DUNMORE, Pa. — If you were driving south along Interstate 81 near Dunmore over the weekend, you may have noticed the Shrine of the Sacred Heart had been vandalized.
Michael Zayac is the director of facilities for the Sisters of I.H.M., who own the property.
Zayac received a call about the damage on Monday morning.
"I came by immediately I saw it, and I was devastated. I couldn't believe it. So, it wasn't a good feeling, and then, of course, trying to think of a game plan to get it cleaned up was the next mission," Zayac said.
Two days later, Patrick Paul McMullen, owner of Electric City Powerwashing, worked to remove the spray paint from the statue.
Sister Fran Fasolka says the Shrine of the Sacred Heart has been here since 1966 and was damaged two times before.
She, too, was saddened that someone would do this but was pleasantly surprised by the number of people who reached out to share what the statue meant to them.
"They drive by here, and they feel so blessed they say a prayer, they bless themselves. They offer an intention for someone in need because they see this statue," said Sister Fran.
Sister Fran says they are thankful for the volunteers who jumped in to help when the bad news came along.
"We are just so blessed by all the support from everyone here in Scranton and Dunmore."
"The amount of people that have stepped come forward to offer help is mind-boggling. So it tells me that there's a lot of really good people locally that are willing to step in and help out for a project like this," said Zayac.
The graffiti was completely removed after McMullen spent a few hours making it look new again, free of charge.
Sisters of I.H.M. say they are looking into ways to protect the shrine and the property from vandals in the future.
If anyone has information on the vandalism, you're asked to call Dunmore Police at (570) 343-0851.
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