'Go out to the world...' with Catholic Charities

By Susan Walker

APPROXIMATELY 1.5 MILLION PEOPLE live in the 27 counties of our diocese. An average of 14 percent of them live in poverty, while thousands more teeter on the brink each month. It’s a huge number of people. Catholic Charities of Kansas City-St. Joseph is charged with serving all of them — regardless of life circumstance, place of residence or faith tradition. That means we are called to be present and provide needed services across 6,000 square miles.

This is not an easy task — at-risk families don’t all live on the same block, or in the same zip code. Of course, there are pockets of poverty in our diocese — neighborhoods that have a high concentration of vulnerable residents. There are also the “hidden” at-risk individuals living in stable, mid-income neighborhoods — quite often, silently struggling due to loss of a job or a serious medical diagnosis. Families who reside in rural communities have different needs — and different resources available — than those who live in suburban or urban core areas.

Catholic Charities’ permanent offices in Kansas City and St. Joseph were chosen to locate the agency in the areas where a concentration of higher-need families reside. However, even for the Kansas City metropolitan area, transportation is a looming issue. The public transit system in both Kansas City and St. Joseph is limited and difficult to navigate from certain areas of those cities. Access to buses from suburban or near-rural areas is sparse and inconsistent with our office hours and families’ availability. Establishing multiple permanent office locations is cost-prohibitive and diverts critical funding from support of family needs to infrastructure like office rent and utilities.

Yet staff and volunteers at Catholic Charities are firmly committed to answering this call. In Karen Noel’s first weeks as CEO in the summer of 2020, she and other leadership prioritized traveling throughout the diocese and meeting with parish pastors and staff to understand each community’s unique needs and launch collaborative efforts to meet them. From those discussions, the Catholic Charities team developed a mobile outreach program designed for a broad geographic reach, customized services and good stewardship of resources. This program has been fueled by significant donations from Peter and Veronica Mallouk to launch food pantry operations, the estate of Carole Bickimer to purchase vans and the SSM Health System to support outreach activities.

First steps were identifying permanent locations for food pantry operations, which could also serve as distribution centers for both emergency assistance and supportive wraparound services. Months of touring potential sites, community engagement meetings and rezoning applications have resulted in the lease of a facility in Cameron and the purchase of one in the Ruskin Heights neighborhood of south Kansas City. The south Kansas City location — the former site of St. Matthew Parish — is being remodeled for efficient, broad use as a destination for food pantry and service provision operations. The Cameron facility launched operations in the first week of May.

Volunteer Manager Linda Hopkins and Special Outreach Project Manager Jim Hall laid the foundation for the Cameron center’s outreach over several weeks, exploring collaboration options and community needs with parishes in the northern counties of our diocese. Discussions with pastors, parish staff and community leaders identified community needs and resources already available, allowing for Catholic Charities to complement and support the work already being done in those areas by ministerial alliances and other community organizations. This avoids duplication of services and allows our staff to have a broader reach and more effective use of the funds for rent and utility assistance, food and hygiene products.

The mobile outreach program provides shelf-stable food, fresh produce and hygiene items for clients who have pre-ordered or for walk-in clients. A resource specialist travels with our mobile outreach van to meet with clients and determine the obstacles that are hindering the person’s path to self-sufficiency. In addition to food and hygiene items, we deliver critical necessities such as clothing, diapers, formula and utility and rent assistance.

The Cameron Distribution Center and the mobile outreach program are examples of effective, intentional collaboration between Catholic Charities and Catholic parishes. Staff and volunteers work together — and volunteers greatly outnumber the staff involved in this program. The Catholic Charities staff travel with the van and are available on distribution dates, but parishioners of partner parishes live and work and raise their families in the communities served. They are available to field questions, offer information and make connections in a way that staff cannot. This constant presence between mobile outreach visits means the full resources of Catholic Charities are much more accessible — moving us closer to fulfilling our call to serve those in need in all 27 counties.

“Go out to the world,” Jesus instructed his disciples after the resurrection. Now, in a new way, Catholic Charities can answer, “We are trying, Lord. Help us to do more.”

Catholic Charities' Distribution center in Cameron complements and supports community needs and resources in this area of our diocese.

Catholic Charities volunteers are available to field questions, offer information and make connections in a way that staff cannot.