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Not your grandparents’ Catholic Charities

Agency expands services to the poor within the Pensacola-Tallahassee Diocese

PEGGY DEKEYSER | FLORIDA CATHOLIC PENSACOLA - TALLAHASSEE BUREAU EDITOR

Published: 10.05.07

CATHOLIC CHARITIES' GALAS ARE FUN WAYS TO HELP

Catholic Charities’ Pensacola and Panama City regional offices both host galas to raise funds for the services they provide.

For the Pensacola office, this year’s gala is Oct. 27 at St. Anne Catholic Church on Saufley Field Road in Bellview. In its 25th year, the gala features heavy hors d’oeuvres, entertainment, live and silent auctions and an opportunity to take a chance on a 2007 silver Corvette or a $42,000 cash prize. For ticket information, contact Donna Potts at 850-435-3570.

The Panama City event, in its inaugural year, is set for Nov. 10 at Paradise Palms Resort. It includes a catered dinner, live music, live and silent auctions and a drawing for a 2007 Chevrolet HHR. For tickets, call 850-763-0475.

PENSACOLA | Long known for excellence in providing emergency assistance, counseling and adoption, Catholic Charities has continued to evolve. The agency, charged with carrying out the social justice mission of the church in northwest Florida, has expanded both in the kinds of service provided and in the number of people served.

As the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee embarks on its first-ever capital campaign, Catholic Charities stands to gain additional financial stability to ensure that its mission goes forward. About 12 percent of the campaign’s $26 million goal is earmarked for the charity and its work.

The capital campaign, focused on providing a lasting financial foundation “to build up the Body of Christ” in the diocese, is focusing on the goals brought forward in the "Sharing the Vision" pastoral planning process. At the Diocesan Assembly Day, the faithful prioritized 48 goals. The goal “Outreach to the poor and social justice ministries will be a priority at every parish” made the list of the top five goals for the diocese in the next three to five years.

Expanded service areas for Catholic Charities have been, to some extent, thrust upon the agency, beginning with the hurricanes that struck the diocese in 2004 and 2005. The resulting “FEMA villages” of small trailers that sprung up and the displacement of people from employment presented new challenges that the agency rose to meet.

In the most recent year’s statistics, Operation Homeward Bound, which works with those displaced by storms to find permanent housing, served 667 clients, roughly one-third of whom were Hurricane Katrina evacuees. The others were still suffering the effects of hurricanes Ivan and Dennis in 2004 and 2005. Another 2,828 escaped eviction through receiving emergency assistance.

Christmas Connection, the agency’s outreach to the poor during the holidays, served nearly 5,000 people, two-thirds of whom live in the Tallahassee area.

The agency is also involved in working to eradicate the causes of poverty, in step with the national initiative through Catholic Charities USA.

The national agency’s Web site, www.catholiccharitiesusa.org, states that one in six children in America live in poverty, threatening the dignity of human life. Building the economic security of families is key to reducing poverty, the agency holds.

The core services of Catholic Charities of Northwest Florida,, along with expanded services in case management and financial counseling, help families escape the grip of poverty.

More than 400 clients improved their money-management skills in the most recent year for which statistics are available.

That number is expected to grow, according to Donna Potts, Pensacola regional director. Coaching and mentoring clients in money-management skills is a prime opportunity for volunteers to become involved, Potts said.

The agency provides training and materials before volunteers begin working with clients.

"It is an exciting time to be involved with Catholic Charities. Communities and parishes across northwest Florida continue to look to us for leadership in addressing the complex nature of poverty. Our vision of strengthening families and working more comprehensively with families to overcome barriers and learn new skills and strategies to increase earning potential and rise up out of poverty resonates with the public and especially with our partners in the pews," said Mark Dufva, executive director of Catholic Charities of Northwest Florida.

Volunteers are a key part of the agency’s efforts, too. More than 15,000 hours of volunteer service were donated to the agency in the last year.

"It is all about partnership with the Catholic faithful working tirelessly in our many social justice ministries and outreach programs."

"We are all trying to figure out how to work better and stronger together to solve these difficult and complex problems our poor and vulnerable families face. No one can do this alone and working together, the network of Catholic social justice and outreach activities in our ministries and parishes can make an incredible difference in the lives of the poor and vulnerable in northwest Florida," Dufva added.

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Not your grandparents’ Catholic Charities

Agency expands services to the poor within the Pensacola-Tallahassee Diocese

CATHOLIC CHARITIES' GALAS ARE FUN WAYS TO HELP

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