Florida Catholic | New Catholic Charities Office Offers Room To Grow

New Catholic Charities office offers room to grow

Catholic Charities moves across the street into a new two–level building with facilities to meet their growing needs.

TANYA GOODMAN | FLORIDA CATHOLIC ORLANDO BUREAU EDITOR

Published: 03.07.08

ORLANDO | Finally, elbow room.

Expanding programs, and the staff to support them, taxed the 11,000 square feet of the 1771 N. Semoran Blvd. building housing the headquarters of Catholic Charities of Central Florida Inc.

Now the headquarters is a two-level facility across the street from the former location, offering room to move, fiber optics and a 55-seat theater for education and training. It also offers a spiritual addition — a chapel.

Bishop Thomas Wenski blessed the new building at 1819 N. Semoran Blvd. Feb. 24, officially opening it for business.

“We were overcrowded in our former headquarters, so the new headquarters will allow expansion of programs under the strategic plan that was the result of the yearlong synod social services assessment process,” said Shaye O’Donnell, Catholic Charities’ public affairs officer.

The synod, “Starting Afresh From Christ,” which began in 2005, was an 18-month effort to discern the most pressing issues facing the diocese.

The new building offers nearly 18,000 square feet of space. “We have added new space for new staff and future programs,” O’Donnell said. “The new headquarters allows us to consolidate all our central region core programs on a contiguous campus by closing two outlying offices on Semoran Boulevard.

“We will keep the old building and put it to better use. The move frees up space in our current overcrowded headquarters to ultimately consolidate all of our refugee programs in one area (employment, youth services, integration and resettlement) and expand our immigration program once some building remodeling takes place to make most efficient use of all the space,” O’Donnell said. “We also are looking into a possibility of adding a free dental clinic into the existing building, now that space has been made available — and will look for assistance with that possibility.”

The Emergency Family Assistance program and the Semoran Food Pantry will remain in the old building.

“We’ve set our sights on comprehensive care for the individual and family to tend to the corporal and spiritual deficits around us,” said CEO Arne Nelson. “Our new headquarters finally gives us the room to take our programs further and extend our reach deeper into the nine counties of central Florida.”

Catholic Charities has served central Florida since 1962.

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New Catholic Charities office offers room to grow

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