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CatholicTV is a 24/7 television network that broadcasts local and national religious programming and live events for the Catholic church in America.
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The Mission of Catholic Charities is to Put Faith into Action by
Providing Food, Housing, Mental Health, Adoption, Immigration, & Family Support Services to the Needy & Vulnerable of All Faiths in Fairfield County
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Events,
Needs, and Outreach
CATHOLIC
CHARITIES' "CELEBRITY BREAKFAST"
DECEMBER 4
The 18th annual
Catholic Charities of Norwalk “Celebrity Breakfast” will
be held on Friday, December 4, at 8
a.m. at Shorehaven Golf Club in Norwalk. Local business
and community leaders will serve the breakfast and collect
"tips" to support the child
care and mental health counseling programs
of Catholic Charities in the Norwalk
area.
This year’s fundraiser
will also turn into a tribute to the guest speaker,
Father Charles H. Allen,
S.J., who
is celebrating his 50th anniversary
as a Jesuit priest.
For more information
or to make a reservation,
please call
203-750-9711 or e-mail jgauthier@ccfc-ct.org.
Office of Community Outreach's
News and Needs
Every good deed we do puts a proximate face
on Christ to those we help. We are ambassadors for Christ
and for His Church. May He bless you and your kin with
health and prosperity, that in these you will greater
be able to help those less fortunate. I beg your prayerful,
volunteer and financial support of these projects In
the service of Christ and His Church.
I would like to thank all the pastors who have so graciously
printed these notices in their parish’s bulletins. The
response has been great.
Anyone interested in helping expand our outreach can
contact Father Seraphim
Ralph Rohlman, Director of Community
Outreach & Prison Outreach, at (203) 416-1331 or
via e-mail frseraphim@ccfc-ct.org.
Every good deed we do puts a proximate face on Christ
to those we help. We are ambassadors for Christ and for
His Church. Now more than ever, the practical
assistance offered by the Diocese through Catholic Charities
is imperative. Please consider the great work
offered and accomplished through the many programs operated
by Catholic Charities.
Please pPray daily for all our dedicated staff. Become
a real partner in these philanthropic efforts through
your financial support. Anyone interested in helping
expand our outreach can contact Father Seraphim at (203)
416-1331 or via e-mail at frseraphim@ccfc-ct.org.
-
THOMAS
MERTON CENTER in
Bridgeport needs food donations for
their guests. To help, please
call Mark
Grasso: 203-367-9036.
-
MORNING
GLORY in Danbury is in
need of cereal and pancake mix. For
more information and to make a donation, please contact Michele
Conderino: 748-0848, ext. 231.
- V.I.T.A. Tax Assistance: Volunteers needed
A.S.A.P. training deadline quickly approaching! :
Catholic Charities is partnering with C.F.S. to host
a V.I.T.A. site for the 2009 tax year and needs volunteers
to help for a few hours a week from February
to April 2010. The site will be at our offices
in the Catholic Center in Bridgeport : Mon. Wed. & Thurs.,
5:30pm –8:30pm and Sat 10am –2pm.
V.I.T.A. volunteers prepare basic federal and state
income tax returns free-of-charge for individuals with
low and limited income, individuals with disabilities,
non-English speaking and elderly taxpayers. Last tax
season, volunteers provided free assistance in Connecticut
to over 35,000 taxpayers at 180 conveniently located
sites. In 2007, 19,474 returns were filed at V.I.T.A
sites. Over $20 million in total refunds were distributed
through the V.I.T.A sites.$8.9 million in 'Earned Income
Tax Credit' dollars were distributed to families who
might have missed this filing on their own! V.I.T.A.
volunteers are asked to offer at least 3 hours each
week from February 1 to April 15, 2010. If
you feel you can more or even less time at least contact
us about the possibilities. NO EXPERIENCE NEEDED -
all training provided.
To volunteer or for more info contact Fr. Seraphim
at the Catholic Charities Community Outreach office
at (203) 581.4978 or e-mail frseraphim@ccfc-ct.org.
- Computer needed for housing program: A
housing program residence run by Catholic Charities
is seeking a computer with Internet capabilities for
the residents to access job sites and compose and print
resumes and utilize email for communication and scheduling
interviews. If you are able to donate either a desktop
or laptop, please contact frseraphim@ccfc-ct.org.
- Harvest Now: A message
from Brooks Sumberg (St, Augustine Medal winner
2009), founder of the Connecticut Bike Project & Harvest
Now) - It has been one year since
we had the first collection of bikes at a local
church. We have collected 385 bikes in this year
and we have given options for increased mobility
to families seeking work, released prisoners reporting
to probation officers and untold children whom
a new bike was only a fantasy. I thank you for
helping me to achieve our goals,-- to better the
lives of those in the neighborhoods of east Bridgeport.
Now I personally call on you again, to start a new
ministry, one that is even more basic, than primary
transportation. We must feed people and we must begin
now. I envision the implementation of community gardens
in every churchyard and on every faith based community
that can participate. I see our youth groups joining
in and contributing their time, their energy to growing
vegetables for the food banks of our cities from Bridgeport
to New Haven and Stamford. These are the repositories
of our working class poor. These are the people who
perform the work that your forbears did many years
ago. It is now our time to help, to perform the social
works that our government no longer provides. Through
this mission, local people can fill in the gaps that
are so apparent, as the economy worsens and their quality
of life deteriorates.
My vision is a simple one, as outlined below; Every
participating church and synagogue, will be given a
suggested commodity to grow, either on their surrounding
property or in raised bed gardens that can be built
anywhere including parking lots. The Connecticut
Bike Project/Harvest Now will provide the
expertise to develop these plots, and some of the tools
needed to open the land ie. roto tillers. We will provide
suggested plot patterns and suggested seed stock to
utilize for the gardens. We are asking that all financial
cost will be born by the individual congregation/ parishes.
The garden labor can be performed by youth groups or
parishioners. One adult from each parish/congregation
will be assigned as the leader to monitor and control
the garden. They will perform the management of the
gardens, including shipping the harvested crops to
the central food banks. The Connecticut Bike Project/Harvest
Now will assist where we can, in bettering crop yields
and general administrative help.
What do we need from you? First a coordinator
must be chosen from the congregation, either an adult
or the youth group leader. A plot of land must be
chosen, and a plot plan adopted. This will be in
conjunction with the bike project/Harvest Now volunteers.
Now it is your turn to help us to organize this entity and
we look forward to hearing from you, Our goal is to develop
the plots this fall and start growing vegetables in the
spring of 2010. I thank you for your time, your initiative
and your concern in this new ministry. Let us hasten our
effort, for we have people in need, and we have the desire
and ability to help. Step forward. be counted as the
community that answered the call, when it was apparent
that there were none others to listen.For more information,
please contact Brooks Sumberg:bsumberg@earthlink.net.
- Blessed Sacrament Food Pantry: Blessed
Sacrament operates a food pantry which serves those
in need in some of the poorest and most struggling
neighborhoods in Bridgeport. They are in need of any
dry and canned food donations you can imagine a family
needing during tough economic times. Please consider
dropping off a small donation to help their efforts.
You can contact the parish at 203-333-1202 or e-mail: blessedsacramentrc@sbcglobal.net or
simply drop your donation of food at the rectory located
at 275 Union Avenue, Bridgeport, CT 06607.
- Connecticut Bike Project (over
850 bikes collected and distributed so far!): The Connecticut
Bike Project is a program that collects and distributes
donated bicycles in good working condition to financially
challenged children and adults who need them. Besides
offering them to children for recreation the aim of
the endeavor is to provide needed transportation to
work and for running errands to the economically disadvantaged;
individuals with physical or mental disabilities that
prevent them from driving, ex-offenders re-entering
the workforce and other folks who can’t afford a vehicle
or are without licenses to drive. Consider hosting
a Bike-Drive at your parish! Please spread the word
that bicycles are in need for this project. Contact
Mr. Brooks Sumberg (St. Augustine Medal winner 2009)
to schedule a drive in your parish or through your
club or organization. He will be there for the event
and take the bikes the same day as the drive. All you
need to do is publicize the drive in your bulletins
or newsletters. Maybe you can make it a project for
your Parish youth group or confirmation class.
All individual bikes can be dropped off at 96 Hillspoint
Road in Westport (please leave them at the house end
of the driveway) or you can contact the project founder,
Mr. Brooks Sumberg, by e-mail: bsumberg@earthlink.net.
If you know of a child or adult in need of a bike you
may contact The Urban Center at Saint Charles Borromeo
Parish in Bridgeport which has graciously houses the
project and serves as the distribution center. The
Director of The Urban Center is Roberto, and he can
be reached at 203-993-1027. The Center is located at
1279 E Main St.
- Help needed! There is a woman of
unfathomable generosity who goes to downtown Bridgeport
every other weekend and feeds anyone who is in need.
Her name is Ann Marie. She serves
over 100 hot meals (usually three courses) almost singled-handed.
She freely distributes everything from bay clothes
to canned soup. Besides cooking all the food herself
at her home, she purchases most with her own funds!
I should also mention that her charity occurs no matter
what the weather or the temperature; out on the street,
in the open air, rain or shine, snow or clear, on the
simple folding tables she brings with her. When everything
has been given out Ann Marie even canvasses the sidewalks
to pick up stray napkins and cups so no trash is left
behind. She then loads up her professional sized pots
and pans in her car to bring them back home to wash
and get ready to do all over again. If you are interested
in joining me help Ann Marie every other Sunday or
even occasionally, please give me a call. If you can
drop off baby clothes; canned soup, peanut butter ramen
noodles, blankets or paper cups, plates & supplies
please contact Ann Marie at (203)268-5553, or drop
donation off at 18 Country Lane in Trumbull.
IMMEDIATE NEED LIST: “Take-away”
food containers, Large plastic folding tables, Large beverage
thermoses with spigots, Large commercial baking pans ,
Peanut butter, Canned soup, Canned vegetables, Cereal,
Paper cups, Lemonade, Iced tea, Microwave popcorn, toothbrushes,
toothpaste, Band-aids, Bars of soap, Shampoo, Men’s socks,
Men’s clothes, Oatmeal, Antibacterial ointment (Neosporin),
and Rubber gloves.
- Saint Charles Urban Center: The
Urban Center at Saint Charles Borromeo Parish in Bridgeport
has been helping people in need for many many years.
Especially in these current economic times they can
desperately use donations of food, clothes, furniture
in good condition and, well, anything a family who
is struggling needs. Please consider them in your prayers
and in the grocery line. You can reach the Director,
Roberto at 203-993-1027. The Center is located at 1279
East Main St., Bridgeport.
- Bibles for Prison Outreach: The
Prison Outreach ministry is in desperate need of Bibles
for the prison. Anyone able to either donate copies
of Catholic Bibles or make contributions toward bulk
purchase please deliver them to the Catholic Center
at 238 Jewett Ave. or email the Catholic Charities
Community Outreach office at: frseraphim@ccfc-ct.org.
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