By Matthew Gambino • Posted April 16, 2025

In a region that has practically turned the cheesesteak, the hoagie, and (say it like a local) water ice into objects of devotion, there’s a contender for foodies’ affections in the form of … a ball of meat.

The meatball — humble star of what has become a classic American dish via Italian influence, spaghetti and meatballs with red gravy — is having a moment in the tight-knit neighborhood of Port Richmond in North Philadelphia.

At Mother of Divine Grace Interparochial Catholic School, some 20 volunteers met in the school hall on a recent morning to begin making 5,000 meatballs over two days.

Each is larger than a golf ball, smaller than a tennis ball, and packed with flavor.

Over two days, volunteers representing men and women of Irish, German or other backgrounds plus a few Italian-Americans, hand mixed 300 pounds of fresh ground beef, breadcrumbs, freshly chopped parsley and garlic plus some egg for binding, on a clean table.

Then small teams at round tables use ice cream scoops to form mounds into meatballs.

In May volunteers will prepare 140 pounds of pasta, 300 pounds of fresh peppers and onions, 200 pounds of sausage steamed in beer, and 55 gallons of tomato sauce (reverently referred to as gravy) culminating in a grand Italian Festival.

This annual party, held for decades in the school hall and on the schoolyard’s blacktop, is slated to run May 29 to 31 and June 5 to 7 on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings.

Sit-down dinners served in the school hall begin at 5 p.m., and outside carnival-style food including sandwiches (sausage and peppers, pulled pork, hot dogs), pizza, and fried dough plus children’s games and musical entertainment begin at 6 p.m.

In the little more than a month’s time of preparation until the festival, it’s all volunteer hands on deck, led by the festival committee’s chairman, Ken Thierren.

He’s a seasoned chef with 25 years of running kitchens under his belt. He and wife Jill have three children — one eighth grader and two fifth graders — at Mother of Divine Grace School.

With a nod to their busy household, preparing for the festival “is the only time I get to be in charge,” Ken joked.

As he browned a batch of meatballs on the stovetop and helped bag others destined for the freezer on April 4, he looked with pride on the work of so many lively volunteers. “We’re expecting 2,800 meatballs today,” he said.

All this good food and Port Richmond neighborhood friendliness has a higher purpose, which is to support the independent Catholic school and its 160 students, grades pre-K through eight.

“(The festival) is very important,” said volunteer Fran Harrigan. “We’re a small school. We have devoted families. It’s an independent school so we rely on fundraisers. This helps keep our school open.”

The school’s principal, Jane Lockhart, couldn’t agree more. For 25 years she’s led the school, and for the past five, as an independent Catholic school.

Mother of Divine Grace Parish was among the four Catholic parishes of Port Richmond to merge into St. John Paul II Parish six years ago. It would have made sense to merge the students into the newly constituted Our Lady of Port Richmond Regional Catholic School, but the faithful of MDG School wanted to try keeping it independent.

With the blessing of the pastor, Father James Olson, Lockhart got to work examining every dollar and every detail that went into the school’s operations.

She got a boost from the Strategic Planning Assistance Team (SPAT), administered through the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s Office of Catholic Education.

The program educates principals in core business skills — accounting, budgeting, marketing, development — so they can make their schools “more financially sustainable and less reliant on parish funding,” wrote Archbishop Nelson Pérez in a December 2021 letter to pastors promoting the program.

“Without SPAT we wouldn’t be here,” Lockhart said. “I can’t say enough about it.” She praised the help of Jerry Parsons, the West Chester business leader who suggested the program for all Catholic grade schools four years ago.

“(He) really helped us and gave us the confidence that we could do this, and gave us the expertise (by assisting) with the financial study,” she said.

Running a Catholic school without the safety net of a parish subsidy could lead to “days that I threw my hands in the air,” Lockhart said.

“But (SPAT) gave me and our staff and the families the confidence that it can be done. We’re living proof that it does work. It takes some long days but in the long run, look at us, we’re here.”

She gives credit to state programs including EITC (Educational Improvement Tax Credits) and OSTC (Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credits), organizations such as BLOCS (Business Leadership Organized for Catholic Education), the Bridge Educational Foundation, the George and Mary Kremer Foundation, the Children’s Scholarship Fund, and estate bequests for tuition in memory of the deceased.

Thanks to the management help, tuition assistance, and the Italian Festival — the school’s largest annual fundraiser which can garner more than $100,000 — Mother of Divine Grace School continues to serve the mission of Catholic education.

It also points to the missionary hubs that will be planted soon in which individual church communities, schools, and unique cultural traditions will all contribute to building up the Church of Philadelphia in the spirit of missionary discipleship.