Greg CEO Letter
“Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
Blessed are you who hunger now,
for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.
Blessed are you when people hate you,
when they exclude you and insult you
and reject your name as evil,
because of the Son of Man.”
(Luke 6:20-22)
Dear Friends,
In this Easter season, as we celebrate the Resurrection, we also go out into our neighborhoods and put our faith into action, neighbors helping neighbors. The Beatitudes both console and challenge us to a radical trust in God rather than things, and a trust in God’s consoling grace in the face of adversity, loss, and rejection.
At Catholic Charities every day we see children and families struggling to survive. Young children and their parents come to us hungry for food to nourish their bodies and hungry for knowledge to nourish their minds and their souls. Thanks to generous donors and amazing volunteers and staff we are able to feed thousands of children, seniors, and families each week through our Emergency Food Distribution and Senior Nutrition. But the numbers keep rising.
Young parents come to us eager to learn how to help their children grow healthy and strong, but a major longtime funder is reducing funding by 75%. How will those parents find help?
Many working families come to us for help staying in housing. While we are amazingly successful in building hundreds of new affordable homes through Charities Housing, we can’t build fast enough. Without one-time rental assistance, more families are facing homelessness.
Thanks to several generous donors, through our new family-centered community change strategy called “Footsteps: Pathways to Self-sufficiency” we are helping reduce and prevent poverty. Neighbors are helping neighbors and we are guiding families along their path to wellness and self-sufficiency.
With these challenges and opportunities, we need your help. Help us feed the hungry children and their families. Help us reduce poverty. Help us keep families housed. Help us strengthen families so that neighbors can help their neighbors.
I invite you to invest generously through Catholic Charities as together we break the cycle of poverty in our community. Thank you!
Many blessings,
Gregory R. Kepferle CEO
