CHARLOTTE — Generosity marked the end of 2020 in the Diocese of Charlotte, with parishioners making a difference in a variety of ways – from large donations to regular offertory contributions.
Diocesan development staff report receiving a record number of 12 six-figure gifts at the end of the year to benefit several parishes, St. Joseph College Seminary, Catholic Charities and Christ the King High School.
Of the 12 year-end gifts that were made to entities in the diocese:
- A gift in the amount of $101,000 was given to St. Ann Church for purposes to be determined by the parish.
- Three endowments to the foundation were established in the amounts of $100,000, $130,000 and $128,000 – to benefit Immaculate Conception Church in Hendersonville, St. Benedict Church in Greensboro, and St. John Baptist de la Salle Church in North Wilkesboro, respectively.
- Four major gifts were made to the St. Joseph College Seminary capital campaign: three gifts in the amount of $100,000, and one in the amount of $125,000. The capital campaign now stands at $18.4 million, just $1.6 million shy of its goal.
- Two gifts of $100,000 and $210,000 were made to Christ the King High School in Huntersville for its ongoing capital campaign
- Two gifts of $100,000 each were made to Catholic Charities Diocese of Charlotte, to be used to strengthen families, build communities and reduce poverty particularly at this time when the needs are so great.
“We are finding that more and more people who have the means are giving six-figure gifts,” said Jim Kelley, diocesan director of development. “These individuals and couples have a strong commitment to the Church. They want to have an impact and they know their gifts are changing lives every day.”
In addition, unrestricted and restricted gifts overall to Catholic Charities were up 60 percent from July 2020 to December 2020 compared to the previous year.
And despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, there is more good news. Parish offertories for the fourth quarter of 2020 were on average 89 percent of what they were at the same time last year, diocesan finance officials report.
However, smaller and more rural parishes continue to be hit hard by the economic decline caused by the pandemic. At year’s end, almost one-third of the diocese’s 92 parishes and missions reported their fourth-quarter offertory income remained down 30 percent or more.
“While we are grateful that our parishioners have continued their giving at an 89 percent level of where we were pre-COVID,” Kelley noted, “we encourage those who are not currently giving to resume their giving to their parish and consider online giving.”
— SueAnn Howell, Senior reporter
‘The need is just astronomical right now’
With rising numbers of people experiencing homelessness due to the pandemic, Charlotte-area parishes are getting creative and ramping up efforts to respond at a time when traditional methods of outreach are on hold.
Taking a page from Pope Francis himself, who has advocated for the Church to “leave her four walls” and “go to the margins” to help people in need, local parishes are preparing and delivering food, personal items, bedding and other assistance as public health restrictions have stymied hands-on efforts to help those who are homeless.
Charlotte’s Room in the Inn program, a network of churches and other sites offering overnight shelter during winter months, was suspended last fall. An encampment has since developed north of uptown with more than 100 people living in tents and make-shift shelters with little access to food, health care or counseling.
“The need is just astronomical right now,” said St. Mark volunteer Mary Kowalchuk, who delivers sandwiches for those who are homeless. “It’s just heart-wrenching to me...When I go by ‘tent city,’ it is just getting bigger and bigger. It’s very sad. It opens your eyes to say, ‘How lucky am I?’ It has also opened my eyes to how generous people are.”
Parishes continue to partner with relief agencies including Roof Above, Charlotte’s frontline nonprofit dedicated to fighting homelessness and sponsor for Room in the Inn.
“We are grateful for the hard work and contributions of our area Catholic churches and so many religious organizations across this community,” said Liz Clasen-Kelly, CEO of Roof Above, which was created through the merger of Urban Ministry and Men’s Shelter of Charlotte. “People of faith are addressing the most basic human needs of people who find themselves without homes – from providing nourishing meals and warm winter items, to helping those in need secure housing, to furnishing items that make a house a home.”
From providing food and supplies to making financial donations, parishes such as St. Gabriel, St. Mark, St. Matthew, St. Patrick and St. Peter are doing everything they can to keep going to the margins, even during this pandemic, to lend a hand to those most in need.
‘The way of the Church is precisely to leave her four walls behind and to go out in search of those who are distant, those on the ‘outskirts of life.’
— Pope Francis
St. Gabriel donates beds, supplies
A longtime participant in the Room in the Inn program, St. Gabriel Church has hosted men, women, and even children who are homeless overnight in its large school cafeteria – weekly during the winter until the program’s suspension.
“Our parish supplies have been provided to many organizations who are serving the homeless this winter – helping to alleviate current needs,” said parish ministry and volunteer coordinator Karen Brown.
“Although our volunteers have not been able to assist, we have continued to provide provisions to Roof Above for a monthly dinner during this time and look forward to the time when our parishioners will be able to prepare and serve our neighbors in person.”
Early on, St. Gabriel donated its supplies on hand to meet the immediate needs of those who are homeless. Beds used as part of Room in the Inn were delivered to a variety of charities including the Missionaries of Charity, Center for Community Transitions, Salvation Army Center of Hope, and Our Lady of Consolation Church.
Clothing, toiletries and other supplies went to Roof Above, Catholic Charities, Center for Community Transitions, Charlotte Rescue Mission, Cochrane Collegiate Families, Dove’s Nest, Mira Via, Our Lady of Consolation, The Relatives Youth Crisis Center, the Salvation Army and Thompson Child & Family Resources.
Through the Christmas Giving Tree efforts, gift cards were provided to families who are transitioning out of homelessness through the Salvation Army Center of Hope. Parishioners are also making sandwiches for Roof Above’s daily lunch program, and contributing to food drives to keep the Catholic Charities food pantry well stocked. In addition, St. Gabriel’s Homemakers of Mercy ministry, dedicated to helping people move beyond homelessness, also continues to collect furniture and household items for agencies helping those who are homeless to move into permanent housing.
St. Mark feeds and warms
Sandwiches have become a love language for parishioners of St. Mark Church who want to show their concern for people struggling with homelessness. Through the pandemic, parishioners have made thousands of sandwiches for Roof Above’s daily lunch program to feed people in need.
Kowalchuk and her husband John spearhead the weekly sandwich collection, devoting hours each Wednesday to gather more than 160 donated bagged lunches, load their vehicle and transport the food to Roof Above’s satellite location on Nations Ford Road.
“When the pandemic hit, (Roof Above’s) Men’s Shelter reached out to the church requesting help,” Kowalchuk said. “We use Signup Genius and we even have people from outside the parish donating lunches on Wednesdays. Families have found it to be a good family activity and a way to help people in need.”
Kowalchuk said the sandwich ministry is meaningful for people in many ways. She loves hearing parishioners’ stories of what serving others means to them as they drop off sandwiches. St. Mark’s prayer shawl ministry also has been assisting, knitting scarves for people in need which Kowalchuk delivers along with the sandwiches.
“As a parish and as individual followers of Christ, we have an obligation to put faith into practice,” said Father John Putnam, pastor. “The best way to do this is by engaging in the corporal works of mercy and recognizing Christ in those we serve.”
St. Matthew ‘helps from home’
As part of the parish’s Feeding the Hungry ministry, St. Matthew parishioners are helping from home during the pandemic – making muffins and sandwiches for delivery to homeless shelters and programs.
The parish also continues its collection drives for toiletry and personal items for people living at the tent encampment, and donates shower shoes and locks for distribution through Roof Above.
“Our outreach ministries serving our brothers and sisters in need continue to operate, but not within our campus walls,” said Antoinette Usher, St. Matthew’s chief operating officer. “Our parishioners are committed to doing more at a time when we all know so much more is needed.”
Mel’s Diner, the parish’s food truck ministry that serves area homeless and refugee communities, continues to provide food on Saturday mornings, taking donations to people who are serving uptown neighborhoods. Parishioners and volunteers prepare food in advance such as casseroles to serve on location each week. They also help distribute food received from local restaurants and a nearby grocery store.
“I have a heart of gratitude that we are still able to continue to serve people in need,” said volunteer Marianne Raispis. “Knowing there are so many people in need… COVID can’t stop us from reaching out to those in need. We just have to find a safe way to do it.”
“COVID has presented many challenges for us as well as other parishes,” echoed Usher, “but with an open mind and an open heart, we can continue to do God’s work.”
St. Patrick digs deep
With health restrictions hampering traditional outreach, St. Patrick parishioners are generously donating food and money to purchase food for those who are homeless.
A drive to collect items and gift cards to aid the homeless was also a specific effort of parishioners’ Christmas Giving Tree, in addition to the Christmas Day meals they traditionally distribute to local people in need.
“While we usually volunteer to cook and serve at the (Roof Above) Men’s Shelter of Charlotte every other month, the pandemic has prevented us from doing so,” said James Sarkis, parish communications coordinator. “Instead, we have been collecting financial contributions for the shelter every other month.”
St. Peter also assists families
In a typical year, parishioner Glen McLaughlin would be coordinating St. Peter volunteers to assist with housing 12 homeless men overnight in Biss Hall, one night each week during the winter.
The church on Tryon Street is one of 100 host sites that offered a hot meal and warm bed in addition to fellowship on cold nights.
For now, the parish has switched from on-site hosting to providing lunches. Teams of volunteers representing various ministries at the parish prepare bagged lunches for delivery. Roof Above coordinators “can also go online and click on needed items to donate, which are directly delivered to the Roof Above shelter,” McLaughlin said.
Parishioners also donated more than 800 items for people who are homeless during their Christmas Giving Tree collection. And volunteers continue to work at Roof Above’s service center on College Street, helping to serve lunch once a week to those in need.
The parish also has embraced Druid Hills Academy families during the pandemic, as part of a decade-long partnership with the local public preK-8 school.
“Our mission is to support the students, teachers and staff, and families of Druid Hills Academy,” says Suzanne Wittebort, chair of the St. Peter Church/Druid Hills Academy Partnership steering committee. “The economic crisis has hit this community very hard. Recently I was told that at least 20 of our families with multiple children are homeless, many living in hotels.”
The parish has supplied food directly to the school for distribution to families. Through the Christmas Angel Tree, parishioners donated Walmart and Target gift cards for families. Recently, the St. Peter Sages seniors group donated nearly 100 Walmart and Food Lion gift cards for Druid Hills families and staff.
The fight against homelessness is personal for many parishioners: Some have come forward individually to prevent evictions, and provided funds for temporary housing for at least one large family that was evicted.
“We are so grateful to our parishioners and friends for stepping up to so generously support our Druid Hills families, Wittebort said. “We are happy that we can connect those who can help with those who need help in this stressful time.”
Homemakers of Mercy continue serving through pandemic
CHARLOTTE — Undaunted by the pandemic, Homemakers of Mercy continues its ministry to help individuals and families ease the transition as they settle into apartment homes across the Charlotte region.
Founded in 2009, Homemakers of Mercy is a collaborative effort between St. Gabriel Church and St. Matthew Church, which collects furniture and household items to help people in need settle into apartments. The ministry was inspired by Sisters of Mercy Therese Galligan and the late Jeanne Marie Kienast, who served at the two churches and joined with church volunteers to begin the settlement assistance program.
Homemakers of Mercy had to curtail its hands-on efforts to move families into homes to protect the health and safety of its volunteers during the COVID-19 pandemic. But that hasn’t stopped volunteers from continuing to collect furniture and household good from generous parishioners to pass along to other agencies that are moving people into permanent housing.
Homemakers of Mercy volunteers collect donations one Saturday each month. Furniture such as sofas, kitchen tables, dressers, end tables and nightstands are accepted. Household necessities including dishes, silverware, housewares, cleaning supplies and new bedding can usually be accepted.
To find out more about the Homemakers of Mercy ministry and its monthly furniture collections, go online to stgabrielchurch.org/hom. If you have questions, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
— SuAenn Howell, senior reporter