Impact and Programs
Accomplishments
In 2020, 44,251 people were served. This includes 1,303,807 pounds of food distributed, 990 people receiving housing and shelter, 1,290 people receiving behavioral health services, and 479,781 meals provided for seniors. A major challenge was finding new modalities to continue serving our population during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some innovations adopted include the following: the Emergency Services Food Shelf implemented a walk-up service with a month’s prepacked food relief serve, community food distributions, and a food delivery service; telehealth was adopted by the Behavioral Health Clinic to continue providing therapy; Day Treatment programs used telehealth during school closures, then adopted masking, distancing, and cleaning protocols to keep students safe when they returned to in-person services; frozen meals with pop-up meal distribution sites throughout our service area replaced congregate dining options for seniors; Catholic Charities responded to a request from the Central Minnesota Council on Aging to provide frozen meal pop-up sites in additional counties (the program received the Commissioner’s Circle of Excellence Award from the Minnesota Department of Human Services for this effort); transitional housing and residential programs continued and kept residents safe by following recommendations of the Minnesota Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control; Foster Grandparent volunteers assisted students remotely and visited some students at home.
Current Goals
Explore options for expanding current programs or add programs with minimal start-up cost // Obtain approval for housing stabilization funding // Stabilize staffing levels and overtime costs in 24/7 programs // Recruit mental health professionals for open positions in behavioral health programs // Increase the number of housing units under management by Catholic Charities // Increase the number of volunteer opportunities within programs // Improve employee retention and morale by addressing top concerns from employee engagement survey // Continue monthly reporting by programs with negative budget variances to identify action plans for improvement
Community or Constituency Served
Catholic Charities of the Diocese of St. Cloud serves individuals and families of all ages, races, abilities, faiths, and ethnic groups who have a need for food, clothing, mental health services, and housing.
Geographic Area Served
Catholic Charities of the Diocese of St. Cloud primarily serves the sixteen central Minnesota counties that make up the Diocese of St. Cloud (Benton, Douglas, Grant, Isanti, Kanabec, Mille Lacs, Morrison, Otter Tail, Pope, Sherburne, Stearns, Stevens, Todd, Traverse, Wadena, and Wilkin).
In addition, senior dining services are provided in Chisago, Pine, and Wright Counties. Referrals from other counties are also served in some programs.
