by Katie Patrick
Happy New Year! After a couple of weeks of celebrating Christmas and New Year's followed by an unexpected third week of managing yet another round of colds and flu at home with the twins, it’s good to be back at CSS.
The Advent season leading up to Christmas is a time of great joy both for the good works we are able to accomplish together for our clients at CSS, and for the tremendous amounts of generosity we receive from people across the diocese. If you donated to CSS in 2022, either financially or by donating items to our thrift stores or warehouse, or if you prayed for our mission and the families we serve, from the bottom of our hearts – THANK YOU!
It’s a privilege to encounter the poor and vulnerable and love them the way Christ loves us. We, at CSS, know that it would not be possible without your support, which is why I want to invite you this year to share not only in our mission, but in our vision. Let me tell you how we found our vision.
Our leadership team at CSS embarked on a two-day team building retreat last June. Sixteen of us, from Auburn to Imperial, gathered in Lincoln to discuss and present our department and program goals for the year. We spent some time assessing our strengths as a team, including our adaptability and appetite for change. We broke into small groups and lifted each other up by giving words of affirmation. What I didn’t know then that I know now, was how the various charisms of my team were made visible in those conversations. While it was time away from the office, we were doing probably one of the most important exercises that would impact our work at CSS for years to come.
At the beginning of Day 2, we were divided into two groups. One group was sent to one side of the room while the other group was sent to the other side. For 15 minutes, our two groups were tasked with coming up with words that described CSS and our work. Then, for the next 10 minutes, we were told to start putting together statements using the words we had written on large Post-it notes. Each group worked and reworked the vocabulary and word order.
In the final two minutes, each group had to settle on one final statement to bring back to the large group. Are you ready for goosebumps? The first group’s vision statement was to inspire hope and unconditional love for all people because we are Catholic. The second group’s vision statement was, a place where hope and love are alive in every encounter.
Now is that the Holy Spirit, or what? As our facilitator and the 16 of us stood there, we could hardly believe that in completely opposite ends of the room (and it was a very large room), we were united enough in word and action to propose to each other basically the same vision statement for CSS. With continued group effort, we settled on the CSS vision statement: To inspire hope and love in every encounter.
Will you join us? Our vision statement is an aspirational goal that we strive to achieve every single day at CSS. We strive to inspire hope and love when we welcome the stranger and when we give drink to the thirsty and food to the hungry. We strive to inspire hope and love when we encounter each other and when we encounter our volunteers, community partners, and you, our supporters. In every encounter, that is our goal and we’d be honored to have you join us on this journey. I look forward to sharing with you this coming year of 2023 many encounters of hope and love, as you inspire us. May God bless you!
