Annual collection gives Catholic Charities flexibility

Especially since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, many of Catholic Charities’ programs – such as its groundbreaking Bethlehem Housing program to move homeless families off the streets into housing and provide them with employment, educational and social skills – are funded through grants that require the money to be used in specific ways.
 

However, Sister Marjorie said, the yearly collection gives Catholic Charities flexibility to respond to needs that crop up, which might not be addressed by one of its existing programs.
 

Responding to those needs that otherwise could fall through the cracks has prompted Sister Marjorie’s decision to use a portion of this year’s collection proceeds to hire an additional social worker who could respond more effectively when Catholic Charities receives requests to help individuals or families.
 

Creative solutions
 

Sometimes, the need is to find creative ways to help the family of a hospital patient whose hospitalization time is up and needs a safe place to stay, a predicament that might not fit under a specific program.
The additional social worker also would have the freedom to be present at emergency sites when needed, such as happened when the Hard Rock Hotel under construction on Canal Street collapsed last October.

 

Catholic Charities not only has provided pastoral care – and is still providing that care – to the families of those killed and injured in the collapse, but also has helped displaced apartment residents and employees of closed businesses around the collapse site.
 

“The collection gives us discretionary dollars, and we need the services of another, full-time social worker to more broadly extend the net,” Sister Marjorie said. “Our programs are so grant-specific that our hands are often held from being able to take care of this matter because we don’t have anybody (who falls under the guidelines) of a grant. We have so many good programs, but they’re so specialized. It’s all the everyday crises.”
 

The Bethlehem Housing program is now in its second year of four years of funding from the Bezos Day One Fund, established by Jeff Bezos. The initiative aims to move homeless families from life on the streets into stable housing, along with assessing their physical and mental states and providing a plan for future independence and success.

 

Currently, families who enter the program have to actually be living on the streets, but Catholic Charities hopes to utilize discretionary funds to help those who are facing homelessness after being evicted from their homes.
 

A duplex called Siena House has been renovated to provide housing for two families, and other families have been housed in apartments around the archdiocese. The goal for this year is to serve 60 families across six civil parishes.
 

There is no single solution to the problem of homelessness, said Deacon Martin Gutierrez, chief operating officer of Catholic Charities. As the Bethlehem Housing program evolves, Deacon Gutierrez said it has become apparent how critical mental health services are in helping families and individuals.
 

“We need to stabilize them and put them in a house first, and then we have to deal with everything else,” Deacon Gutierrez said. “Mental health is a huge issue.”
 

Maria Huete, director of institutional advancement, also said one of Catholic Charities’ “wildly underutilized” programs is Food for Seniors. It can help eligible seniors with home-delivered commodities each month.
 

For more information, go to ccano.org or call (866) 891-2210.