May 8th, 2013
We’re opening a new food pantry site at St. Margaret Mary Church on Staten Island this Friday, May 10th, and we’re looking for volunteers.
Tasks can include:
1. Setting up a client choice pantry outside on folding tables. This will require moving cases of food weighing 20-50 lbs. A hand truck will be available.
2. Greeting the clients of the pantry, providing information and maintaining an orderly flow of people.
3. Breaking down the tables and putting the food away. This will involve some use of stairs and carrying cases of food.
We will also be looking for volunteers willing to help at this new site through June. More postings will be made for future dates.
Please share with your friends and sign up to help the hungry.
Tags: client choice pantry, food donations, pantry, St. Margaret Mary Church, volunteer opportunities, Volunteers
Posted in Feeding the Hungry and Sheltering the Homeless, Parishes, Staten Island, Volunteering, What We Do at Catholic Charities | No Comments »
May 7th, 2013
From Left to Right: George Rodriguez, Fidelis Care NY Director of Marketing; Mark Sclafani, Vice President, Marketing; Pamela Hassan, Chief Marketing Officer; Msgr. Kevin Sullivan, Catholic Charities Executive Director; Beatriz Diaz Taveras, Executive Director CCCS
By Alice Kenny
Fidelis Care, a partner with Catholic Charities Community Services (CCCS) for nearly a decade, donated $509,000 to Catholic Charities on May 3, 2013 to further the two agencies’ aligned mission to serve the poor and needy of New York.
This partnership has proved particularly important in light of the punishing impact the lasting effects the economic recession and deep cuts in social service programs have had on families in need.
- One in every six New Yorkers – 1.4 million of our neighbors – now relies on daily emergency food.
- More than half are employed yet still cannot manage to make ends meet with their earnings. Close to 9,700 families with 15,000 children sleep in homeless shelters.
These numbers indicate what Catholic Charities already knows. Poverty is not merely the lack of adequate financial resources. Instead, it entails a profound deprivation, a denial of full participation in the economic, social and political life of society and an inability to influence decisions that affect one’s own life. It means being powerless in a way that assaults not only one’s pocketbook but also one’s fundamental human dignity.
Fidelis Care is the New York State Catholic Health Plan, providing health coverage to children and adults in 58 counties statewide. The mission of Fidelis Care is to ensure that every resident, regardless of income, age, religion, gender, or ethnic background, has access to quality health care and is provided with dignity and respect. Through partnerships with providers, schools, and community agencies like Catholic Charities New York, Fidelis Care works to foster healthier futures for members and their families.
Now as more and more individuals and families seek help, the Fidelis Care grant assists Catholic Charities Community Services as we continue to respond as we always have, with professional case management services across the ten counties of the Archdiocese of New York that alleviate crises and set families and individuals on a path toward stability.
Tags: Archdiocese of New York, Beatriz Diaz Taveras, case management services, Catholic Charities Community Services, Catholic Charities New York, economic recession, emergency food, Fidelis Care, health coverage, homeless shelters, New York State Catholic Health Plan, quality health care, social service programs
Posted in Agencies, Feeding the Hungry and Sheltering the Homeless, Monsignor Kevin Sullivan, New York City, Protecting and Nurturing Children and Youth, Staten Island, Strengthening Families and Resolving Crises, Supporting the Physically and Emotionally Challenged, What We Do at Catholic Charities | No Comments »
May 6th, 2013
On the very last, most beautiful day of April 2013, 143 tireless workers put down their frying pans, serving trays, aprons, and hand trucks to feast and be celebrated. From the farthest corners of the Bronx to the Lower East Side, volunteers from food pantries and soup kitchens supported by Catholic Charities Community Services gathered at the Triangle Building of Alianza for the first-ever Volunteer Appreciation Event held in their honor.
The same men and women who, earlier that day, were packing 200 bags of food or scrubbing pots, got the chance to sit down to a catered meal while CCCS staff called out name after name of volunteer chefs, food packers, inventory specialists, and data base managers. In all, 46 program coordinators and long-time volunteers from 14 different programs came up to the podium to receive certificates from Monsignor Kevin Sullivan. Honors were given for years of service ranging from 20 to 36 years, and for those special volunteers who worked “Above and Beyond”, as their certificates stated. These included senior Maria Sanchez, founder of St. Anthony’s Soup Kitchen in the Bronx, who has been leading the program for 20 years, and young Walter Martin, who uses his free time in between job interviews to work for no less than 4 different pantries.
“We’ve been wanting to do this for so long” said Jeanne McGettigan, Director of Emergency Food Services. “Monsignor Sullivan and Staci-Jo Bruce, Director of Volunteer Services were the ones who finally made it happen. It was so moving to see all of these generous, hard-working people gathered together in one place. We really are one big team, but we don’t often get to see ourselves that way.”
Ms. McGettigan said the event organizers were particularly pleased that CCCS staff was able to make these activities completely bi-lingual. Well over 50% of the volunteers in attendance consider Spanish their first language. To make sure that all felt included, everything from invitations, to program cards and presentations by speakers was carried out in Spanish and English. Project Manager Lizaura German emceed and translated as needed. Monsignor Sullivan and Beatriz Diaz Taveras, Executive Director of CCCS traveled comfortably between languages as they thanked the volunteers for their steadfast efforts to beat back hunger in their communities.
Also delivering a rousing speech in two languages was special guest Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez of Washington Heights and Inwood. Remembering how, during his childhood, his own family had sometimes needed food assistance, he told the volunteers that he “didn’t think twice” about dedicating Council discretionary funds to the busy CCCS pantry nearby his office.
An additional service award was presented to Christopher Melito of Credit Suisse, recognizing the company’s Day of Service, which brought 20 corporate employees to a CCCS food pantry for the day to prepare and demonstrate healthy cooking methods and give pantry customers the equipment to carry out the same practices in their own kitchens.
The feeling in the room was so joyful, and the cumulative effect of hearing story after story of faith in action was so moving, a number of staff and volunteers stated their conviction that this first-ever event should now be considered an annual gathering not to be missed.
Tags: Alianza, Beatriz Diaz Taveras, Bronx, Catholic Charities Community Services, Christopher Melito, Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez, Credit Suisse, data base managers, Day of Service, Director of Emergency Food Services, Director of Volunteer Services, food assistance, food packers, food pantries, healthy cooking methods, inventory specialists, inwood, Jeanne McGettigan, Lizaura German, Maria Sanchez, Monsignor Kevin Sullivan, soup kitchens, St. Anthony’s Soup Kitchen, Staci-Jo Bruce, Triangle Building, Volunteer Appreciation Event, volunteer chefs, Walter Martin, Washington Heights
Posted in Feeding the Hungry and Sheltering the Homeless, Monsignor Kevin Sullivan, New York City, Parishes, Protecting and Nurturing Children and Youth, Staten Island, Strengthening Families and Resolving Crises, Volunteering | No Comments »
May 3rd, 2013
By Alice Kenny
Celso Vera, director of Catholic Guild for the Blind, joined former Governor David A. Paterson and a host of other dignitaries at the 100-year anniversary celebration of the New York State Commission for the Blind and Visually Handicapped held in Albany on April 30.
Former Gov. Paterson literally leapt on to the stage at Hotel Albany where the event was held, reported the Oneida Daily Dispatch.
“Never underestimate the blind,” Gov. Paterson deadpanned to the crowd’s delight after ignoring the stairs and jumping several feet up to the podium. Paterson, who served for almost three years after Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s resignation, was the first blind person to serve as governor in the U.S. He was also New York’s first black governor, eventually abandoning an uphill effort to get elected and clearing the way for Andrew Cuomo.
Gov. Paterson shared his experience with an employer who denied him a job and the profound impact that being rejected had on him. He described his personal experiences as a consumer of services and how he was helped to overcome the challenges of his disability. And he credited the Commission for the Blind with helping him re-gain his confidence.
Guild for the Blind, a program of Catholic Charities Community Services, has contracted with the state commission for 45 years to provide social services as well as training in employment skills, independent living, in home and mobility training for visually impaired persons.
“The Guild, along with the Commission for the Blind and other agencies in New York State, has allowed thousands of visually impaired people gain independence, making them productive members of society,” Mr. Vera said as he joined in the celebration.
Read Gov. Paterson’s powerful story.
Are you looking for help or interested in hiring a person with a visual impairment?
Contact the Catholic Guild for the Blind:
Manhattan Office: 646-794-2016 or email
Yonkers Office: 914-476-2700 or email
Poughkeepsie Office: 845-452-1400 or email
Tags: Catholic Guild for the Blind, Celso Vera, Commission for the Blind, Director of Catholic Guild for the Blind, employment skills, Governor David A. Paterson, independent living, New York State Commission for the Blind and Visually Handicapped, Oneida Daily Dispatch, visually impaired persons
Posted in Supporting the Physically and Emotionally Challenged | No Comments »
May 2nd, 2013
By Alice Kenny
Thanks to the creativity and compassion of fourteen-year-old Victoria Robustello, elementary-school children felled in the Newtown massacre will be honored along with local heroes at the upcoming CYO Club of Champions dinner.
Now in its 77th year, the upcoming CYO Club of Champions dinner scheduled for this summer celebrates individuals who provide inspiration and leadership for youth.
Victoria agreed to display her painstaking painting that depicts each of the 20 slain children floating above a cloud at the event on June 26, 2013. She is also sending framed copies to the children’s families as well as the Sandy Hook Fire Department and school. A $250 donation, in turn, will be given anonymously to The Newtown-Sandy Hook Community Foundation, Inc. in recognition of Victoria’s painting.
A student at John Jay High School in Hopewell Junction in upstate Dutchess County, Victoria began sketching the painting on her drawing table in her bedroom shortly after the mass murder in December 2012. She pulled up web photos of the children, and then recaptured in painting their smiling faces and the clothing they wore.
“It just broke my heart,” her mother, Pam Robustello, said, “knowing that when it would be finished there would be 20 children on that portrait that are no longer with us.”
Although Victoria acknowledges the pain she felt reproducing the children one by one, she seems to have found comfort as well.
“There will never be any answers for something so senseless,” she wrote the parents when she sent them copies of her paintings. “But I want you to know that I pray for you daily.
“I hope you enjoy the portrait that I have made for you and that it will give you some peace in knowing that they are all angels now together, still playing still singing, still having fun.”
Tags: Catholic Youth Organization, CYO, CYO Club of Champions, dutchess county, Hopewell Junction, ictoria Robustello, Inc., John Jay High School, Newtown-Sandy Hook Community Foundation, painting, Sandy Hook Fire Department
Posted in Hudson Valley, Protecting and Nurturing Children and Youth, Strengthening Families and Resolving Crises | No Comments »
May 1st, 2013
By Alice Kenny
Immigration reform may pass this year, predicts Kevin Appleby, director of migration and refugee policy at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, as he speaks with Msgr. Kevin Sullivan on JustLove radio broadcast on April 27.
“Political winds, Mr. Appleby says, “are blowing our way.”
Called the “guru of immigration reform” by Msgr. Sullivan, Mr. Appleby offers an inside perspective on immigration reform’s history, hurdles and likelihood of success.
“We don’t have a system based on the rule of law anymore,” Mr. Appleby says. “It’s based on chaos.
“At the border we have a sign that says ‘keep out’ but at the workplace we have a sign that says ‘help wanted.’”
Eleven million people live in the shadows and form an underground economy, he added. Massive deportations divide families and pull parents away from children. Persons struggling for a better life die as they try to cross the desert.
Solutions have been debated for decades, ever since Congress passed its last major immigration reform bill in 1986.
What’s different now “in a word,” says Mr. Appleby, “is the election; both parties have taken note and realized that the demographics of our country are changing and they need to get out ahead of it.”
Tune in to hear the entire show on The Catholic Channel 129, SIRIUS XM Satellite Radio.
Looking for information about Comprehensive Immigration Reform?
Catholic Charities is here to help.
Click here to learn how to prepare for immigration reform
Contact us now.
Call Catholic Charities at New York State New Americans Hotline: 1-800-566-7636
Tags: campaign, deportations, families, immigrant community, immigrants, Immigration Reform, immigration status, Justice for Immigrants, Kevin Appleby, legal immigration policies, Legal Services for Immigrants, naturalization cases, New York State New Americans Hotline, NYS New Americans Hotline, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
Posted in New York City, Parishes, Protecting and Nurturing Children and Youth, Strengthening Families and Resolving Crises, Welcoming and Integrating Immigrants and Refugees, What We Do at Catholic Charities | No Comments »
April 30th, 2013
By Alice Kenny
Giselle Harrington speaks with Msgr. Kevin Sullivan at volunteer luncheon.
Catholic Charities honored seven Refugee Resettlement Department volunteers who together logged more than 700 volunteer hours in just over half a year at an internationally themed volunteer luncheon held Friday, April 26.
“There’s a great need for nonprofit work,” said Giselle Harrington, a volunteer who worked in Egypt and Palestine teaching children with mental disabilities before returning to the United States and volunteering with Catholic Charities. “Volunteers really make nonprofit work happen.”
Similar to fellow volunteers that attended the luncheon, Ms. Harrington helps refugees pull together resumes and find work.
“I use my understanding of how to network,” Ms. Harrington said, “so that people can become employed, self sufficient and have a good result.”
Would you like to help change a life?
Click here to find a volunteer opportunity tailored just for you.
Tags: awards, Giselle Harrington, international community, luncheon, nonprofit, Refugee Resettlement Department, refugees, resumes, volunteer opportunity, Volunteers
Posted in Events, Monsignor Kevin Sullivan, New York City, Uncategorized, Volunteering, Welcoming and Integrating Immigrants and Refugees, What We Do at Catholic Charities | No Comments »
April 29th, 2013
By Alice Kenny
Looking for free staffing plus a chance to help teens this summer?
Check out Catholic Charities Community Services/Alianza Division’s Summer Youth Employment Program. We are looking for organizations and agencies to partner with us to provide young people with a worksite and great work experience.
What’s in it for you?
All told, we plan to train and place more than 900 teens and young adults, ages 14 — 24, at worksites throughout New York City from July 8th until August 17th. And this is all at no cost to you.
The Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) provides New York City teens and young adults with summer employment and educational experiences that capitalize on individual strengths, develop skills, and connect youth to positive adult role models.
SYEP provides six weeks of entry-level jobs at community-based organizations, government agencies and private sector businesses. In past years these have included hospitals, summer camps, nonprofits, small businesses, law firms, museums, sports enterprises and retail organizations.
What’s in it for youth?
The Summer Youth Employment Program is designed to:
- Emphasize real-world labor expectations
- Increase awareness of services offered by local community-based organizations
- Provide opportunities for career instruction, financial literacy training, academic improvement, and social growth
CCCS works in collaboration with the Department of Youth and Community Development and pays participants the minimum wage pay rate of $7.25.
Don’t worry. We provide the salary; you provide the site.
How about some details?
As an SYEP worksite, you agree to:
- Provide productive and meaningful work assignments
- Provide training and supervision
- Communicate regularly with the community-based organization that placed participants to ensure accurate compensation for hours worked
- Evaluate your participants and provide adequate feedback and mentoring
- You can choose Group 1: Youth ages 14-15 or Group 2: Youth ages 16-24.
- The younger group works 15 work hours plus 5 educational hours per week. (No worries: We provide the educational hours.)
- Group 2 can work 25 hours a week.
Sounds great. How do I sign up?
Click here to learn more and become a worksite.
Click here to learn more.
Tags: academic improvement, Alianza, career instruction, Catholic Charities Community Services, community-based organizations, Department of Youth and Community Development, entry-level jobs, financial literacy training, government agencies, hospitals, law firms, museums, New York City, nonprofits, private sector businesses, small businesses, social growth, sports enterprises, summer camps, summer employment, Summer Youth Employment Program, SYEP, teens, young adults
Posted in New York City, Protecting and Nurturing Children and Youth | No Comments »
April 26th, 2013
Press conference spotlights services for Sandy survivors.
By Alice Kenny
Chinatown political representatives joined TV correspondents and reporters at a well-attended press conference held at the Greater Chinatown Community Association (GCCA) in Manhattan’s Chinatown last week to broadcast the latest information about disaster support for Sandy survivors. Watch it on SINOVISION.net.
GCCA, an affiliated agency of the Archdiocese of New York’s federation, is one of more than fifteen social service agencies extending from Long Island to the Hudson Valley providing local, on-the-ground disaster case management to individuals with homes or businesses damaged by Superstorm Sandy. The New York State Disaster Case Management Program, managed by Catholic Charities Community Services, Archdiocese of New York, will provide approximately 200 disaster case managers to assist individuals and families in the 13 -New York counties hardest hit by Superstorm Sandy.
Designed to streamline support and avoid frustration and confusion, the Disaster Case Management program whittles down the complex system of disaster support by providing survivors with a single point of contact to access a broad range of resources. This allows people still reeling from the loss of jobs and homes to avoid the need to search out multiple organizations that might respond to their various needs.
Instead, survivors can relate their experiences and submit their documentation to a single, local disaster case manager who guides them through the recovery process. This local model of providing disaster support proves particularly important in sites such as Chinatown where language barriers can make a confusing process almost overwhelming.
An elderly Chinese man with lung cancer whose basement apartment flooded during the storm, for example, received different answers from so many different places that, by the time he came to GCCA for help, “he was ready to give up,” said GCCA Executive Director Chih-Ping (Andy) Yu.
Disaster case managers are both advocates and expediters for those affected by Sandy. They first assess if clients have unmet needs related to the storm. If people qualify, they will be assigned a disaster case manager to serve as a single point of contact for all assistance, including that coming from insurance companies, private organizations, and government. Then, based on interactions with the client, the service coordinators create individualized disaster recovery plans, including advocating for access to needed services, coordinating benefits, and making referrals for services outside the scope of disaster case management. Existing Sandy-related services for individuals and families range from direct federal and state grants and Small Business Administration loans to insurance advocacy and referrals to the range of not-for-profit and voluntary programs that have been established.
The program is modeled after a similar one run by Catholic Charities Community Services in 34 counties across New York State following Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee in 2011.
Eligibility for the Sandy New York State Disaster Case Management Program is open to anyone with an unmet need that arose from or was exacerbated by Superstorm Sandy, even those who have not applied to FEMA for assistance or are undocumented.
Looking for help?
- Call 1-855-258-0483 to find the location nearest you.
- Are you a Sandy survivor who lives in Chinatown or speaks a Chinese dialect and is looking for help? Contact the Greater Chinatown Community Association, 105 Mosco Street, New York, NY 10013. Phone 212-374-1311. www.gccanyc.org.
- For a full list of disaster case management locations, visit www.catholiccharitiesny.org.
Tags: Archdiocese of New York, Catholic Charities Community Services, Chih-Ping (Andy) Yu, Chinatown, Chinese, Disaster Case Management, FEMA, Greater Chinatown Community Association, hudson valley, Long Island, New York State Disaster Case Management Program, press conference, reporters, Sandy survivors, Small Business Administration, social service agencies, Superstorm Sandy, TV correspondents, undocumented
Posted in Events, New York City, Protecting and Nurturing Children and Youth, Strengthening Families and Resolving Crises, Welcoming and Integrating Immigrants and Refugees | No Comments »
April 25th, 2013
By Alice Kenny
The day laborer group, Obreros Unidos De Yonkers, joined a small army of volunteers to clean a neglected section of the Old Croton Aqueduct State Historic Park Trail on Sunday.
Together, more than 200 volunteers picked up trash along a neglected section of the Old Croton Aqueduct State Historic Park Trail that runs through the Lenoir Nature Preserve in Yonkers.
Catholic Charities has an ongoing involvement with Obreros Unidos De Yonkers, a group of approximately 300 day laborers in the Yonkers area. Through this program, Catholic Charities educates workers on employment rights and responsibilities to prevent exploitation and abuse. Catholic Charities also assists in the collection of unpaid wages, helps workers get access to healthcare services, provides emergency food, and offers English language and computer skills instruction.
Looking for more information about Obreros Unidos de Yonkers?
- Call (914) 375-6729/48 or visit the office at St. Peter’s Church basement, 91 Ludlow Street, Yonkers, NY 10705
- Call the Catholic Charities Help Line — (888) 744-7900 — for help finding services you need.
Tags: Lenoir Nature Preserve, Obreros Unidos De Yonkers, Old Croton Aqueduct State Historic Park, St. Peters Church, Volunteers
Posted in Events, Hudson Valley, Volunteering, Welcoming and Integrating Immigrants and Refugees, What We Do at Catholic Charities | No Comments »
We’re opening a new food pantry site at St. Margaret Mary Church on Staten Island this Friday, May 10th, and we’re looking for volunteers.
