Dedicated Volunteers Support Expansion Of Community Markets

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MAKING A DIFFERENCE

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Former Parish Engagement Program client Juda (right) meets with her Accompaniment Volunteer, Irene, in 2020.

Today, Juda has made positive changes in her life and is supporting herself and her daughter.

Volunteer Larry Cargnoni (top left) and volunteers

Accompaniment Volunteer Larry Cargnoni (top left), also volunteers with a mobile shower van, donated by The Village House, that is set up at Our Lady of Refuge each Thursday. Volunteers, including Monica and Francesca (top row, left–right) from the nonprofit BASICS, recently posed with the mobile unit that allows unhoused persons to take a warm shower.

As the Parish Engagement Program plans to open its fourth community resource market since the initiative launched in late 2019, much of the program’s impact on poverty comes from a committed and growing volunteer corps.

More than 80 volunteers consistently help at the Community Markets that operate weekly at three parish locations, offering resources and services to all who drop in. Parish Engagement will be opening a fourth Community Market site this summer in North Santa Clara County. It will join the existing San Jose locations at Our Lady of Refuge, Christ the King, and St. Leo the Great.

Each of these parishes has a different service focus, based on population, although many overlap in services as volunteers support grocery distribution, hot meals, and translation for clients working with service providers for legal aid, rental assistance or medical support. Additionally, Santa Theresa in San Jose and St. Mary’s in Gilroy have Parish Engagement staff onsite daily to support the social service needs of these communities.

There are also 40 “Accompaniment Volunteers” who have completed extensive training. They work with assigned Community Market clients on an individual basis weekly, focusing on the clients’ goals. Many of these volunteers establish longterm mentoring relationships with clients on their unique journeys out of poverty. “It really is about the client’s journey,” said Larry Cargnoni, who completed the Accompaniment Training with the Parish Engagement Program in 2020. “I don’t believe my role is walking behind and pushing them, or walking in front of them and pulling them. It’s walking with them on their journeys, side-by-side. I want them to thrive.

One former client, Juda, attributes much of her life transformation to her Accompaniment Volunteer, Irene. Today, this first-generation college graduate is on track to complete her master’s degree. But in the early months of the pandemic, Juda sought help after medical complications following the birth of her daughter left her with serious financial difficulties as a single mom. Through the Parish Engagement Program, she received food, clothing, maternity supplies, diapers and gift cards to purchase other items. And the program connected Juda with Irene for long-term guidance and mentorship.

“Catholic Charities respected my decisions and my timeline for my life,” Juda says. “And I am grateful for Irene, who gives her love unconditionally and encouraged me to see beyond my own environment. Now I am strong enough to do things on my own. I am financially supporting myself and my beautiful two-year old daughter, who is a strong, happy, confident little girl. I feel very blessed.”

To Volunteer, visit ccscc.org/become-a-volunteer.