Mary Jo Copeland was summoned to the loading dock of her Sharing and Caring Hands facility in Minneapolis Dec. 21.
She was there to meet Patrick and Ava Daly, who came to donate 30 winter parkas made by their newly launched business, Deano’s Parkas. They wanted to offer warmth for people who spend much of their time on the streets and endure the cold of winter day after day.
Copeland’s staff brought the parkas inside, then she invited the Catholic couple, who married on Oct. 27 at Holy Family in St. Louis Park, upstairs for a tour of her drop-in center for the poor and homeless.
After greeting people coming in for lunch, Copeland joined hands with Patrick, Ava and Ava’s twin sister, Blaire Pospesel, and led a short prayer. Then, Patrick and Ava placed a parka on the shoulders of the 81-year-old founder of Sharing and Caring Hands. She looked at each of them and burst into her trademark smile.
The parka was a perfect fit, literally and figuratively.
“Can I keep it?” Copeland asked.
Of course, the two newlyweds replied. For them, this gift to Mary Jo was icing on the cake.
Surely, this moment would have warmed the heart of the man who made it all possible — Ava’s father, Dean Pospesel, who came up with the idea of the parkas in 2018 but can’t carry out his vision because of a life-altering health problem. He suffered a cardiac arrest in December 2021 that deprived him of oxygen to his brain. This led to an anoxic brain injury and has left him in the care of his twin daughters.
Ava runs the company, which was launched in October, and keeps her father’s vision at the front of her mind and in the depths of her heart. Patrick also helps out, as does Blaire and their brother, Cole.
“We want everyone to wear a little Dean on them, as he made ordinary moments special,” said Patrick Daly, 33. “We thought, ‘What better way to continue his ideation and legacy (than) through these parkas?’”
Dean’s legacy is more than designing parkas. He had to carry on after becoming a widowed father of three when his wife, Jeanette, died in a car accident in 2006 while driving Ava and Blaire to a sporting event. She was 46.
“My mom was an amazing person,” said Ava, 31. “And then, my dad, when she passed away, became a superhuman. He dedicated every day to my sister and I and my brother. … We love him so much, and this is one way we can honor him because he lived each day honoring those he loved.”
Dean originally made the parkas for members of a men’s hockey league he had joined. After the games, players would gather in the parking lot, a place Ava said they called the “blacktop bar.” Her dad, Ava said, enjoyed “spending time with the people that he loved and never wanted it to end.” So, to make long post-game gatherings possible, he bought bright orange sleeping bags, then had a seamstress remake them into parkas.
“He made a jacket for every one of his teammates and he even had their names embroidered on them,” Ava said. “He passed them out after one hockey game. And not only were they so warm, but they were like nothing his teammates had ever seen. They put such a smile on everybody’s face; my dad knew they were going to be something special.”
Dean continued to develop the parka design over the next three years, with the idea of one day producing and selling them. Along the way, he developed a philosophy that will always guide the company.
“The mission of our company is to make ordinary moments special,” Ava said. “That’s an acronym for M.O.M.S. — Make Ordinary Moments Special. He created that phrase … because he wanted to pay homage to my mom.”
The company is guided by Catholic principles, thanks to Ava’s conversion to Catholicism and joining the Church on Oct. 1. Her teacher for the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults (formerly called the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults) was none other than Patrick’s brother, Father Michael Daly, who serves at St. Michael in St. Michael and was the celebrant at their wedding.
“When I first met Patrick, I really didn’t know much about the Catholic faith,” said Ava, who grew up in Wayzata and attended Wayzata Community Church with her family. “As we grew in our relationship, Patrick started sharing with me how he incorporates his Catholic faith into his everyday life. We started attending Mass together and praying daily. It was really powerful and had a great impact on me.
“And so, when we got engaged (in March) and we were looking forward to marriage, it was important to me that I entered into the (Catholic) faith.”
They now belong to Holy Family, and they sometimes go to St. Bartholomew in Wayzata, which is near where they live. Occasionally, they go to Mass at St. Michael so they can see Father Daly when he celebrates Mass there. When it’s cold, they walk hand-in-hand from the parking lot while wearing Deano’s Parkas.
“I think faith needs to be the center of our relationship, and a pillar, like my parents (Lulu and Dr. Peter Daly) made it,” Patrick said. “I think, through (OCIA), we really got to know each other on a much deeper level. We went through 20 weeks of it while we were engaged. I mean, our entire engagement was (OCIA) every Wednesday.”
The Dalys aren’t sure what the future holds for Deano’s Parkas. They have sold nearly 200 so far, and offer it in four colors — blaze orange, pink, green and black.
“The black parka is perfect for priests who are wearing all black,” Patrick said. “We’re hoping to put a parka on every priest in the (arch)diocese.”
One thing is certain — Patrick and Ava will give their best effort to keep the company going and keep the parkas covering the shoulders of people wanting protection from cold Minnesota winters.
“We’re putting our blood, sweat and tears — and our faith — into these parkas, just trying to make ordinary moments special,” Patrick said. “I think Jesus would want to wear a parka, and he’d want people to embrace something like this, because they (parkas) really bring warmth to people — not just physically warm, but warming people’s hearts as well.”
