Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County’s largest fundraising effort to assist the poor takes place in May throughout the Diocese of San Jose.
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The May Appeal provides Catholic Charities its crucial unrestricted dollars, funds which can be allocated wherever they are most needed to better serve the poor and vulnerable.
“Help the poor hold on – together we can get through this,” is the theme of this year’s campaign. Last year nearly $600,000 was raised during the May Appeal and this year’s goal is to exceed $700,000.
Catholic Charities’ ability to sustain critical programs is directly tied to the Appeal’s outcome. Every gift will go directly to support Catholic Charities’ programs.
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When one-quarter of the people living in a community are poor, poverty should be considered a crisis. Last year we saw 37 percent more clients than the year before, and the numbers continue to climb. At the same time we are facing the challenges of cuts in government and foundation funds.
Catholic Charities is distributing more food at its service sites around the county and the agency has expanded its job training and job placement services. Catholic Charities is also proactively supporting state legislation that will help our clients – restoring long term care ombudsman funding, expanding outreach for Earned Income Tax Credits, and supporting a new economic security standard for elders.
Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County annually serves more than 37,000 people of all cultures and beliefs through a broad base of programs including children/youth services and education; housing services; job skills training and placement; older adult services; mental health counseling; financial education; immigration; and refugee resettlement.
I know it feels harder to give at this time, but we need everyone’s help now, more than ever before. Through the work of Catholic Charities, a small sacrifice for us can make a big difference to others.
For about the cost of a family dinner in a nice restaurant, a donor could provide six weeks of computer classes to help one low-income youth do better in school or prepare for a job; purchase a work permit for a newly arrived refugee who is trying to support his family; or offer two days of adult day care for an elder with Alzheimer’s and give a much-needed break to their caregiver.
With the support of individuals in the parishes and the community, we can give people the tools they need to lift themselves from poverty and live with dignity and self-sufficiency.
Catholic Charities remains focused on helping build long-term self-sufficiency so that one day its clients would not need assistance anymore.
In addition to donating during the Masses, people may also contribute to the May Appeal by donating online at http://www.catholiccharitiesscc.org/.
And thanks to a Sobrato Family Foundation Challenge Grant, people can double their contributions. The Sobrato Family Foundation will match 2 to 1 every new dollar donated to Catholic Charities, which means any amount given above last year’s contribution will be matched by the Foundation.
To obtain more information about the Appeal or to make a donation, contact Cindy Zbin, Catholic Charities’ Associate Director of Development, (408) 325-5125 or czbin@ccsj.org.
Propositions 1D and 1E deserve NO votes at this year’s May 19
California legislators are ignoring the will of the people who passed Proposition 10, an initiated constitutional amendment, in 1998 despite the tobacco industry spending more than $29 million in their attempt to defeat the ballot issue.
Proposition 10, the California Children and Families First Act of 1998, imposed additional tax on cigarettes of 50 cents/pack, as well as additional taxes on other tobacco products. With the revenue from those taxes, the state government created state and county commissions to establish early childhood development, school readiness, health insurance for children, adult education for parents and smoking prevention programs.
Proposition 63, the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA), has expanded and transformed California’s county mental health service systems by having high income individuals pay an additional one percent tax on individual, but not corporate, taxable income in excess of $1 million.
We can end the tragedies of kids failing in school, strengthen families, prevent homelessness, assist people with mental health issues and change lives for good by keeping in tact the program funding the voters had implemented. It was right then – and is right today.
Let’s keep Prop. 10 … the
Let’s keep Prop-63 … the Mental Health Services Act … for our children, our seniors, our neighbors and for our future.
Vote NO on Propositions 1D and 1E.