Update from CEO Greg Kepferle
Gregory R. Kepferle, CEO
Dear Friends,
Earlier this summer we hosted Kerry Alys Robinson, the new President and CEO of Catholic Charities USA. As I introduced her to a number of our services, I couldn’t help but feel proud of our staff and volunteers for the amazing work they do every day. We visited our team at the Franklin-McKinley Children’s Initiative, toured John XXIII programs and witnessed staff helping homeless clients at The Window. We helped distribute food with staff and volunteers at St. Lucy’s Parish, toured Charities Housing’s newest affordable housing development, Blossom Valley Senior Apartments, and visited with leadership team members, sharing our concerns and hopes for our families and clients. And this was just a fraction of what Catholic Charities does on behalf of the Church throughout the county.
With all the amazing work we do at Catholic Charities, we know that the need is always greater. Seniors are struggling to pay the rent on fixed incomes. Families are struggling with food bills and with finding affordable housing, jobs and access to health benefits, childcare and quality afterschool education for their children. Immigrants and refugee foster youth struggle with a sense of belonging even as they seek security and a better future. And the pressures of poverty take their psychological toll as well, leading to greater anxiety and depression.
But there are signs of hope as well. Charities Housing is building more affordable housing while helping our unhoused neighbors get off the streets. Our Service Guidance through Footsteps is beginning to grow in Gilroy and in East San Jose with the City of San Jose’s Children and Youth Master Plan. (Just in two years we quadrupled the number of families served in Gilroy.) And soon we will be able to help more families stay housed through additional rental assistance in San Jose.
You can make a difference. I invite you to join us once again in changing lives for good. We need your help to ensure our hungry seniors and families are fed, our neighbors are housed, children are educated, and families have access to wrap-around supports to thrive, not merely survive.
Thank you for all your support and generosity. Thank you for changing lives for good!
All the best,
Gregory R. Kepferle, CEO
