Some people say that I tried to pin the world together, one radiant angel pin at a time. What I was really trying to do was pin my own family back together, one earnest prayer at a time. At times of frustration and despair, I often leaf through the yellowed sheets of poems I authored a little over a decade ago. I still feel God's presence in the words. They were written back when I was caring for my busy family; making beds, preparing dinner, making doctors' appointments, shoveling the snow or polishing furniture. Most days, I was running to keep up with long strides of four active children and an ill husband. Now the four kids are in their 20s. I remember those busy days with such love and fondness. A Team of Angels? Where did the thought even come from? I began the Send a Team of Angels to Help Movement quite by accident in 1998. Or perhaps, it was by divine providence that I began giving the pins to shut-ins, lonely people in nursing homes, the homeless that I met in the City of Brotherly Love (Philadelphia that is, for those not familiar with the North East), and countless other folks who were overwhelmed like I was. People who would face turmoil and anxieties seemed to find me to request a Team of Angels pin, and I seemed to find them. During the months prior to my husband's accident, I sat in a monastery chapel or in my living room scribbling poems on napkins and scraps of paper. I kept a notebook in my car in case an inspirational thought popped into my mind while I was driving. I jotted my thoughts and worries down on the blue-lined pages and then rhymed the words into verses. Once, I even scribbled a verse in the sand while on the beach at the New Jersey shore and another time on a paper plate. My ideas for the poems sometimes came to me while watching my kids under the warm sunlight at sporting events, sitting in a doctor's office, perched on the edge of a pew in church, or while making a weekly shopping list for cheese, milk, ice cream, and laundry detergent. I filled several Dollar Store notebooks with poems about seeking joy and help for my hurting heart. I didn't know much about the computer, so everything was done the old- fashioned way-by long-hand. I called them Team of Angels poems. I crafted a little trio-of-angels pin from safety pins, raffia and little gold charm angels purchased at a flea market. I attached the homemade-on-the-kitchen-table angel pins to pieces of cardboard bearing my first poem. Writing the poems and making hundreds of the little pins were my way of coping with the uncertainty of my own life at that time and seeking God's guidance. The verses of the poems were my connection to heaven-simple little prayers.The little verses expressed the confusion in my own life and the anguish of a frightened wife dealing with a husband suffering with depression. I wanted God to restore my husband to good health. The poems continued to come to me and by the end of the year, I had written 300 Team of Angels poems for all occasions and needs. I never had any intention of "Mom's Little Angel Pin Project" becoming a ministry or business. The fact that 125,000 Team of Angels pins have traveled worldwide is a surprise to others and mostly to me. I began giving cards of the Team of Angels pins and poems away in my community. I didn't know that months later the little Team of Angels that I gave to help others would become my lifeline and solace as well. My original idea was to create something similar to a Random Act of Kindness. My project was different because I gave away a tangible sign of comfort and caring- a winsome gold trio of angels. 125,000 0f them!
About the Author: Patricia Gallagher is the author of fourteen books. She has appeared as a guest on the following shows: Oprah Winfrey, Sally Jessy Raphael, The CBS Early Show, Maury Povich, QVC, The 700 Club, CNN, CNBC, Financial News Network, Interview with Joan Lunden, and hundreds of other interview shows. She was contacted by the Dr. Phil Show and People Magazine for her most recent book, "No More Secrets - A Family Speaks about Depression, Anxiety, and Attempted Suicide." She has appeared more than once on most of the above shows. She holds a BA in Education from Villanova University and an MBA in Finance from Saint Joseph's University. Patricia welcomes interviews, speaking engagements and consultations. May be available on short notice.