I started working at Catholic Charities about a month ago and
was able to jump right in by helping coordinate their 9th Annual No Room at the Inn event which was this
past weekend. It was a weekend full of festivities centered on poverty
awareness. There is often ‘no room at the inn’ like our family shelter, St. Josephs’,
for families living in poverty. This
past year, St. Joseph family Shelter had to turn away 1,089 families or 2596
people because their shelter was full. The weekend of No Room at the Inn consists of three events: Fundraising Reception
- Friday night, Poverty Stimulation - Saturday and our Open House - Sunday.
Fundraising Reception
Friday night was a great turn out - around 300+ people
attended! This was our first year of the lighting of the ‘Giving Tree’. It was a night filled with hors d’oeuvres,
cocktails and socializing. The Catholic
Pastoral Center looked amazing! It was decorated beautifully and looked very
elegant. Check out the YouTube video of
the Lighting of the ‘Giving Tree’! http://youtu.be/-PZjJavyOq4
Poverty Stimulation
This was my first time participating in a poverty
stimulation. It was set up to be a real-life experience to show what it might
be like to live in a typical low-income family – not a game. Right when you
walk in you receive a new identity and family. I was a 17 year old boy who
dropped out of school and had to help my family survive. I had a 34 year old
mother and a 14 year old sister, and we had no income starting out the
stimulation. We had four weeks to learn
and experience the realities faced by the poor.
The Stimulation taught me the difficulties and frustrations
that people living in poverty have to face - government agencies,
transportation, importance of budgeting money towards your most needed needs
and much more. I highly recommend anyone
and everyone to participate in a poverty stimulation to get this hands-on
experience – it is truly an eye-opener.
Open House
The open house on Sunday consisted of an afternoon full of
choirs, 100+ nativity displays, a live nativity, Christmas treats, the Christmas
Story read by Bishop Pates & Bishop Charron and a ‘window of opportunities’ display for
visitors to learn about volunteer and service opportunities through Catholic
Charities. Despite the snowy weather,
which made it hard for some to travel, we had a good collection of personal
care items that were donated! 
No comments:
Post a Comment