Your donation this Advent will bring the Church’s ministry of charity to those in need
As you do your holiday shopping this season, consider taking a different approach to your gift giving – and add our brothers and sisters in need to your gift list.
For seven decades, the mission of Catholic Charities Diocese of Charlotte has been to strengthen families, build communities and reduce poverty. The diocese’s charitable agency has offices in Asheville, Charlotte, Greensboro, Murphy and Winston-Salem. Here’s how you can help the Catholic Charities location near you, this holiday season and throughout the year:
Donate by mail or phone
Please mail donations to:
Catholic Charities Diocese of Charlotte, Attn: Central Processing All Regions
1123 South Church St.
Charlotte, N.C. 28203-4003
Or call: 704-370-3281
Donate online
Make a safe and secure online donation to Catholic Charities at www.ccdoc.org.
Donate cars and vehicles
Make your car go the extra mile and help fund Catholic Charities outreach programs in the diocese. Catholic Charities partners with Charitable Auto Resources to accept car and other vehicle donations. To donate your car, truck, RV, boat, motorcycle, or other vehicle to Catholic Charities through CARS, go online to www.ccdoc.org or call 855-930-GIVE (855-930-4483).
Donate stocks or securities
Reach out to people in need through a gift of stock to Catholic Charities. A gift of stock may be made via electronic transfer or by physical certificate.
The Diocese of Charlotte maintains a brokerage account with Wells Fargo Advisors for the purpose of processing elec-tronic transfers to the diocese for the benefit of Catholic Charities. (The diocese cannot initiate stock transfers on your behalf. Please contact your broker directly.) Go online to www.ccdoc.org for details or contact Mark Greene at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 704-370-3395.
Donate grocery items
Catholic Charities’ food pantries in Charlotte, Winston-Salem and Asheville rely heavily on donated food and non-food items for weekly distribution to clients. Items regularly requested by clients are: canned fruit; juice, tea and coffee; rice; spaghetti sauce and pasta; and tuna. Non-food items, like toiletries, laundry detergent and paper products are also needed. The Charlotte food pantry can also accept refrigerated products like milk, yogurt, cheese and fresh pro-duce. Please schedule a drop-off in advance.
To schedule your drop-off, call:
828-255-0146 in Asheville
704-370-3295 in Charlotte
336-727-0705 in Winston-Salem
Questions?
Go online to www.ccdoc.org for details on how you can donate or volunteer to strengthen families, build communities and reduce poverty right here in western North Carolina.
Canned and non-perishable food
Donations of canned fruit and vegetables, tuna, spaghetti sauce, pasta, rice, juices, soups and other staples are need-ed at all Catholic Charities’ food pantries.
Personal hygiene products
Donations of soap, toothbrushes and toothpaste, deodorant, lotions and other personal hygiene items are always welcome at all Catholic Charities’ locations. Many clients are unable to purchase these essential items themselves, and they cannot use government food assistance benefits (SNAP) to buy them.
Basic household supplies
Cleaning supplies, paper products and other household supplies – including necessities like toilet paper and laundry soap – are not covered under government assistance (SNAP), so donations are always needed at all Catholic Charities’ locations.
Gift and gas cards
Gas and store gift cards are a great way to help people buy what they need for their families, particularly during the holidays, but any time during the year. Gas and gift cards are welcome at all of Catholic Charities’ locations.
Scarves, hats and gloves
Catholic Charities’ office in Winston-Salem could use donations of new gloves, hats and scarves to give out to clients this winter.
CHARLOTTE — For many Catholics, it’s easy to remember the days when the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas was simply considered “Advent.” After gathering around the table to give thanks for our many blessings, we began to prepare our hearts for the birth of our Savior. It was a time of expectation, preparation, and waiting. But our modern society is not good at waiting.
Today, the primary function of Thanksgiving seems to be that shotgun start to holiday shopping – the spectacle of consumption and consumer debt we call Black Friday. And, as if the excess of Black Friday weren’t enough, retailers dubbed the Monday after Thanksgiving Cyber Monday to prompt a surge of online holiday shopping.
In hopes of combating the commercialization and consumerism that has attempted to overtake the true meaning of Christmas, the United Nations Foundation designated the Tuesday after Thanksgiving as “Giving Tuesday” in 2012. The foundation hoped that a National Day of Giving would encourage consumers to support their charity of choice and get as excited about charitable giving as they would about big-screen TVs at a bargain prices. Consumers donated more than $10 million on the first Giving Tuesday, and last year it raised more than $1 billion.
#iGiveCatholic is a movement started in 2015 by the Archdiocese of New Orleans to encourage supporting Catholic organizations specifically on Giving Tuesday. Last year, the campaign raised more than $5.6 million, nearly half of the $11.4 million raised on #GivingTuesday for all religion-related causes.
For the first time ever, St. Joseph College Seminary is excited to participate in #iGiveCatholic on #GivingTuesday. This year’s event takes place Dec. 3. Funds raised by the seminary on #GivingTuesday will be used to commission a statue of St. Joseph for the entrance to the college seminary. The seminary’s four classes – the Alphas, Bravos, Charlies and Deltas – have started a friendly competition to see which class can raise the most funds for the statue.
So far, the Charlie Class, the third class of seminarians at St. Joseph, has taken an early lead in the “advance giving” period that began Nov. 18.
Father Matthew Kauth, rector of St. Joseph College Seminary, thinks it’s fitting to fund this project during the Advent season. “Advent is a time of waiting,” he said. “We are all eagerly awaiting the completion of our college seminary, which is guided by the patronage of St. Joseph.”
To donate, go online to www.nationalministries.igivecatholic.org/organizations/st-joseph-college-seminary.
— Mel Ullrich