The children in PCYC’s After School Enrichment Program honor Congressman Martin Sabo by planting a Star Magnolia tree in front of the new PCYC building.  Looking on at left is John Evans, son of PCYC’s founding director, the late Rev. Bob Evans, and Rev. Skip Reeves, PCYC Board President.

Tribute to 3 Champions of PCYC
Paul J. Gerstley, Sedoris McCartney, and 
Congressman Martin Sabo

By Anne Long
Executive Director

Plymouth Christian Youth Center has been blessed with so many friends over the last 50 years who carry forth our mission with skill and passion.  The 50^th Celebration Awardees described in a separate article in Perspectives certainly are shining examples of such PCYC champions. 

It is timely to pay tribute to three other champions of our work who have been significant in making possible our facilities and programmatic expansions in the past few years.  These three outstanding PCYC family members are The Honorable Martin Olaf Sabo, Representative to Congress from the Fifth Congressional District, and two gentlemen no longer with us on this earth, philanthropist Paul J. Gerstley, and his mentor Sedoris McCartney.  Let me tell you about why they deserve special mention today.

Paul J. Gerstley became involved with PCYC over 15 years ago, through his friend and mentor Sedoris McCartney.  In tribute to Sedoris’ unique way with youth, whom Paul had as a counselor at camp when he was a “wild” youth from Chicago, Paul endowed the Sedoris McCartney Lectureship Fund at PCYC as a way of inspiring and training PCYC staff and others to also be gifted youth workers.  When Paul heard of PCYC’s vision to create a meditation space in the new building he asked to fund it and name it after Sedoris. 

Today the Sedoris McCartney Meditation Room is a fitting tribute to not only Sedoris, but also to Paul Gerstley.  This simple but elegant wood and light-filled space welcomes staff, kids, neighbors, and anyone stopping by to take time to reflect, think, meditate, or pray.  It contains writings and journals of Sedoris.  It also reflects the spirit of Paul Gerstley himself, who passed away just weeks before the May 10 Dedication Ceremony which he was planning to attend.  Paul has remembered PCYC in his will, but perhaps more importantly, he has gifted me and many of our staff with his friendship and his model for true altruism.

Paul was the instrument for another very touching gift to PCYC.  When Sedoris and his wife lived in Japan, they had as a student a Japanese man who held great animosity toward Americans because of the atom bomb.  Because of Sedoris’ gentleness and goodness, the Japanese man’s hate turned to understanding and forgiveness.  He took on the name Francis, after St. Francis.  He is today a sensitive, artistic and very religious person. On hearing of the mediation room idea, he sent Japanese Yen to “assist in the preparation of the McCartney Meditation Room” in thanks and tribute to his teacher and friend.

That letter containing the yen was postmarked Hiroshima, Japan.  It brings tears to my eyes each time I think of the potential for world peace that is symbolized by a person in Hiroshima, Japan helping children and families in North Minneapolis.

In the words of Paul, “I know that Sedoris would be delighted to know that his far-spread work is finding a home with PCYC.”         

Representative Martin Olaf Sabo’s assistance for his constituency in Minneapolis is legendary.  PCYC has been honored to have caught his attention through our Bright Prospects Capital Campaign. Rep. Sabo helped PCYC find Federal Funds for the building project, and then another grant for the expansion of the After School Enrichment Program, the Cultural Arts Education Program, and technology education.  Hundreds of children and youth have benefited over the past year because of Martin’s efforts.

To honor his work, PCYC recently planted a commerative tree – a Star Magnolia - in front of our new building.  A magnolia is an improbability in Minnesota, as the Star Tribune’s yearly editorial on this amazing tree proclaims. We selected a northern Star Magnolia, with its tenacity in inhospitable winters, as symbolic of Rep. Sabo’s tenacity in working for and frequently getting federal assistance for improbable projects in underserved areas of Minneapolis.  Sabo’s quiet and unpresuming ways are reminiscent of the Star Magnolia.  It is nondescript except for one glorious spring period when its white blossoms open out of bare leaves and surprises all.  The impact is stunning, and gives us hope.

As the editorialist opines, “Who said life was meant to be easy? Not Mother Nature, and never the magnolias.  They’ve learned the lessons that come with taking root in inhospitable soil.  They’re well-practiced at bowing to harsh winds.  They abide through bitterness and dark, waiting for better days.

In short, they’ve mastered the fine art of believing. If you don’t believe, you can’t bloom.”

Rep. Sabo believes in PCYC, and in the power of other such community organizations to be successful in helping inner-city Minneapolis children and families improve their lives.

He believes that the Federal government can help make this happen, and he works tirelessly against harsh winds to make it happen.  And he’s done it so successfully for years and years and years.

And that’s why we believe in Martin Olaf Sabo, and have planted a Star Magnolia tree in his honor.  May both of them continue to bloom and astonish!