CCHD to award 32 grants for local efforts to fight poverty

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Ray Delisle,508-791-5357

$13,900 being awarded in local efforts to fight poverty

32 programs demonstrate faith in action
October 20, 2015, Worcester, MA -- Most Rev. Robert J. McManus, Bishop of Worcester, will distribute 32 local grants totaling $13,900 today, October 20 at 1:00 p.m. as part of the Annual Catholic Campaign for Human Development. The awards will be made at a ceremony at the Gymnasium at St. Peter Parish, 931 Main Street, Worcester. One quarter of the annual collection taken in November in Catholic parishes is used for local efforts. The remainder is forwarded to the national office for larger scale efforts around the country. This year’s collection will be taken up in all parishes on November 21and 22.
“We are compelled by faith to assist our brothers and sisters in need,” according to Bishop McManus. “Locally and nationally this campaign seeks to move people out of poverty by supplementing other sources of funding from many parish and community efforts. Today’s recipients organizations remind us that we exercise our faith beyond the pews in so many places in Worcester County.”
The awards ceremony also provides an opportunity to thank those in attendance for their ongoing efforts to help stem the causes of poverty in our local communities. Reducing the causes of poverty has been the goal of the Annual Catholic Campaign for Human Development for four decades.
The program will also include a brief talk by Benito Vega, state coordinator for the organizing project about the National Ex-offender Reentry Program sponsored by the National St. Vincent de Paul Society in partnership with the Catholic Campaign for Human Development. The project aims to promote smarter, healthier and safe strategies to end mass incarceration and remove barriers to reentry for ex-offenders.
Grants will be awarded to the following: Marie Anne Center ESL; St. Peter Youth Mentoring Program; St. Peter ESL Program; Pernet Family Health - Linking Mothers and Infants to Support; Visitation House - Life Skills; St. Vincent de Paul "Kindergarten Buddies" ; St. Vincent de Paul, Worcester; St. Vincent de Paul, Winchendon; St. Vincent de Paul, Uxbridge; St. Vincent de Paul, Spencer; Mary, Queen of the Rosary Wellness Fund; Mercy Fuel/Food Fund; St. Paul Cathedral Outreach Food Pantry; Dismas House; Catholic Charities/Leominster Family Food Security; Catholic Charities/Southbridge Wheels for Change; Catholic Charities/Whitinsville Seasonal Solutions; Catholic Charities/Worcester Essential Personal Needs; St. James' Outreach; John 21 Community Breakfast in Whitinsville; St. Bernard's Kidz Youth Basketball; Our Lady of Providence Food Pantry; Marie Anne Center Teen Talk; Special Religious Education (SPRED); Refugee Artisans of Worcester; McAuley Nazareth Reuniting Child and Family; St. Joseph/Fitchburg Parish Nursing Outreach; WCAC Project Excel Program; St. Louis Parish Intergenerational 30 Hour Famine Project; St. Ann/Shrewsbury Eagle Scout Project (Human Sevices); Sacred Heart New Playground Equipment; and St. Joseph/Fitchburg Garden Project.
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