Volunteer hours during COVID add up to thousands of reasons for hope
Volunteers sort non-perishable items at archdiocesan Catholic Social Services Southwest Family Service Center, June 11. (Photo courtesy of Samuel Abu)
By Gina Christian • Posted April 26, 2021
As the pandemic passes the one-year mark, many are taking stock of COVID’s impact to date – and for one archdiocesan agency, some of that data adds up to thousands of reasons for hope.
To wrap up National Volunteer Week (April 18-24), Catholic Human Services (CHS) honored 25 “partners in mission” with an April 23 online celebration. The individuals represented 4,090 volunteers who provided a combined total of 95,911 service hours to the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s charitable works in the five-county area during 2020.
Thousands of free meals later, agency and volunteers still fighting pandemic-related hunger
Lizanne Hagedorn, executive director of archdiocesan Nutritional Development Services, displays a bag of fresh apples during an April 24 food distribution at Holy Innocents Parish in Philadelphia, the tenth such giveaway hosted by the agency since October 2020. (Gina Christian)
By Gina Christian • Posted April 27, 2021
With the pandemic well past the one-year mark, an archdiocesan agency has just completed its 10th food giveaway, thanks to a dedicated team of staff and volunteers.
Last Saturday, dozens of Nutritional Development Services (NDS) employees and supporters gathered at Holy Innocents Parish in Philadelphia to distribute more than 430 federally funded meal boxes. Sponsored by the U.S Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farmers to Family program, the packages contained fresh produce, meats and dairy products.