Catholic Social Services of Southern Nebraska held its 28th annual Celebration of Caring banquet Feb. 15. During the celebration, I had the privilege of presenting our ‘state of the agency’ report outlining many of our charitable endeavors last calendar year.
One of the most stunning statistics is that for the first time ever, Catholic Social Services has distributed from all of our fixed and mobile pantries more than one million pounds of food—1,131,836 to be exact!
Some of the details are: In addition to our fixed food pantries in Auburn, Hastings and Lincoln, CSS, in partnership with the Food Bank of Lincoln and the Kearney Food Bank, conducts mobile food pantries across southern Nebraska called the St. Andrew Mobile Food Pantry. CSS purchases food from these agencies and utilizes local parish volunteers to distribute pantries to needy individuals and families (a “pantry” is enough food to last one week). This is a way to not only feed the hungry, but when families receive a pantry, it frees up funds that can be used for rent or utilities.
I am happy to announce that our St. Andrew Mobile Food Pantry now visits 24 communities across southern Nebraska: Ashland, Clay Center, Crete, David City, Edgar, Fairbury, Falls City, Geneva, Glenvil, Grant, Harvard, Hebron, Imperial, Minden, Orleans, Pawnee City, Peru, Seward, Shelby, Stromsburg, Superior, Sutton, Tecumseh and Wahoo.
Our two sandwich programs are also going strong. Last year our program in Hastings, a program with many partners, provided nearly 48,000 sack lunches–an increase of around 3,000 compared to last year, while our Lincoln program, which is only two years old, provided just over 10,000, which has doubled after the first year. As some of you remember, we started our sack lunch program in Lincoln because we noticed a need in the area surrounding our Lincoln office.
In addition, this past year, the St. Joseph PCCW members in Auburn have started to serve monthly meals in the parish hall to some of our most needy clients who access services in our St. Francis Center. So far 223 meals have been served in this new program.
I would like to thank all of our donors who have responded to the call of God to help feed the hungry. Thanks also to our many volunteers who make, serve and distribute food and sandwiches, donate food or money to purchase food, because through the grace of God and your generosity, we are feeding Jesus who lives in the hungry in a special way (Mt 25:31-46). Please know that you, your families and intentions are in our daily prayers!
