“Our mission is to put smiles on God’s special children,” explains Edward Smith, the Alhambras’ supreme director for Michigan.
About 250 delegates (“Sir Nobles”) from across the United States and Canada, plus their wives (“Sultanas”) gathered at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Dearborn July 9-13 for the 2011 international convention of the Order of the Alhambra, a Catholic men’s fraternity founded in 1904.
Smith, a member of St. Fabian Parish in Farmington Hills, says the Alhambras have more than 600 members in Michigan, mostly in the metro area.
It was at the Alhambras’ last Detroit convention, back in 1959, that they adopted their purpose of serving the developmentally disabled. Since then they have pursued that objective both through special events, like taking them to the circus or on picnics, and by long-term commitments, such as building and operating Alhambra Houses — group homes for those who can no longer be cared for at home.
Three of those homes are in southeast Michigan — in Clarkston, Romulus and Pittsfield Township.
The Alhambras’ St. Francis Camp on Goose Lake, in the Irish Hills, makes it possible for 60 developmentally disabled children or adults to enjoy fishing, boating, hiking, crafts and other activities each week from June through September.
The Alhambras also provide scholarships for students training to work with the developmentally disabled.
Because the Alhambras’ local units, called caravans, meet in parish facilities or at other Catholic institutions, rather than trying to maintain their own halls, “100 percent of our charity money goes back into the community to support the developmentally disabled,” Smith says.
But as much as he likes to see the developmentally disabled children enjoying themselves, Smith says, “The biggest thing that really gets me is the look on the parents’ faces as they see their children having fun.”
Cliff Dake, a fellow Sir Noble and member of Holy Family Parish in Novi, suggests that part of the parents’ joy comes from seeing that “somebody loves their child the way they do.”
And Dake says the parents of those who go through the St. Francis Camp experience “are just overwhelmed to see the growth that takes place,” explaining that campers often acquire new abilities.
Frank Fodale, the Alhambras’ outgoing supreme commander, who was to yield the helm of the international organization to his successor Wednesday, acknowledges that recruiting new members is a challenge.
“We have membership problems, like every fraternal organization, but we do a lot of good, so we don’t worry too much about numbers,” says Fodale, a member of St. Patrick Parish in White Lake Township.
Andre Beauchamp, incoming supreme commander, says a top goal will be “more Alhambra Houses — there’s a need everywhere in the U.S. and Canada.”
“The parents of every developmentally disabled child worry ‘What will happen to my child when I die?’” says Beauchamp, a member of St. Leopold Parish in Laval, Quebec.
Fodale says a big attraction of the Alhambras is the personal involvement members have with the developmentally disabled: “Some groups raise money and write checks. We raise money and do things.”
