Roses for Food Hunger Initiative
No one should have to put a child to bed hungry, or be forced to choose between food and medicine, housing or utilities. Yet, for over 200,000 East Texans, these are realities that are faced every day. Catholic Charities works with its partner pantries and the East Texas Food Bank to ensure that no one goes hungry. The Roses for Food program supports both the East Texas Food Bank and its member pantries through grants, technical support and education. Funds granted are placed on account with the Food Bank for pantry assistance. Every dollar spent at the Food Bank provides eight nutritious meals to individuals and families of our communities who rely on our member pantries for food.
Community Gardening Program
Catholic Charities is undertaking the establishment and support of locally sponsored community gardens, whereby a group of dedicated individuals select a plot of land to plant vegetable gardens near their parish or within their community. The harvest of which will provide fresh, nutritious food for the hungry in their area through their local food pantry. Catholic Charities will offer “seed money” grants to provide limited financial assistance, provide expertise in preparing, planting, managing and harvesting a community garden as well as advice on how to involve volunteers of all ages. Encouragement for the program has been received by County Agricultural Extension Agents, seed companies, and area food panties and food banks. For more information on how your community can help fight hunger through the planting of a Community Garden contact Catholic Charities East Texas.
Immigration Legal Services
Catholic Charities welcomes the stranger in our midst, and upholds Catholic social teaching of the dignity of every human person, and that every person has basic rights and is entitled to have basic needs met – food, shelter, clothing, education and health care.
Catholic Charities East Texas provides immigration legal services as a way to reunite families and promote self-sufficiency for immigrants through low-fee legal assistance in immigration matters before the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service.
Catholic Charities assists U.S. Citizens, Lawful Permanent Residents and immigrants with
- adjustment of status
- naturalization and citizenship
- legal permanent residency
- special assistance to immigrant survivors of domestic violence and other violent crimes
Immigration staff conduct outreach and information sessions throughout the thirty-three East Texas counties we serve.
VITA Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program
When the working poor are able to receive income tax refunds, they are then able to buy food and other necessities. The VITA Program offers free tax help to low to moderate income persons who cannot prepare their own tax returns. Trained certified volunteers prepare basic tax returns and help with special credits, such as Earned Income Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit, and Credit for the Elderly or the Disabled. As a Certified Acceptance Agent, we are authorized to assist immigrants without Social Security numbers to make applications for ITINs (Income Tax Identification Numbers).
Beat the Heat Initiative
As we in East Texas know, the Texas summer heat can be overbearing, even deadly. While most of us take for granted the ability to just flip a switch and have instant relief from that heat, there are so many here in our community who do not have that luxury. They cannot afford to run their air conditioner due to high energy bills, or worse, they have no means of air conditioning at all, not even a simple fan.
By partnering with parishes and TXU, Catholic Charities provides free fans and air conditioners to help those who suffer the most find relief from the life-threatening heat. Help is given primarily to the elderly, families with children, and those whose economic circumstances make it difficult to pay the high energy bills during the extreme summer months.
Through education and direct assistance, we help these individuals lower their utility costs and educate them on how to reduce utility bills, and make their home more energy efficient.
Disaster Preparation Program
After hurricanes Katrina and Rita, evacuees in East Texas turned to Catholic Charities for help. For the next two years, we gave it – in the form of financial assistance for necessities such as shelter, clothing, food, medicine, transportation, counseling, and relocation and moving expenses.Now we are sharing the lessons learned from these disasters with parishes and volunteers in the Diocese of Tyler, so that a coordinated, cooperative response may be employed when the next disaster strikes.
Catholic Charities recognizes the value of coordinating disaster response and recovery through the sharing of resources, people, technical assistance and other support. A “best practices” manual, incorporating lessons learned during previous disaster recovery efforts is available to parishes and volunteers. Contact us to obtain a copy.
Emphasizing the four ‘C’s: Cooperation, Coordination, Communication and Collaboration, Catholic Charities works with parishes, agencies and communities and offers training to parishes and volunteers in the phases of disaster planning: preparedness, response, recovery and mitigation.
