Good Shepherd Services to Native Americans and Hispanics
Organization / Location: Good Shepherd Center, Holbrook, Ariz.
Contact: Contact: Sr. Mary Thurlough, DC, Assistant Director, 505.722.4407
Good Shepherd Center, in the Diocese of Galup in New Mexico and in Arizona, is a provider agency of Catholic Charities offering services to individuals whose needs are great due to isolation, drought, poor land conditions and extreme poverty in the communities in which they live. The supportive agency assists individuals who are in need of housing, jobs and financial relief. The goal of the program is to secure continuity for the children involved during challenging times. The funds were requested to provide a safe and welcoming building to house the programs offered.
Women’s Wellness Mental Health Program
Organization / Location: Alexandria House, Los Angeles, Calif.
Contact: Judy Vaughan, CSJ, Founding Director, 213.381.2649
Funds were requested to support a program that will serve a culturally diverse group of economically poor women and their children who are current and past residents of the Transitional Residence Program at Alexandria House. Most of these women have been referred from emergency and domestic violence shelters. The community support they receive at Alexandria House helps them to achieve emotional and economic self-sufficiency and permanent housing. Those who successfully meet the program requirements and have moved into permanent housing often need ongoing support services to maintain physical and mental health and prevent a reoccurrence of homelessness.
Care Management Services for Good Shepherd Center’s Languille Emergency and Drop-in Shelter
Organization / Location: Catholic Charities of Los Angeles, Inc., Los Angeles, Calif.
Contact: Monsignor Gregory A. Cox, Executive Director, 213.251.3462
Good Shepherd Center’s Languille Emergency Shelter and Drop-in Center addresses the immediate needs of homeless women, focusing on shelter and services, and provides longer-term supportive services to more than 800 women and children annually. The Center provides, with dignity and love, a continuum of care and case management to promote overall improved health and a path to independent living.
Project Hope – Doula Programm
Organization / Location: Marillac Social Center, Chicago, Ill.
Contact: Maureen Hallagan, Executive Director, 773.584.3222
This program provides support and care for pregnant teens in an area of Chicago that has high rates of school drop-outs, poverty, crime, drugs, gangs, violence, poor housing and unemployment. All of the participants are enrolled with a medical provider for preventive, prenatal and tertiary care, and once delivered, their children have a higher rate of immunizations. The rate for cesarean births decreases with this program and there is improved frequency of father contact. This program assures that the children born to these teens have a chance for a healthy, happy start in life.
Outreach Program to Clients at Constance Morris Domestic Shelter
Organization / Location: Congregation of St. Joseph, LaGrange Park, Ill.
Contact: Sr. Marlene Schemmel, Executive Director, 708.482.5088
This program reaches out to abused women from various cultures, ethnic backgrounds, religions and educational abilities and helps them through lectures, workshops and energy sessions to live balanced lives. The program allows them to develop an awareness and understanding of wholeness in mind, body and spirit and increases their overall wellness. These women gain self-respect, self-confidence and a willingness to live healthier, happier and less stressful lives.
Payee Services
Organization / Location: Sisters of St. Joseph Dear Neighbor Ministries, Wichita, Kansas
Contact: Patrick O’Donnell, Director, Mission Advancement, 316.689.4061
Dear Neighbor Ministries works to transform the lives of people who are poor, abused and neglected. It provides transitional housing, support services and direct assistance to help people master the skills to become self-sufficient. The payee services program was started to assist individuals who could not manage their own financial affairs, many of whom were spending their Social Security checks before purchasing the drug prescriptions needed to manage their mental health conditions.
People Program for Senior Citizens
Organization / Location: Sisters of St. Joseph/Congregation of St. Joseph, Baton Rouge, La.
Contact: Sr. Bertrand Lieux, CSJ, Mission Advancement, 225.924.3323
The People Program brings together senior adults who share their experiences, talents, wisdom, knowledge and losses with one another. The retirees themselves, as volunteer teachers, take leadership in facilitating this sharing by offering more than 100 classes that are holistic in scope: spiritual, physical, aesthetic and intellectual. Retirement and separation by death often breed loneliness, frustration and health problems. This program offers creative and intellectual activities that contribute to a renewed self-esteem and sense of well-being. The members come from different religious, racial, ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds, allowing many opportunities for cultural exchange and discussions, which help to meet the vital need of socialization and personal interaction.
The DePaul Dental Program
Organization / Location: Seton Center, Inc., Emmitsburg, Md.
Contact: Sr. Ellen Eisenberger, Administrator, 301.447.6102
This program provides dental services for low-income adults that fall at or below the state poverty guidelines and have no dental insurance. Seton Center partners with area dentists and oral surgeons who provide their services at discounted rates. The people served by this program gain self-esteem, are healthier, present a better appearance and have a better chance to be hired when they present themselves to prospective employers. To respect the dignity and independence of the clients, they are asked to pay a nominal fee at their initial visit.
ROPE Bakery Program
Organization / Location: Detroit Catholic Pastoral Alliance/Capuchin Friars
Contact: Sr. Mary Catherine DeSantis, CSJ, Executive Director, 313.922.1435
The Reaching Our Potential Everyday (ROPE) program works with ex-offenders and recovering substance abusers. It teaches them baking skills they can use in a production and retail bakery facility opened by the Detroit Catholic Pastoral Alliance and the Capuchin Friars. The participants gain economic, social and spiritual growth and independence through training and long-term employment in the baking profession. The program also provides necessary support services to supplement the participants’ new technical skills. Proceeds from the sale of the baked goods are used to support a portion of the housing, food, transportation and healthcare needs of the participants.
Art Therapy Program for Detroit Deaf Youth
Organization / Location: Holley Ear Institute, Detroit, Mich.
Contact: Contact: Gary Stark, Development Officer, 313.343.4084
The Holley Ear Institute provides access to art therapy for Detroit’s deaf and hard of hearing youth – a poor and underserved population. Communication barriers and a lack of financial resources prevent these students from participating in mainstream culture and the arts, making opportunities for self-expression inaccessible to them and increasing their risk of developing low self-esteem. Utilizing art as a medium to explore emotions and self-identity helps build confidence in deaf youth.
Trauma Recovery: Training Workshops for Mental Health Professionals and Spiritual Caregivers
Organization / Location: Trauma Recovery Associates, Kalamazoo, Mich.
Contact: Rev. Kenneth W. Schmidt, Pastor, 269.381.8917
Trauma Recovery Associates trains mental health professionals and spiritual caregivers in the effective treatment of adult survivors of childhood trauma. The consequences of childhood abuse and neglect are extensive and trauma survivors have been denied the justice of a safe and loving childhood. Many health practitioners lack sufficient understanding of the effects of childhood trauma and do not possess the therapeutic skills to serve these individuals. Training workshops throughout the country help mental health professionals and spiritual caregivers make their therapy and ministry more effective by focusing on core issues and solutions to overcome the effects of trauma.
Gussy Up Your Spirit Women’s Events
Organization / Location: Gussy Up Your Spirit Women’s Events Ministry, Livonia, Mich.
Contact: Sr. Patricia Hergenroether, CSJ, Founder/Initiator, 734.718.1102
Gussy Up Your Spirit Women’s Events offers innovative presentations, creative expression, exhilarating conversations, music, prayer and reflection to help women recognize and tap into the gifts that God has placed inside each of them and to realize these gifts can be applied to all areas of their lives. Women from all backgrounds, nationalities and religions are able to reclaim their spirit that may have been lost because of stress, grief and other life-changing circumstances.
HealthKey
Organization / Location: St. Joseph Health System, Tawas City, Mich.
Contact: Cathy Maxwell, Executive Director, 989.362.9755
HealthKey offers a one-stop resource center to assist uninsured, underinsured and underserved individuals to overcome the barriers and obstacles they face when trying to access the healthcare and community service system. The program has three major components: case/disease management for diabetes and hypertension; prescription assistance program; and medical access to services while addressing other basic human needs in the process. HealthKey clients fall within different percentages of the federal poverty guidelines and the majority are working full-time jobs within the minimum wage scale.
Outreach and Network Plan
Organization / Location: St. Joseph Woods, Ferguson, Mo.
Contact: Carol Brouillette, CSJ, Co-Director, 314.524.4477
St. Joseph Woods is a center for Earth spirituality. It promotes and educates visitors on the care of the Earth and the sacredness of creation through organic gardening of vegetables and flowers, care of animals, seasonal celebrations, women’s circles, service and youth opportunities and reflective space for retreat. Contact with nature is healing and helps participants cope with stress and adjust to change while increasing their awareness of the importance of conserving our natural resources.
Parish Nursing Program
Organization / Location: St. Therese Little Flower Parish, Kansas City, MO.
Contact: Sr. Helen Alder, RN, CSJ, 816.942.2746
The Parish Nursing Program serves an underserved and undereducated population of elderly, poor parishioners, many of whom have difficulty navigating through the health and insurance systems. The parish nurse visits all of the homebound parishioners, those in the hospital, nursing homes, rehabilitation units and those newly discharged from these institutions. She educates them about their disease processes and rights, and acts as an advocate with insurance companies, doctors and medical institutions.
Days of Care Crisis Nursing Program
Organization / Location: Providence House, Cleveland, Ohio
Contact: Natalie Leek-Nelson, Executive Director, 216.225.5677
Providence House provides a temporary nurturing home for children whose caregivers are in crisis, while supporting family preservation through innovative programming. It is Ohio’s first licensed crisis nursing, offering free, voluntary (non-custodial) placements for emergency shelter to children newborn through five-years old who are living in situations that place them at risk of abuse or neglect. An integrated model of services provide support, guidance, education and comfort to the children and their families, and addresses the needs of the child and parent, allowing time to stabilize the crisis and begin healing for the family.
Basic Education and GED Preparation Classes
Organization / Location: Seeds of Literacy, Cleveland, Ohio
Contact: Bonnie Entler, Executive Director, 216.661.7950
The Seeds of Literacy program brings people of diverse, ethnic, social and economic backgrounds together to work to help overcome illiteracy, which is a root cause of poverty in the community. It provides basic education and G.E.D. preparation to the adult population free of charge. The program is built on one-on-one tutoring and allows students to work at their own academic level. The students benefit greatly from this approach rather than a group teaching environment.
Diabetic/Pre-Diabetic Program for Children and Adults
Organization / Location: Proyecto Juan Diego, Inc., Brownsville, Texas
Contact: Sr. Phylis Peters, Director, 956.542.2488
Proyecto Juan Diego focuses on advocacy for those who are poor in an effort to bring peace and justice into their lives. The project relates to the human development of its clients in all aspects – health, mind, spirit and culture, and provides visits to homes and responds to their needs with integrity and respect. A program for diabetic and pre-diabetic individuals provides education about the disease, as well as classes on nutrition, cooking, aerobics, dancing, gardening and walking clubs. This program provides follow-up care to patients after hospitalization to ensure they have the medication and care they require.
Children’s Summer Day Treatment Program
Organization / Location: Lourdes Health Network/Lourdes Counseling Center, Pasco, Wash.
Contact: Erin Tomlinson, Foundation Specialist, 509.543.2415
The Children’s Summer Day Treatment Program provides a summertime therapeutic/recreational experience for children and adolescents who have disabilities due to behavioral, emotional and mild cognitive impairments. This program improves functioning for participants by providing academic, recreational, vocational and social activities. It provides intensive counseling and academic services who qualify for special education services as being seriously emotionally disturbed or health impaired.
School-Based Health Programs
Organization / Location: West Virginia Catholic Foundation, Inc.
Contact: Bryan E. Minor, Executive Director, 304.233.0880, ext. 263
Students and families in West Virginia have a critical need for preventive health programs, wellness education, and access to basic healthcare. Student-centered health services and programs in the schools help to emphasize education and prevention and involve family, parishioners and the communities in which they live.
