by Katie Patrick
Maybe it's age, but it seems that the older I get, the more joy I experience when I see young people serving the poor. When young people are in our food markets or at our thrift stores or organizing coats to give to other children in need, I feel hopeful; hopeful that despite all the craziness in the world today, we are raising another generation of kids who desire to know and serve the poor. Working at Catholic Social Services, I’m pretty spoiled because I get to feel that way fairly frequently.
Every week, at Catholic Social Services of Southern Nebraska, we welcome dozens of volunteers. From local businesses who gather and drop off items for the homeless, to homeschool families and co-ops who write encouraging letters to families at St. Gianna’s, and to the regulars we have stocking the shelves with nonperishables in Hastings, Lincoln and Auburn, we are blessed with people who care deeply about serving the poor and glorifying God.
As John McDonald, regional director at Hastings shared with me, “Sister M. Xavier Schulze, director of campus ministry and religion at St. Cecilia High School, brought her AG2G Disciples to Catholic Social Services to make 1,000 sandwiches for the Open Table program. These students gave up three hours of their Saturday to use their talents for the greater glory of God—their namesake. Appropriately, their afternoon of service concluded with a rosary in our chapel. It was a pleasure to see such dedication and joy in these young people!”
In just a couple of weeks, students and teachers from St. John School in Lincoln will purchase all the fixings for a Thanksgiving Day meal and assemble 150 holiday baskets onsite. Our drivers will collect the baskets just a day or two before we welcome the families we serve at our offices to pick them up. At CSS, we continue to focus on meeting the basic needs, namely food and housing. When we help families cover those costs, it frees up household income to afford other urgent needs, such as childcare.
Unfortunately, Nebraska—like many other states—has seen childcare costs skyrocket over the past couple of years. To put it another way, even the cheapest childcare option was more expensive than resident tuition and fees at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The annual cost of care for an infant in a childcare center is nearly twice as expensive as resident tuition and fees.
In 2021, average annual childcare costs in Lancaster County ranged from $10,375 to $19,224, depending on the age of the child and whether care was provided in a Center or Family Child Care Home. The overall average annual cost of childcare in 2019 was $7,519 compared to $14,098 in 2021. This is an 87% increase in childcare costs over just two years (2022 Lincoln Vital Signs Report).
As we approach the holiday season, please prayerfully consider how you would like to help the poor and vulnerable in your community. Whether it's coming onsite to volunteer with us, or if it’s by making a financial contribution to CSS so that we can continue to help families meet their basic needs—whatever it may be: know that it matters, know that it makes an impact, and know that it glorifies God! Thank you!
Go to csshope.org to learn more about partnering with CSS to bring Hope in the Good Life to our southern Nebraska neighbors.
