The people on the outside are stingy — they keep their wealth for themselves.

This is the type of attitude that develops among some of the homeless, Sue Rudy, CEO of Silence of Mary Home in Harrisburg, said.

When people volunteer their time and show compassion, it lets the homeless know that others actually care.

Catholic Campus Ministries (CCM) and Shippensburg University students from Karen Johnson’s and Laurie Cella’s basic writing classes went to Harrisburg on Saturday to do just that.

Rudy and her husband Vern own four homes in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, that homeless people can stay at when they are struggling. They also own two homes in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

To maintain the homes, Rudy needs all the help she can get.

CCM tries to visit Harrisburg once each semester to donate its time. This is the sixth year Johnson took her students on the Silence of Mary Home trip. Cella joined the campaign with her students two years ago.

On Saturday, students painted fences and posts in the yard at a Silence of Mary Home at the corner of Market and S 14th streets. It is the first home that the Rudys bought in Harrisburg for the homeless.

In addition to brightening up the yard, students built a scarecrow, spruced up the gardens and brought donations. CCM started collecting clothes and hygiene products at the start of the fall semester.

Donations came from CCM, the Newman Association and Our Lady of Visitation, the parish located next to campus.

In Harrisburg, students laid free clothing out on tables and boxes for people to look through.

One man, Sean, came by looking for clothes for his 3-year-old son, but there was not much available for children. “Miss Sue,” as people call Rudy, ended up talking with Sean to help him find a place to stay. While the adults discussed options, Sean’s son ran around the garden, and grabbed paintbrushes to try and help the SU students.

Campus dining services provided lunches for the students and some extras for the homeless people who stopped by. Part of the reason the basic writing students came on the trip was so they could interview people to write about in their essays.

You can tell from the student’s research papers, the students understand homelessness better than before they went on the trip, Johnson said. In her class, the students are focusing on the theme of poverty.

Isaac, a homeless man who started living in the Silence of Mary Home about a year ago, was a popular person to interview. After Isaac served time in jail, he could not afford a place to live and went to Miss Sue.

“Nothing sweet under the sun about prison,” Isaac told the students who interviewed him. Isaac was in prison almost 20 years and decided to turn his life around the last time he was released.

“He’s learned from his lessons,” James Thomas, a student in the basic writing class, said of Isaac.

Silence of Mary Home helps many people like Isaac, who stay for an extended period in the homes. Rudy stressed that the people living in her homes are considered part of the family.

Last year, Silence of Mary Home received almost $1 million in donations. The non-profit organization fed more than 25,000 people last year just from the home on Market and South 14th street.

The homes that Rudy and her husband run are nothing like the average homeless shelter.

“I felt like I was home,” Cyndera Jacobs, a student in the basic writing class, said.

The walls are painted with bright colors; there is cozy furniture and even a television.

As the Rudys bought the homes in Harrisburg, they fixed them up to get them suitable for living.

Silence of Mary Home was officially founded in 1999. Sue Rudy is the CEO, despite the struggles she faced in life. Students were surprised to learn that Rudy has Tourette’s syndrome and autism. Rudy also describes herself as illiterate, as she did not receive a good education as a child.

Rudy left an impression on Shidea Graham, a student in the basic writing class.

You can still be something even if you have special problems, Graham said.

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