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.

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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.