By Fr. Justin Fulton
I’ve been to Pittsburgh, Parkersburg,
Gravelbourg, Colorado
Ellensburg, Rexburg,
Vicksburg, El Dorado
Larimore, Admore,
Haverstraw, Chatanika
Chaska, Nebraska, Alaska, Opelaka
Baraboo, Waterloo,
Kalamazoo, Kansas City
Sioux City, Cedar City,
Dodge City, what a pity
I’ve been everywhere, man
I’ve been everywhere, man
Crossed the desert’s bare, man
I’ve breathed the mountain air, man
Of travel I’ve a’had my share, man
I’ve been everywhere
-From “I’ve Been Everywhere”
Lyrics by Geoff Mack; as performed by Hank Snow, Johnny Cash, and many others
One of the great sources of pride we hold here at Catholic Social Services of Southern Nebraska is the fact we indeed help people from all over southern Nebraska.
As a matter of fact, we recently placed into our budget allotments for help in all of the counties of our Diocese of Lincoln—that is 24,000 square miles and every county south of the Platte River in Nebraska. A lot of our help in the counties of the diocese comes in the form of rent and utilities help through our outreach offices in Imperial, Hastings, Lincoln, and Auburn. We would like to share a story of a southeast Nebraskan we recently helped out of our Auburn office.
We had a client call in on our help line from southeast Nebraska and we were able to help this person out in many, many ways. We first contacted Bob Engles, a loyal volunteer in Auburn. He is helping to run our food pantry. Bob is a former mayor of Auburn and his family helped donate the building and land we have on Highway 136 that constitutes our Auburn operation. He is an apostle of Christ’s love.
Because of Bob’s meeting locally with the client, our staff and resources were able to help out a family with more than $1,000 in rental payments. We kept this family from going homeless. We were able to get diapers to the family. And with the cold starting to stare us in the face we got coats, gloves, and winter clothes for the family as well. This family also needed food from our food pantry and we were able to help them out with over two weeks of food.
In a way, this family’s suffering and situation allowed us to show them that Christ and His Church cared about them. Because of their situation and asking us for help, more love was unleashed into our state. If one really thinks of it God’s love united people from Lincoln, southeast Nebraska, and indeed the entirety of southern Nebraska. Dollars, resources, and human lives united to help out a particular human family. Christ worked through His people to get His love to the poor and marginalized.
Our branding shows we are one people—from both rural and urban areas—united in the Eucharist and under the Cross of Christ.
Thanks to your financial and prayerful support we can say that Christ’s love has been, continues to be, and always will be everywhere in southern Nebraska.
