Current Events and News
No Room at the Inn, 2009 annual homelessness awareness events, Dec. 4-6
Help make ‘Room at the Inn’ during Catholic Charities annual awareness and fundraising event for St. Joseph Emergency Family Shelter Dec. 4-6 at the Catholic Pastoral Center at 601 Grand Ave. in downtown Des Moines. This year’s events include:
• Fundraising Reception for St. Joseph Emergency Family Shelter on Fri., Dec. 4 from 5-8 p.m. For a minimum donation of $38 per person (the cost of one night’s stay at St. Joseph Shelter) guests can preview the exhibition of 300 nativities, enjoy hors d'oeuvres and cocktails and hear words from Bishop Richard Pates all in support of Polk counties only emergency family shelter that keeps the entire family unit together. Call 515-237-5078 or email tradke@dmdiocese.org for your invitation to the event.
• Poverty Simulation on Sat., Dec. 5 from 1-4 p.m. Co-hosted by JustFaith of Des Moines, the simulation is designed to help participants begin to understand what it might be like to live in a low-income family trying to survive month to month. Registration is required and the simulation is designed for those 18 years and older. Click here for more information and for a registration form
• Holiday Open House on Sun., Dec. 6 from 1-5 p.m. Join Bishop Richard Pates at 2pm and Bishop Joseph Charron at 3:30pm as they read the Christmas story, view more than 300 nativities, a live nativity and listen to music from local choirs. Admission is a gift of a personal care item or donation to help families in need. This year’s choirs include: the Ankeny Community Chorus, St. Francis Children's Choir, St. Augustin Children's Choir, Holy Trinity Children's Choir, Catholic Youth Choir of Central Iowa, and Spanish Themes from Our Lady of the Americas.
Celebrate, Educate & Take Action during Catholic Charities Week Nov. 29-Dec. 6. 2009
During Catholic Charities Week we encourage you to celebrate all that you have, educate yourself about the needs of others and take action to help those living in poverty. Catholic Charities has many opportunities for people of all ages to get involved during the week-long celebration, including a Bare Essentials Collection for personal care items, classroom materials developed specifically for Catholic Charities Week by Stephanie Wilson, Director of Teaching and Learning for the Diocese of Des Moines, a Poverty Simulation and more.
Click here for sample lesson plans or email tradke@dmdiocese.org for complete plans for appropriate age group Primary Middle Intermediate
Click here for a flyer for the Bare Essentials Campaign
Click here for a flyer about all opportunities during Catholic Charities Week 2009
View video about St. Joseph Emergency Family Shelter
New- Grant Opportunities through the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD)
The Catholic Campaign for Human Development is one of the largest private funders of self-help programs for poor people in the United States. Twenty-five percent of the funds raised in an annual November collection remain in central and southwest Iowa to help us respond to needs in the local community. Parishes and other groups in the 23 counties of the Diocese of Des Moines can apply for grants from the local portion of the collection.
Download an application
W-9 form needed for applicant
CCHD seeks Catholic Young Adult Leaders working for social justice!
Help the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) honor young social justice leaders by submitting a nomination for the 2009 Cardinal Bernardin New Leadership Award, an annual award for Catholic young adults leading efforts to address the root causes of problems in their local communities. Please click here for a nomination form. Nomination Deadline: July 31, 2009.
Have your cake and share it, too
Christiani's VIP Catering helps Catholic Charities through I DOnate Program
Click HERE to learn more about the I DOnate Program
About Catholic Charities
Serving central and southwest Iowa for more than 80 years!
Last year alone Catholic Charities served more than 20,000 people.
Catholic Charities was born in Diocese of Des Moines in 1924 with the opening of the Christ Child Home. Since then, the agency has evolved with the times offering programs, services and support to central and southwest Iowa.Catholic Charities, a United Way agency, has is devoted to offering a helping hand plus challenging those assumptions and systems that make it difficult for individuals to improve their lives. Catholic Charities is a gem in Iowa. It offers help, and it offers hope to people of all faiths.
Programs:
A New Beginning: Adoption & Pregnancy Counseling Program
Adoption Services: Matches birth parents with adoptive parents in an open adoption process that encourages communication and relationship building between birth parents and adoptive parents. Our staff also completes adoption searches.
Pregnancy Counseling: Our professional, caring staff provides birth families and adoptive families with emotional and social support services and assists with planning, decision-making, legal procedures and foster care of infants awaiting adoption. Counseling services are free to pregnancy women and their family.
Counseling Services (Des Moines region)- The counseling staff at Catholic Charities provides supportive relationships to individuals, couples and families struggling with a variety of issues. Counselors work with people of all faiths and offer services in several Des Moines metro locations. The program also offers bilingual counseling in Des Moines Perry and Osceola.
Counseling Services (Council Bluffs region)-The counseling program in Council Bluffs provides counseling services to individuals, couples and families, with a focus on trauma, abuse, and family violence. The staff also facilitates a sexual offender treatment program.
Hispanic Community Outreach: Facilitates full participation of newcomer immigrants and Hispanic/Latino families in their communities through advocacy, direct service and support of community initiatives. The program also offers bilingual counseling in Des Moines Perry and Osceola. En Espanol.
Phoenix House Domestic Violence Shelter: Provides a confidential shelter, legal advocacy, responds to rape and sexual abuse victims in the community and provides outreach to surrounding rural communities.
Refugee Cooperative Services: Provides newly arriving refugees with intensive support services needed to achieve basic self-sufficiency as contributing members of the community, including housing, employment and educational placement.
St. Joseph Emergency Family Shelter: Provides homeless families with temporary, safe and dignified living environment and assists families as they seek housing and other resources needed for permanent stability. St. Joe’s is the only shelter in Des Moines that keeps the family unit together.
St. Mary Family Center: The largest food pantry in the city, St. Mary’s assists people needing emergency assistance of food, clothing, or finances in a social and physical environment that is respectful to people enduring severe anxiety and stress.
Volunteer Opportunties: A variety of opportunities are available to individuals and groups wanting to get involved with Catholic Charities programs. Opportunities range from serving a meal at the homeless shelter, to collecting diapers for St. Mary Family Center to volunteering to help with a special event.