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How To Donate: |
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Mail Checks To: Call: Internet: Or: Catholic Charities, Diocese of (860) 889-8346 |
While the local agencies along
the
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Agencies
Impacted |
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Catholic
Charities of Miami |
Based
on past disasters, possible long-term services that Catholic Charities may
provide include temporary and permanent housing, direct assistance beyond
food and water to get people back into their homes, job placement counseling,
and medical and prescription drug assistance.
For instance, recovery work is underway
in
To help communities recover
from the damage brought on by Hurricane Katrina, Catholic Charities USA is
collecting financial donations that will fund agencies' emergency and
long-term disaster recovery efforts.
Catholic Charities USA is
unable to accept contributions of food, clothing, blankets and other relief
supplies. Its federal ID number is 53-0196620.
About
the Disaster Response Office
Catholic Charities USA, which
has been commissioned by the U.S. Catholic Bishops to represent the Catholic
community in times of domestic disaster, responds with emergency and
long-term assistance as needed. Its Disaster Response Office connects the
Church's social service agencies and disaster planning offices across the
nation.
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Volume 1 Number 1 Most Reverend Michael R.
Cote, D.D. John J.
Smey, LCSW Bishop of
Norwich
Executive Director Welcome to the first newsletter for Catholic
Charities and Family Services. Over the past several years, we have grown
from a small social services agency providing limited emergency relief
services, to a highly diversified multi-service agency serving both
individuals and families. Thus the reason for the newsletter … we want to
let you know who we are and what we do … let’s
begin to tell our story … Who we are We are a non-profit social services
organization focused on helping individuals and families living within the
Diocese of Norwich. The Diocese of Norwich is quite large consisting of
Middlesex, What we do We offer compassionate high quality and
fiscally responsible social services, counseling, education, research and
advocacy with special attention to the poor and disadvantaged. Who we serve We provide services without regard to an individual’s
gender, race, ethnicity, income, religion, marital status, physical or
developmental capabilities, or sexual orientation. Why we serve We participate in the saving mission of Christ
by supporting family life and helping individuals and families develop
skills to manage stress, to complete the tasks of daily living, and to
participate in the community.
Let’s show you how we do, what we do
… Our Structure The Agency currently consists of five (5) core
service programs: Emergency Financial Assistance – Case Management; Pregnancy
Services; Adoption Services; Behavioral Health and Counseling Services and
Office of Family Life. Collectively, these programs provide the bridge in
meeting our mission. As a complement to our Program Services, the Agency
maintains a small but effective administrative department. Where we do, what we do …. Our Locations The central office of Catholic Charities and
Family Services is located in What we do… Our Programs and Services In each subsequent Newsletter we will
highlight a specific program and/or service in more detail. Accordingly, we
want to help you to understand not only what we do, but more importantly
how we are able to help those in need. Since this is our first newsletter
let’s begin with a snapshot view of each of our programs and the services
we provide. I. Support Services Central to our mission is helping those in
need through our Support Services. These programs consist of a multitude of
services designed to support, strengthen and empower families and
individuals to attain a high level of self-sufficiency. In each of our three offices we provide Emergency
Financial Assistance. This core program is designed
to help individuals and families who are in crisis meet their immediate
basic needs. Through donations, gifts and grant resources we are able to
quickly provide food, clothing, shelter, medication, and funding for
utilities and transportation to meet our clients
emergency needs.
Our Case Management Services are
designed to help individuals attain a new level of self-sufficiency by
providing them access to educational and enrichment services. Through our
case management services we are able to help our clients develop and
implement a plan to further their education or obtain employment that pays
living wages. Because of a grant provided by DCF, our One-on-One
Mentoring Program allows us to recruit and train mentors for youth
who are in foster care. By providing strong mentors for at-risk children we
hope to lay the groundwork for future productive adults. Our agency is continuing to broaden our
support services for those in need by securing other various federal and
state grants. For example, our Empowering People For Success Program, funded with the help of the Connecticut
State Department of Social Services, helps structure an individual in
his/her journey from welfare to work. With additional HUD and CHFA housing
grants our Housing Services has been able to aid individuals
with rental assistance and foreclosure intervention needs. An additional
funding grant from the state Court Support Services Department has allowed
us to develop our Intensive Outreach and Monitoring Program. In
this program our counselors provide educational and support services to
adolescents as an alternative to incarceration. Finally, the Office of Family Life provides
resources to parishes and the broader community in areas of family concerns
including: Marriage preparation and enrichment; Parenting workshops;
Abstinence/chastity education; Separation and divorce support; Bereavement
services; Singles and Singles-again programs; Natural Family Planning;
Project Rachel/Post-abortion counseling and reconciliation services. II. Adoption and Pregnancy Services Our Adoption Services covers a
broad spectrum of assistance for adoptive families, adopted children and
birth parents. The agency conducts: family home studies of prospective
adoptive families; placement of children with adoptive families; counseling
educational and supportive services for birth and adoptive parents and;
liaison activities between adult adoptees and
birth parents seeking information about each other. Our Pregnancy Support Services
offers comprehensive counseling, case management and mentoring services to
birth parents. Its focus is to assist the birth parents in making plans for
themselves and their unborn children. III. Behavioral Health and Counseling
Services Over the past several years, the Behavioral
Health Clinic has been hard at work in expanding the level of services it
can provide to our clients. As a fully licensed and accredited outpatient
psychiatric facility for adults, the clinic is able to offer a wide array
of counseling services to help clients with grief, depression, anxiety,
marital and parental issues, family conflict, abuse, anger management and,
post-traumatic stress disorders. Following September 11th
clinical staff have received rigorous ongoing
training on the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorders provided by
the University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry.
Additionally, in September 2002, the Agency
was awarded a license from the Department of Children and Families to
provide counseling and psychiatric services to children. With the help of a
contracted child psychiatrist we are now able to offer counseling and
psychiatric services to children, parents and families. Finally, in October 2002 the Agency was
awarded a license for substance abuse treatment from the Department of
Public Health. Recently, the State Department of Children and Families has
awarded the agency two multi-year contracts for Adolescent Substance Abuse
Treatment and Mentoring services. Epilogue There you have it…. Now you know….
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IN SOMEONE’S LIFE! To help us continue our work please
consider a direct charitable contribution to: Catholic Charities & Family Services If you would like to contribute to Catholic
Charities through a legacy by means of a will or estate planning, please
call our office and speak with the Business Manager for additional
information. You can reach us at (860) 889-8346. Thank you for HELPING US HELP OTHERS! |
For current
listings, please take a look at our postings of diocesan activities on the Regularly Updated Office of Family
Life page and the Catholic Charities website pages of your interest.
© 2000 Catholic Charities &
Family Services Diocese of Norwich
Design © 2000 Chelsea
Data Inc.
Logos & Trademarks belong to their respective owners
Last Update: 1 December 2003