The annual feast of San Gennaro, which honors the patron saint of Naples, Italy, attracts crowds to Little Italy each September. 

People walk the streets enjoying sausage and peppers, rice balls, bracciole, zeppole and cannoli, in addition to watching live entertainment and playing carnival games. 

However, Manhattan’s most famous Italian festival also has a more serious purpose: to raise money for good causes, including those that serve Italian-American communities in Brooklyn. 

Figli di San Gennaro, the nonprofit organization behind the feast, has donated over $2 million since 1996, according to its website. Shrine Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and Bensonhurst Cluster Youth Ministry, both located in Brooklyn, are beneficiaries.

The Bensonhurst ministry is currently organized by St. Athanasius, St. Dominic and St. Mary Mother of Jesus. 

During its creation 15 years ago, seven parishes in the South Brooklyn area came together to support a full-time youth minister.

That person is Coordinator for Youth Ministry Kenny Wodzanowski, 51, who has held the position since the ministry’s start. 

Wodzanowski said that through its donations, the San Gennaro feast helps another Italian community “with the same spirit.”

“I don’t even think San Gennaro knows that their mission of their festival, why they keep going, is indirectly similar to our style of ministry with young people,” he said. “It’s almost like it’s a multiplication of an event that happens, once a year for two weeks, then has an impact throughout the whole year.”

It offers its services to youth from junior high and high school. It also has special programs for young adults and families with young children.

Its mission is to create a welcoming space that builds bridges between youth and friends, family, mentors and God. 

“We definitely try to make them realize this idea of faith and fun,” he said. “People sometimes associate religion with being boring and rigid, but [our hope is that they see that] this can be playful. Then there’s a time to be reflective and serious, so that they become well-rounded individuals.”

Every other Friday night, middle school children come to the youth center for Wildlife Club at St. Dominic. It’s “a place to play and pray,” Wodzanowski said.

Approximately 25 children attended the most recent gathering on Oct. 8. In addition to providing food, the event featured community-building exercises and structured and unstructured play time in the gym.

“We want to help them to feel comfortable, to connect and get to know each other,” Wodzanowski said. “That leads into an opportunity of prayer. They learn how to quiet themselves down and connect with the divine.”

High schoolers and young adults socialize at the youth center on Wednesdays. 

In addition to in-house gatherings, the youth ministry organizes local, citywide and nationwide outings. In the past, members attended camps, retreats and trips to ball games.

Children have the opportunity for community service at St. Athanasius’s food pantry, participating in the weekly food distribution. They also volunteer with its weekly outreach program that brings food to streets in Brooklyn and Manhattan.

These opportunities are made possible in part by the funds from the San Gennaro feast. 

The ministry’s initial funding was only able to support Wodzanowski’s position, making outside sources necessary for youth programming.

The feast’s donations make the outings affordable for families who otherwise wouldn’t have access to such opportunities. They also fund volunteer training. 

“It gets used in different ways, but ultimately helps us with anything and everything we do,” he said. “Without it, we would be really strapped to be able to offer these opportunities to kids.”

The ministry allows students to gain confidence and connection, growing in “mind, body and spirit.”

“We teach them to be more compassionate, more forgiving, less judgmental,” Wodzanowski said. “Because that’s what we try to practice.”