Rosemary Goebel can’t say enough about all the services the Social Concerns Ministry in St. Joseph Parish, Toms River, provides throughout the year.
Whether it’s operating the daily food pantry, conducting free clothing giveaways in the spring and fall, or collecting items around Memorial Day for men women and men serving overseas, the outreach keeps busy. But for any of these services to happen, funds are needed.
One of the ways the Social Concerns Ministry has received financial assistance is through a social service grant awarded by the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, the domestic antipoverty program of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
“Local ministries are the fruit of the CCHD,” Goebel said.
The Social Concerns Ministry was one of five outreach agencies to receive a grant in 2019. The application for 2020 begins Sept. 1 and will close Oct. 5; those received after the deadline will not be considered. Grant applications can be downloaded at dioceseoftrenton.org/catholic-campaign-for-human-development and emailed to brasch@dioceseoftrenton.org.
The 2020 CCHD awardees will be announced in early November, funded by the 2019 collection.
“[CCHD] works to break the cycle of poverty by helping low-income people participate in decisions that affect their lives, families and communities,” said Brenda Rascher, executive director of the diocesan Office of Catholic Social Services and acting CCHD director in the Diocese. “Locally, we also look to fund programs that offer a hand up while balancing the need to offer help with such services as food pantries and rental assistance.”
Depending on the availability of funds, the CCHD awards three to five grants in the amounts of $2,000 up to $10,000 each year in the Diocese of Trenton. The grant monies are received from a designated collection taken in parishes the weekend before Thanksgiving. Seventy-five percent of monies collected go to the national CCHD, and 25 percent remains in the Diocese.
More information about the work of the national CCHD office may be found at https://www.usccb.org/committees/catholic-campaign-human-development.