{"id":2878,"date":"2007-02-19T09:39:07","date_gmt":"2007-02-19T09:39:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/viamedia\/2007\/02\/almsgiving-1.html"},"modified":"2007-02-19T09:39:07","modified_gmt":"2007-02-19T09:39:07","slug":"almsgiving-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2007\/02\/almsgiving-1.html","title":{"rendered":"Almsgiving"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week, I ran a post asking for suggestions of small, grassroots charities here and overseas to which people might offer spiritual and material assistance. <\/a><\/p>\n

It was inspired by the Colorado Springs Diocese’s newspaper editor’s blog on his journey with the Christian Foundation for Chlidren and Aging<\/a><\/p>\n

….and then  SCOPE: <\/span><\/a>Salvadoran Children of the Poor Education Foundation – a group that funds a single school in El Salvador.<\/p>\n

Some others that people suggested are:<\/p>\n

\"Mag\"<\/a> Maggie’s Place<\/a>: "a house of hospitality for expectant women who wish to achieve their goals in a dignified atmosphere. Following Catholic social teaching, we recognize that we are responsible to and for one another. We challenge each other to strive toward personal growth, to welcome the gift of every person that enters our door, and to promote positive social change." (These houses are located in Arizona and the website includes a needs list for those of you in the area who might be able to help that way)<\/a><\/p>\n

Related – take a look at the Mom’s House   website and see if there’s a location in your area that you might be able to help somehow.<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
\n

Mom\u2019s House<\/span><\/strong><\/span>\u00ae<\/span> provides safe, secure, and totally free childcare to
low-income single parents wishing to continue their education.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Divine Mercy Care<\/a>: "Our vision is to create a Catholic healthcare organization in Northern Virginia to provide a continuum of health services that includes acute care, long term care, home health services, medical education and to become interwoven in the fabric of our community and our culture." I am not sure how to state the relationship most accurately but this is basically the same "people" as a currently thriving pro-life\/NFP-only OB\/GYN practice. <\/p>\n

Vietnam Dream for Success<\/span><\/a> is a great small charity run by a Vietnamese Dominican sister in Washington, D.C. VDS creates educational opportunities for disadvantaged and poor children, young adults, and women in Vietnam. Any help would be appreciated. Check out the website. <\/p>\n

\n

Cross International Catholic Outreach:<\/a><\/p>\n

In recognition that poverty ravages many areas of the world – victimizing families, children and the elderly, we dedicate ourselves to a ministry of relief and development to aid the poorest of the poor.<\/p>\n

Wherever possible, our work is not to sustain the needy, but rather to break the cycle of poverty that plagues them. By providing educational opportunities and by focusing on community development, we strive to make impoverished individuals and villages self-supporting.<\/p>\n

Rather than create new institutions to distribute aid, we will first seek to help existing ministries and churches already serving the poor. In addition to being the most cost-effective way of helping the poor, empowering these ministries allows us to support the Church’s spiritual mission and its important position of leadership in poor communities.<\/p>\n

Through prayer, and in a spirit of obedience, we submit our work to God, seeking His inspiration and leading in everything we do.<\/p>\n

\n

For years, my wife and I have supported a wonderful organization called "Help the Helpless".<\/a> <\/p>\n

They run a Catholic orphanage\/school in India for handicapped children among the poorest of the poor. There is no safety net in India for kids in this kind of situation. The school does excellent things not only to educate them, but also to give them life skills—and the Catholic faith.<\/p>\n

\n

The Gabriel Project<\/a><\/p>\n

The Angel Gabriel was sent as a messenger from God. <\/span>"Rejoice! Fear not!"<\/strong><\/span> were God’s words of encouragement delivered by Gabriel. Gabriel Communications is an effort of our mother Church to help deliver this message, and to help any pregnant women. <\/p>\n

We are trying to assist the Lord and His Angel Gabriel in delivering this message via billboards, signs and videos. Indeed, God’s message on behalf of the unborn and their mothers needs to be broadcast loud and clear. We need to raise our voices, and lift the signs up high for all to see, to validate and dignify the lives of the forgotten unborn, and to educate our community. <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

The Fraser Family Foundation has migrated to the Mater Ecclesiae Debt Relief Program (for potential priests and religious who have student loan debt)<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Sarnelli_house2\"<\/a> Sarnelli House, in Thailand:<\/a><\/p>\n

"Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful priests taking on the role of geniune earthly "fathers" for these children, even while watching their short lives ebb. And as grassroots as you can get." <\/p>\n

\n

And then, to get more local – here’s a note from an acquaintance who is part of the Catholic Worker community in a place a few miles northwest of here:<\/p>\n

One community that fits the bill of a small, struggling group doing the corporal works of mercy without many resources is the Catholic Worker community in downtown South Bend, Indiana. <\/p>\n

We have two houses, one for men, one for women, with about eight guests in each. Twenty to thirty people for supper each night. And we have just opened a drop-in center down the street, called Our Lady of the Road, where people living on the streets can come during the day and where we have Mass on First Fridays for the homeless and non-homeless alike. <\/p>\n

We have four people on the staff, though "staff" is too formal a word for us, because we have no salaries, no pension plans, no adminstrative costs of any kind. We work at different jobs, but all the money goes into the common pot. Like many families, we are simply eeking out an existence amid the pressure of rising gas bills, busted pipes, the phone ringing , and people continually knocking on the front door looking for a place to stay. <\/p>\n

We say "no" more than "yes," but when we do say yes, we try to receive them as Benedict advised, as we would Christ. But we are poignantly aware of our shortcomings. Still and all, we do what we can and it costs money. <\/p>\n

And so we ask, beg, plead, and intercede for help! <\/p>\n

Checks can be made out to: The Catholic Worker, and sent to: <\/p>\n

P.O. Box 4241 <\/strong><\/p>\n

South Bend, IN 46634.<\/strong> <\/p>\n

Lent is fast approaching, so we humbly suggest that this might be a good time to help us in doing the corporal works of mercy, and the spiritual works of mercy too. Like our founder, Dorothy Day, we are unapologetically Catholic: traditional in matters of doctrine, radical in politics, and very practical in our spirituality. When asked by one pious woman if she ever had visions, Dorothy Day responded, "yes, visions of unpaid bills." We share that vision! And so we ask for your help<\/p>\n

\n

Any more suggestions? Post here, and I’ll move them up to the main post eventually…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week, I ran a post asking for suggestions of small, grassroots charities here and overseas to which people might offer spiritual and material assistance. It was inspired by the Colorado Springs Diocese’s newspaper editor’s blog on his journey with the Christian Foundation for Chlidren and Aging ….and then  SCOPE: Salvadoran Children of the Poor…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":180,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nAlmsgiving - Via Media<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2007\/02\/almsgiving-1.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Almsgiving - Via Media\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Last week, I ran a post asking for suggestions of small, grassroots charities here and overseas to which people might offer spiritual and material assistance. 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The Catholicism comes from her side. Amy grew up in a number of places - Indiana - Washington, DC - Lubbock Texas - Arlington, Virginia - DeKalb, Illinois - Lawrence, Kansas - and Knoxville, Tennessee, where the family settled in 1973. She attended Knoxville Catholic High School, then the University of Tennessee where she majored in history. She received an MA in Church History from Vanderbilt University, where she wrote a thesis on the changing role of women in 19th century American Protestantism, and the ways Scripture was used to justify those changes. She worked as as a teacher in Catholic high schools and a Parish Director of Religious Education and started writing for the diocesan press - the Florida Catholic - in 1988. Amy has written columns for Our Sunday Visitor and Catholic News Service at times over the past twenty years. Her articles have been published in venues ranging from Our Sunday Visitor to the New York Times to Commonweal. 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