Thank
you for your interest in the Social Concerns Committee at St. Theresa’s.
Our
committee meets August through May on the second Wednesday of the month at 7 PM
in Conference Room One in the Parish Office Building. We work on a number of charity and justice issues throughout the
year. Some projects are one time only,
some are monthly and some are yearly.
The people on our committee participate to varying degrees. Our members
bring a variety of talents, gifts and ideas to our committee. We have been blessed with a group of people
who believe in working towards love and justice for all.
We
administer the First Fruits program through a sub committee. Brochures on St. Theresa First Fruits are
available at the back of the church.
Twice a year, there is also a bulletin insert summarizing First Fruits
donations and expenditures.
One
of our big projects is the St. Theresa Transitional House. It is a 4-bedroom house that we rent to
low-income large families for a maximum of two years. We have owned it since 2001.
We believe it is a house of justice, trying to help low income families
live in decent housing while helping them work towards more permanent
housing. We also feel it is a pro-life
statement, as we try to support large families who have few low-income options
in our city.
We
have made a multitude of improvements on the property since we bought it. It is an older house, always in need of
work. Between tenants we clean and
paint and have tried to do whatever projects have needed to be done. While a family is in the home, we need
occasional repairs, yard work and support of the family. We also need people to help find resources
available to help the family grow towards a better living situation.
On a
monthly basis we provide meals to two shelters. One is the Churches United Shelter and the other is St. Joseph
Family Emergency Shelter. Central Iowa
Shelter & Services (Churches United) Meal is the 8th of the month and
people are called to prepare food in their homes and bring it to church. We prepare enough food for 120 people. Another group comes to church and picks up
the food, takes it to the shelter and serves it to the homeless.
The
St. Joseph meal is the fourth and fifth Friday of the month, where a small
group, family or individual buys, prepares and takes food to the shelter for a
maximum of 25 people. Often many of
those are children, so food amount varies.
We
coordinate the Food Pantry and Personal Care Pantry collections that help out
the DMARC Food Pantry and local charity agencies in the Des Monies area.
On a
monthly basis we sell Fair Trade coffee and tea that we obtain through Catholic
Relief Services. We are always in need
of people to help sell the coffee after the masses on the last weekend of the
month.
We
have had Work of Human Hands catalog and “table sales” at the St. Theresa
Rosary Bazaar to sell CRS Fair Trade items created by artisans throughout the
world. Currently, you can save 10% off
the catalog price and get free shipping when you order Work of Human Hands
items through the St. Theresa Coffee Project.
Our
parish is a member church in AMOS (A Mid-Iowa Organizing Strategy). AMOS brings member churches together to
concentrate on specific local issues that impact the programs and projects that
affect their own families, neighborhoods and communities.
Since
2002, members of our committee and parish have participated in the JustFaith
process to learn more about their Catholic Faith and their own call to promote
charity and justice in our world.
Each
Advent season, we have a committee work on the Angel Tree Program that provides
presents to the children of prisoners within our state.
In addition
to our ongoing projects, over the past two years we have worked on several
special projects:
…
We
coordinated parish efforts to assist a family displaced by Hurricane
Katrina.
…
We
hosted a Lenten soup supper and invited members from Save Darfur to speak on
the genocide that is happening there.
…
We
passed out white ribbons and prayer cards after all the masses for Torture
Awareness Month.
…
We
sponsored a 24-hour Prayer Vigil for all the sick in our parish.
…
We
sponsored a breakfast for the Farrell Family Fundraiser.
…
We
have staffed Saturdays at the Windsor Heights HyVee to ring the bells for
Salvation Army.
…
We
have provided Grief Support Meals to Amanda the Panda.
…
We
provided a morning of faith sharing and reflection for all committee members.
…
We
have provided Faith in Action Youth Service meals.
In
addition to their work through Social Concerns, we have a number of people from
our committee that volunteer outside the parish: St. Mary’s Family Center, St. Joseph’s Family Shelter, St.
Benedict’s Mission, St. Ambrose Refugee Services, The Connection Café, ReStore,
Amanda the Panda, DMARC Food Pantry, and Serve our Youth (SOY). You can get more information about these by
clicking on the Des Moines Area Volunteer Opportunities page.
As
you can see, we are a busy group of people.
There are so many opportunities to serve inside and outside the parish
and we have found St. Theresa parishioners to be interested and involved when
it comes to justice and charity in our world.
We always hope to continually educate ourselves and the parish about how
we can follow the gospel mandate to make a difference in this world.
This
letter gives you an idea of the various opportunities and events that we have
participated in this past year. Please
click on the links on the left to find out more about our ongoing and current
projects and other Des Moines area volunteer opportunities. Also, check out our calendar to see what is
going on each month. We hope that you
will join us and share your own gifts and ideas towards the road of justice for
all in this world.
If
you have any further questions, please feel free to call me anytime. If you feel you might be interested, send me
your email address so you can be added to our list. You will receive notifications of meetings and special events and
projects. Come to a committee meeting
whenever it works out for you. You will
always be welcomed!
In
Christ’s Love,
Rick
Chabot, Director
St.Theresa’s
Social Concerns Committee