By Mary Stadnyk|Associate Editor

As Thanksgiving and Advent will soon usher in the season of giving, the faithful of the Diocese of Trenton are again being asked to help those less fortunate in their communities and around the nation by giving to the annual Catholic Campaign for Human Development.

The campaign collection will be taken up in all parishes the weekend of Nov. 23-24. In the past year, two agencies located within the four-county diocese that had provided outreach to folks devastated by last October’s Superstorm Sandy were notified that they were the recipients of generous monetary grants sponsored by the national Catholic Campaign for Human Development office, which is the official anti-poverty program of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. CCHD addresses the needs of the poor by providing grants to community organizers and economic development initiatives around the country.

Visitation Relief Center, an outreach effort initiated by Visitation Parish, Brick, was awarded a $75,000 CCHD grant, and St. Francis Community Center, which is part of St. Francis of Assisi Parish, Long Beach Island, was presented with a grant totaling $33,360.

VRC was established several months after the hurricane touched down, and is a facility adjacent to Visitation Parish that now houses outreach offices for Catholic Charities, the St. Vincent de Paul Society, and Save Barnegat Bay. VRC provides a means for people to access food, clothing, household goods, and other much-needed supplies.

Though St. Francis Community Center had been heavily impacted by the hurricane and had to temporarily relocate its quarters to St. Mary of the Pines Church, Manahawkin, the staff and volunteers continued to provide services to various populations that included pre-school, recreation and seniors programs so that adults could focus on the clean-up and restoration process in the aftermath of the hurricane. Long-term disaster relief services the community center offered included: case management; financial assistance; information and referral to other agencies for additional services and counseling services and disaster case management. The community center also operated from the Southern Ocean Resource Center in Manahawkin where it held its senior day program and also served as a temporary food pantry.

St. Francis Community Center staff and volunteers have since returned to their original location on Long Beach Island.

Father Joseph Jakub, diocesan CCHD director, explained that of the total amount collected for the CCHD in each diocese, 25 percent remains within the diocese to fund local projects.

He said that three Catholic social service agencies located within the diocese, were awarded grants through the local portion of the 2012 CCHD diocesan collection. The diocesan Office of Jail and Prison Ministry was granted $7,500, while Mount Carmel Guild, Trenton, and Collier Youth Services, Wickatunk, each received $10,000.

The Office of Jail and Prison Ministry will use the money to assist at-risk ex-offenders who are returning to their community from jail or prison. At-risk means someone who has no family or other viable support system to assist them in their transition out of the jail or prison environment.

Located in inner-city Trenton, Mount Carmel Guild will continue to provide utility assistance to needy clients and home health nursing services to its homebound elderly patients.

Collier Youth Services is a nonprofit organization that serves at-risk youth from all parts of New Jersey through offering educational, residential and recreational programs to economically disadvantaged young people and those with a history of trauma.

“I want people to know how much good their contributions to CCHD accomplish right here in the Diocese of Trenton,” stated Father Jakub. “The organizations we award grants to in the Diocese of Trenton are organizations that provide direct services to help people in genuine need. What greater good can we do in imitation of Our Lord and in particular based on what Pope Francis is asking the Church to do. Please be generous, your donations will be used to effect positive change right in the Diocese of Trenton.”