A grieving family rallies to provide children with their wings

By Peter Finney Jr.
Clarion Herald

In graduation season, tears flow freely.

For Shannon and Evans Schmidt, the death of their 9-year-old son Joseph seven years ago in a Memorial Day accident impelled them and their six other children – now ages 25 through 9 – to cling deeply to their Catholic faith and turn an unspeakable family tragedy into a resurrection parable.

“Joseph passed away on May 26, 2014, in a boating accident,” Shannon said. “He was a really special kid. He had a real love for the homeless. We’ve been saying a family rosary for awhile now, and he always, always, always prayed for the homeless, which is pretty cool. He was just a fun-loving, happy, great kid. We really continue to miss him so much.”

As the father of seven, Evans felt there was nothing more important for him to do after Joseph’s death than to provide a stable home environment in which his wife and children could grieve on their own terms.

“It was just through a lot of prayer,” Evans said. “As the provider, you may want to throw in the towel, but you just can’t. You’ve got to get up and get back to work.”

Evans said he and Shannon had to provide special consideration for Joseph’s hurting siblings.

“It was really a challenge for us dealing with our own loss, but it was also trying to manage and ensure that the kids were able to grieve appropriately and had the emotional support they needed to deal with everything,” he said. “The outpouring of support we had from our friends in the community was just overwhelming and unbelievable. It was that – and prayer.”

Since a few years after Hurricane Katrina, Evans, a local attorney, was a board member of the PLEASE Foundation, which originally worked with students at the Cathedral Academy, helping elementary students from low-income families with their studies and serving as mentors.

When the academy closed, the PLEASE Foundation, headed by Yvette Endom, shifted its focus to providing high school scholarships for at-risk children. After Joseph’s death, Endom and the other foundation board members decided to honor Joseph’s memory with a memorial scholarship – a full, five-year scholarship to a Catholic high school in the Archdiocese of New Orleans.

The Schmidt family not only participates financially in making the “Joseph McCloskey Schmidt Scholarship” possible but also interviews several candidates and their parents and makes the final selection.

“It has been such a huge gift to our family to be able to remember our Joseph this way,” Shannon said. “For our children to be involved in these interviews and to see how blessed they are – it’s really helped with compassion.  The kids want to be there. They want to be a part of it. It’s been a really powerful experience.”

There are so many amazing things about the life-changing work of the PLEASE Foundation, but this might be the most incredible – since 2014, every one of its scholars has gone on to college. Eleven have graduated from college thus far, including Mark Woods, who started as a student at Cathedral Academy, went on to Jesuit High School and recently graduated from the University of Louisiana Lafayette.

Woods is now working full time and is engaged to be married. He has remained within  the PLEASE Foundation circle as a board member and director of volunteer outreach.

There currently are 13 high school students with scholarships from the PLEASE Foundation. Three  of them are “Joseph Scholars” – two at Brother Martin and one at Jesuit.

Evans is particularly struck by the example of Brother Martin sophomore Noah Bower, who was adopted from China as a special needs child.

“He was in an orphanage, and he had a foot defect and couldn’t walk, and therefore he was unadoptable,” Evans said. “They just left him on the floor of the orphanage. His mother here said, ‘I’ll take him sight unseen.’”

Noah came to New Orleans and eventually needed to have his foot amputated.

Fitted with a prosthesis, the honor student is playing lacrosse and running track in competitions sponsored by  the USA Adaptive Sports Association.

“He runs with these blade things – his fellow students call him ‘Blades,’” Evans said. “He’s a champion. He’s just got a determined spirit that is infectious.”

It is not lost on Shannon that their youngest son, Matthew, is 9, the same age  Joseph was when he died.

“Our little Matthew, when he draws his family pictures, always draws an angel for Joseph,” Shannon said. “He’s really trying to keep him alive. All of our kids are carrying Joseph on their life’s journey.”

For more information on the PLEASE Foundation or to donate to its scholarship fund, go to www.pleasefoundation.org.

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