by Katie Patrick
Give to Lincoln Day is just around the corner! In fact, early donations are now being accepted.
From May 1 to May 26, you can donate to Catholic Social Services of Southern Nebraska to help the poor and vulnerable in our diocese. Your donation will help the women and children at St. Gianna Women’s Homes. It will help families facing food insecurity and it will help cover rent and utilities for households in need. Your donation will help newly arrived refugee families and immigrant families and so much more!
Coordinated by the Lincoln Community Foundation, in partnership with local nonprofit organizations, this is an exciting day for several reasons.
First, by introducing new donors, it builds excitement around the many organizations in Lincoln and Lancaster County that are doing some pretty amazing work. Second, it gives a platform for nonprofit organizations to share their story about the positive impact they are making on the community. And third, it highlights the importance of charitable giving by raising a significant amount of money to help the local nonprofit network.
Now, back to the headline of this article: "If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together." One of the key themes of our Give to Lincoln Day campaign this year highlights our wraparound services whereby we talk about how we are able to assist a single family or individual with many of their needs—food, shelter, counseling, personal care items, vehicle assistance, etc. And if you remember a few weeks ago, I shared the story of Paw Lah who we were able to help in many ways with our different programs. So you might be wondering why I’m about to talk about how important it is that the multitude of nonprofits exist and that we work together to care for our clients.
Let me explain. Over the past couple weeks, we have interacted with dozens of nonprofits. Many of our Afghan clients attend a sewing circle with ECHO Collective who partners with the Asian Community and Cultural Center to provide interpretation. Our emergency services program received referrals from St. Vincent de Paul, El Centro de las Américas, Integrated Behavioral Health Services, and Cedars. We received a referral from Friendship Home for St. Gianna Women’s Homes and our Immigration Legal Services program frequently takes on clients from The Bridge, St. Monica’s and the Lincoln Correctional Center.
Thousands of the services we provide each and every year are in coordination with other nonprofits. So even though we are able to provide such a variety of services ourselves onsite, there are still times when we count on our nonprofit partners.
In fact, one of the most important local nonprofits that we made a referral to this past year was the Women's Care Center. You see, one of our teenage clients found herself pregnant eight months ago. As she struggled with the new responsibilities that single motherhood would bring and dealt with the difficult circumstances that created this precious soul, we were able to provide for many of her needs with our wraparound services except for that initial ultrasound that allowed her to see her beautiful baby boy for the very first time. What a gift!
For CSS to go far, we need to work together. That’s where you come in. You can help us to go far; farther than we ever have. We have so much work still to do in Lincoln, and Nebraska, but we can’t go so far alone. For Give to Lincoln Day 2022, your opportunity to help CSS go as far as possible lies with your donation and everything you help us to accomplish when you give. Let’s see how far we can go, together.
Visit www.givetolincolnday.com to make your gift today. May God Bless You!
