Our Mother's House in Venice provides homeless mothers and their children a safe place to live to achieve self-sufficiency through education, vocational training, and personal growth. Typically, families come from difficult and abusive circumstances and all have been homeless. The program has evolved over the years and initially served only five to eight mothers who often shared the small apartments. In 2005, Catholic Charities doubled capacity by adding six new apartments and renovating the original building which included a day care center. In 2012, seven more apartments were added. We are expanding again! A two-building complex located just one lot away from the current offices will add five individual residences creating 22 in total. The front building will house staff along with one resident apartment and the back building will contain four additional apartments. Once staff moves to the new offices, the current office building will be modified to incorporate a conference room for life skills classes, meetings, and volunteer training, as well as a storage room. Whew!  We plan to open the new apartments in September. 

Bethesda House in Sarasota, a drop-in community center for people living with the HIV virus, is celebrating the recent decision by the Sarasota City Commission to reopen the program's nutrition center. The City Zoning Commission voted to close the nutrition center in December 2016 for zoning reasons. After 27 years of operation, the more than 250 low-income clients of Bethesda House had no place to receive the high-protein and fresh nutritious food they need to remain healthy. The city commission agreed to review the devastating decision and Bethesda House clients were offered the use of the Caritas food pantry for non-perishable items. Through the generosity of Catholic parishes, donors, community partners, we also distributed grocery cards on a bi-weekly basis to clients so they could purchase fresh produce and protein. On June 19, after numerous meetings with officials, the city commission approved new zoning language to allow Bethesda House to continue the nutrition center! The reopening happened on July 3. 

Sharon Aragona
Chief Operating Officer

Casa San Juan Bosco has been the place to be this summer! Through an arrangement with All Faith's Food Bank and the Sarasota County School District, hot lunch has been served to about 75 parents and children four days a week. Children also may pick up snack bags whenever they wish at the two community centers located in the farm worker housing development.

Summer Camp also was offered at Casa San Juan Bosco at the community center with about 45 kindergarten to sixth grade students attending. We were especially pleased to be able to afford volunteer opportunities at the Summer Camp for several teens who provided invaluable assistance. The Zumba class, which happens three mornings a week at the center, also continues to be popular and now includes several children!

Andy Herigodt
Program Director for DeSoto County

Summer lunch at Casa San Juan Bosco.

	Summer Camp at Casa San Juan Bosco.

 

Catholic Charities in Lee, Hendry and Glades Counties welcomes Milly Clark as a new staff member at the Elizabeth Kay Galeana Center in Fort Myers. Milly will be assisting with the preparation of the Venetian Charity Ball as well as with administrative duties. She comes to us with experience in planning the Cattle Barons' Ball for the American Cancer Society. 

We regret that Alex Olivares, program director for the Human Trafficking Victim Assistance Program, will be leaving his position at Catholic Charities. We wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors. Alex made many key contributions to our program over the years and leaves us with robust services meeting the critical needs of victims of human trafficking. We are very excited to have just opened a new transitional home for victims of human trafficking to live in while they are involved in our program. Plans are underway to open one or two more houses very soon in the Bonita Springs and Fort Myers areas. Transitional housing is an important component to the program that offers long-term assistance.

Clare House has undergone a bit of a face lift. It has been painted, large trees were removed from the front entrance for better visibility, and the reception area was renovated to enhance its appearance. A new sign will be installed soon. Our Senior Support Coordination, Positive Youth Development, and Human Trafficking Victim Assistance programs are located at Clare House.

Charles Anderson
District Director in Lee, Hendry and Glades Counties

The new fiscal year provides opportunities for a fresh start for all of us. This is a great time to re-evaluate your program outcomes and make some decisions about their effectiveness in measuring the things that are important to you. Maybe it's time to look at your services from a different angle and make some changes that will positively impact your clients!

Andy Herigodt
Director of Performance, Quality Improvements, and Compliance

Therapist Marta Gallego-Adkins of the Catholic Charities Family Counseling Center in Naples had a success story about one of her young clients published in Salut!, the magazine of the Naples Winter Wine Festival. The Naples Children and Education Foundation is the founder the festival that raises money to  support charitable programs that improve the physical, emotional and educational lives of underprivileged and at-risk children in Collier County.