len) Fatta had worked hard to obtain the skills and certification necessary for the next step in her public education career. On March 9, she was thrilled to be named the assistant principal at Cayuga Heights Elementary School in the Depew, N.Y., school district. Four days later, the district moved to remote learning and she found herself in a new role amid the chaos of the early days of the pandemic.
Fatta, a lifelong educator in the Depew district, graduated from SBU in 1994 with her undergraduate teaching degree. She taught kindergarten for seven years, second grade for 14 years, and was a literacy coach and dean of students in her building for a year. She landed the assistant principal position in her district last March after completing her School Building Leadership Certification (SBL) at SBU in December of 2019. She completed her School District Leader Certification (SDL) in August of 2020.
“I always knew that I wanted to work with children. When I was a freshman at SBU, I was originally a psychology major. During my second semester, I took an Introduction to Education class and just fell in love with teaching! At that point, I switched my major and it was one of the best decisions that I have made,” she said.
Equipped with years of classroom experience, education and certifications to hone her skills as an education professional, she stepped into a significant planning role during the summer of 2020. Fatta discovered her passion and preparations for teaching were about to meet and be put into action.
“We held weekly administration meetings involving stakeholders, including teachers and parents, to create the fall plans for the schools and the districts,” she explained. The team developed multiple plans that could be implemented depending on the COVID infection rate at the onset of the school year.
“We developed a virtual-only plan, a 100% in-person plan, and three different hybrid models that were contingent on the state’s regulations. The one that we finally employed was a hybrid model where all the students spent time in the building at various, but limited, times during the week,” she said.
Fatta shared that this plan has worked out better than other models because it not only contains in-person instruction to keep children engaged, but adheres to safety precautions by reducing overall populations in the building.
One of the biggest surprises to her and the teachers in her school so far is how much the kids want to be in the classroom. “They love it here,” she said. “I’ve had very few discipline problems. The kids want the consistency and support that school offers.”
Her district decided as a community that it wanted to commit to be open for the children. Still, it has been stressful at times.
Her biggest fear – as an administrator and as a mother – is the impact on children. Although districts are doing everything they can to continue instruction, she admits hybrid or virtual learning is not a substitute for full-time face-to-face instruction. Additionally, she worries about the mental health of students, their families, and the teachers.
“I am hopeful that one positive outcome from the pandemic is that we put more focus on our students’ social-emotional learning,” she said.
To assist teachers, her district has implemented stress-relieving programs a couple of times a month. “With the hybrid schedule, all our teachers have planned open time on Wednesday afternoons. Each building has started a committee that is planning occasional activities meant to decrease stress and increase connections for the faculty and staff in the schools,” she said.
What gives Fatta hope is the collective effort that has been evident since the beginning of the pandemic.
“Teachers, administrators, parents, and students have pulled together to make our current situation work,” she said. “It is so inspiring to see our school community working hard to make this the best it can be for our children. It’s really about setting a positive example for students and instilling in them that even though this isn’t easy, we can get through it together if we support one another.”