“I’d like to invite you to give us a hand,” CCDOT executive director Marlene Laó-Collins says in a video posted to the organization’s website. “We need everyone’s help. It’s all hands on deck during this time. We continue to provide services to the most vulnerable in our Diocese … and the need will continue to grow as we move from a health care pandemic to an economic pandemic.”

CCDOT’s goal is to raise monies to ensure that it can continue to serve its clients, especially as annual fundraisers have been postponed or canceled during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Among the CCDOT’s many services are helping those with addiction or mental health issues, homelessness prevention and rapid rehousing, Hispanic outreach and domestic violence services, to name just a few.

Since mid-March, when New Jersey began firm social distancing rules, CCDOT staff and volunteers have been working tirelessly to ensure the needs of their clients are met. This includes food collections and distribution sites across the county, advice from therapists on quarantining with children, the call for more volunteers, and more.

Regarding the need for more help, CCDOT staff say volunteers are needed for its Fix It program in Ocean County. Traditionally this outreach pairs volunteers with senior citizens who need assistance with minor home repairs and chores. In light of social distancing mandates, volunteers are instead needed to help seniors get groceries and other essential items so they can avoid going to stores themselves.

For more information, contact Dana DiFilippo, CCDOT communications officer, at [email protected] or (609) 394-5181, ext. 1153 (office) or (215) 756-6277 (cell).

To donate to the Coronavirus Crisis Fund, visit https://www.catholiccharitiestrenton.org/coronavirus-crisis-fund/.

As organizers say on the CCDOT website, “No gift is too small. We appreciate any amount you are able to give.”