Youth Ministries Launch 'Gnome Invasion'

When Barbara Murphy heard "a commotion" on her front lawn Monday night, she thought college students home for the summer were having some fun.

It was not until her daughter Colleen came home later that she learned her front yard had some new occupants.

"Colleen came in that night, and she could barely speak, she was laughing so hard," Murphy said.

The commotion came from members of local youth ministries who set up about a dozen garden gnomes in Murphy's yard. JoAnne Babbitt, who woke up to the gnomes in her yard Saturday morning, donated money to send the gnomes to Murphy.

The gnomes raise money for the Appalachia Outreach Program for youth ministry teens from in Chatham Borough and in Madison.

Maggie Grady, who heads the youth ministry at St. Patrick, said the ministry takes five trips a year to Appalachia to do maintenance and construction work on houses and trailers. They buy materials on location, to support the local economy, and do everything from roofing repairs to trailer underpinning to handicap ramp installations.

"Each trip costs about $10,000," Grady said, and covers costs for 47 people to go. "It can never be enough, because the more we raise, the more people we can help."

The ministry at St. Patrick has been taking these trips for 26 years, Grady said. Three years ago, St. Vincent Martyr wanted to do a similar ministry and went with the St. Patrick teens to learn.

"After the first year going together, everybody really liked the partnership, so we kept doing it," Grady said, which means they can help even more people. "We used to do three trips on our own. Now we do five. One is strictly for kids from St. Pat's the other for are are half St. Pat's, half St. Vincent."

Grady spent the last two years "scanning lots of local stores for gnomes," enough to put together two sets for the Gnomes for Homes fundraiser. "I'm glad we [have two sets], because a lot of times people call and say, 'I want to move the gnomes, but can we keep them for a couple of days?'"

Reaction so far, Grady said, has been positive. Even those with no ties to the program or the church have donated, some over the $25 to get the gnomes moved from your yard.

Each set of gnomes includes a card explaining why the gnomes are there and how homeowners can get them removed. "Everybody reads the back and seems very into it," Grady said.

Once your yard has been invaded, you can pay $25 to have them moved to a yard of your choosing.

For another $10 donation, you can find out who sent the gnomes to you. Another $10 buys you "gnome insurance," ensuring the gnomes won't make a return visit.

The Murphy's were Babbitt's second choice. She first opted for another family. "Maggie [Grady] called and said, 'You can't send the gnomes to them, they're the ones who sent them to you!'" Babbitt said.

Babbitt and Murphy have known each other for 15 years. Their children attended St. Patrick School together, and Murphy's daughter Colleen and Babbitt's son Andrew attend Holy Cross together.

"Colleen was taking pictures of [the gnomes] and sending them to her college friends," Murphy said. Her daughter even asked if they could keep some.