Jax Gives 2017

J-16 THE TIMES-UNION · Sunday, November 12, 2017
jacksonville gives
a caring voice
CATHOLIC CHARITIES
“The main
point with all
our programs
is that we
treat each
participant as
an individual,
showing
compassion
and love, and
listening to
what they have
to say. These
are individuals
and a onesize-fits-all
approach
simply won’t
work.”
Lauren Weedon
Hopkins
Executive Director
Catholic Charities
Jacksonville
how to give
Catholic Charities
To advocate for the
community and
to help Catholic
Charities care for
those less fortunate,
visit the website at
ccbjax.org and click
on the “Donate”
button or on “How
You Can Help.”
The mission of Catholic Charities is “to provide services to anyone in need, regardless of race or religion; to advocate justice, human dignity and
quality of life; and to call all people to join in these efforts, thereby reflecting the compassion of God in Christ.” (Photos provided by Catholic Charities)
Putting compassion into action
Serving the neediest — all ages, all backgrounds, all challenges
By Barbara Gavan
barbara.gavan@jacksonville.com
Camp I Am Special serves children and adults with disabilities in seven
week-long overnight-camp sessions where each camper is paired oneon-one
with a high-school buddy who helps with everything the camper
does.The program is as popular with volunteers as it is with participants
and has a waiting list of 150 volunteers.
The programs offered by Catholic Charities are many and varied. The
organization feeds the hungry, helps out with bills, settles refugees into
this country, facilitates adoptions and helps out with school supplies,
among other services.
When a woman doesn’t
know where her next meal
is coming from, when a
child is afraid to go to
school because he has no
supplies or appropriate clothing,
when a refugee arrives on U.S.
shores with nowhere to go, when
a childless couple has been praying
for a baby for years … Catholic
Charities is there.
The mission of Catholic Charities
is to provide services to anyone
in need, regardless of race or
religion; to advocate justice, human
dignity and quality of life; and
to call all people to join in these efforts;
thereby reflecting the compassion
of God in Christ.
“That means that we are ready
to serve the neediest among us —
of all ages, all backgrounds and all
challenges,” said Lauren Weedon
Hopkins, executive director for
Catholic Charities Jacksonville.
“I don’t think most people realize
that 85 percent of those we help are
not Catholic. It doesn’t matter to us
— we do what we do to be a good
neighbor.”
The Jacksonville Regional Office
is the largest in the state, serving
Duval, Baker, Clay, Nassau and
northern St. Johns counties.
The programs offered by Catholic
Charities Jacksonville are many
and varied. The organization feeds
the hungry, helps out with bills,
settles refugees into this country,
facilitates adoptions and helps out
with school supplies, among other
services.
In September 2017, Catholic
charities launched a two-year
global campaign to welcome refugees
and migrants under the leadership
of Pope Francis, but the organization’s
Refugee Resettlement
Program in Northeast Florida has
been going on for many decades
to help resettle individuals and
reunite families who legally enter
the United States.
The program, one of the largest
in the state, assists refugees when
they first arrive and for up to five
years afterward. Clients receive
extensive medical background
and relationship checks before
travel to the U.S. is approved.
Many have fled their home countries
because of persecution due to
their race, religion, nationality or
membership in a social or political
group and have nowhere else to
turn.
“From July 2016 to June 2017,
we helped 152 refugees get settled
into this country,” Hopkins said.
“We assist in finding housing and
provide classes in English as a Second
Language, and we’ve set up a
grant-matching program through
which 260 refugees have already
found jobs. We’ve found that refugees
really want to work, so with
training and an understanding of
the workplace, they will be excellent
employees.”
Many of those helped by Catholic
Charities’ Refugee Resettlement
Program have limited English
skills and employment histories, so
ESL classes and help finding jobs is
essential. Others have experienced
emotional trauma, torture, the loss
of family members or long years in
refugee camps, making it necessary
to “tread lightly” with an understanding
heart.
“We have a very diverse staff of
62 employees in Jacksonville, with
some members coming here as refugees
themselves,” Hopkins said.
“They have an immediate rapport
with new arrivals, especially those
from their home countries.”
Refugees aren’t the only people
having a difficult time finding employment,
which is why Catholic
Charities also offers a Workforce
Development program.
“Five years ago, we were seeing
many who had lost jobs and wanted
desperately to get back to work,”
Hopkins said. “With a three-year
start-up grant from the Jessie Ball
DuPont Fund, we have helped 937
people in the last five years, with
411 gaining employment.”
The weeklong program offers
job readiness classes, help with resume-writing
and interviewing, as
well as a closet filled with clothes
appropriate for job interviews.
Then, for up to four months afterward,
participants can come back
to the center to use the computers,
get help with cover letters and apply
for jobs.
“We also help with some of the
barriers to employment — arrange
child care, provide bus passes and
appropriate clothing,” Hopkins
said. “And we work with the Family
Foundation to provide mental
health counseling for those who
are not yet ready to work.
“The main point with all our
programs is that we treat each
participant as an individual, showing
compassion and love, and listening
to what they have to say.
These are individuals and a onesize-fits-all
approach simply won’t
work.”
Catholic Charities’ Immigration
and Legalization program works
with immigrants of all types, not
just refugees. The program has
been accredited for more than 10
years by the Council on Accreditation
— only nine organizations
in Jacksonville have that accreditation
— and by the Department
of Justice, so its staff can do the
work that an immigration attorney
would do. In the past year, the
program has helped 512 documented
immigrants with their paperwork.
High on the list of programs
that everyone — participants and
staff alike — loves is Camp I Am
Special, also ACA accredited for
children and adults with disabilities.
The camp serves those ages
five through 65 in seven weeklong
overnight-camp sessions, during
which each participant is paired
one-on-one with a high-school
buddy who helps with absolutely
everything.
“This has been going on for 34
years with an incredible amount
of success,” Hopkins said. “I was
actually a volunteer for four summers
while I was in high school
and so was my brother. It was there
that he learned to have a love for
these special children. He went
on to medical school to become a
pediatrician with a specialty in autism,
and it’s all because of volunteering
at Camp I Am Special. It’s
such a wonderful experience that
earlier volunteers are now doctors,
nurses and lead nonprofits. Right
now, there is a volunteer waiting
list with 150 names on it.”
Response from the community
has been generous as well. When
the camp’s 50-year-old swimming
pool was finally declared unusable,
$900,000 was raised and a new
pool, designed by Auld & White,
is scheduled to open in December.
Because Catholic Charities is
always looking for volunteers and
donations, the 26th Annual Black
& White Ball will be held on March
3 next year.
“We had 500 attendees last years
and the venue wasn’t large enough,
so this year, we’ll be having the
event at EverBank Field,” Hopkins
said. “This is the first time we’ve
had it at the stadium, so we’re really
excited. We expect from 600
to 700 guests.”
These are just a few of the many
programs available through Catholic
Charities.
“We are so grateful for the community’s
awareness and support of
our programs,” Hopkins said. “We
have 22 people on our board who
serve as advocates in the community;
we couldn’t do what we do
without people caring about the
vulnerable.”