32
PEOPLE of GOD
may 2020
Friends, At this time of great worry and uncertainty for us all, we sincerely hope that you and your loved ones are in good health. At Catholic Charities, we are following government advice and have put strict measures in place to protect our staff and everybody they come into contact with. As a charity that exists to protect and care for people, we are continuing to reach out to people right where they are and doing all we can to help mitigate the impact of the coronavirus on their health and well-being. • Our Children’s Learning Center is working with CYFD to provide top-quality childcare for parents who are emergency workers. Director Diane Lozano regularly speaks with representatives from CYFD to ensure that the center is maintaining the most current regulations for cleanliness and safety. Our incredible CLC teachers continue to work with children every day, providing absolutely essential care through this crisis. • Like thousands of teachers across the country, our adult education teachers made miracles happen by changing from a classroom-based to a webbased curriculum in a matter of days. They’ve been working with students to make sure everyone had the materials they needed to continue getting the quality education experience they’re used to having in our building, while remaining safe and healthy at home. Student Gloria Chaverria said, “I cannot believe how good I feel, especially when Carlos explain[s] online class and I understand linear functions!¨ • Our Mobile Food Pantry was available to safely provide food to our community on March 27. Volunteers wore gloves and masks to sort and hand out food, and the pick-up process was adapted from a line of people to a line of cars in order to ensure distance recommendations were followed between everyone involved. • The Senior Transportation Program has limited the rides it is providing to only necessary medical appointments. However, Volunteer Coordinator Cathy Aragon-Marquez continues to reach out to all our senior riders and drivers to ensure they are doing well and are connected with the resources they need. • In Refugee Services, Program Coordinator Sarah Azibo is dropping off homework packets at the houses of each student and making incentives to send back pictures proving they have been working on it. She is working to get Zoom video conferencing software to keep meeting online. Programmatic Outreach Liaison Carolina Romero also continues to make sure underrepresented populations understand the importance of responding to the 2020 Census. • The Housing and Self-Sufficiency team are still meeting vulnerable clients, but making in person visits only when absolutely necessary and maintaining necessary health precautions during visits. We are so grateful that they continue to work on the front lines to support clients who are extremely vulnerable and need to access housing immediately. Our priorities have been and continue to be the health and safety of our staff, volunteers and the community members we work with every day, and we’ve pooled resources of time and funds from every corner of our organization to make that happen. As with any unforeseen event, however, these new interventions will place a considerable strain on our resources for the near future. If you’ve already supported our COVID-19 Relief Fund, THANK YOU! Please help us spread the word of our work and continued
