By Elizabeth Ramsey, Refugee Case Manager/Outreach Worker Feli has been volunteering with Catholic Charities West Virginia Migration and Refugee Services (MRS) since the fall of 2014. Over the years she has assisted refugees build new lives in West Virginia by providing Cultural Orientation, serving as an English conversation partner, and providing transportation to appointments. More...
Category: Charity in Action
VITA Volunteer Thanks
By Trina Bartlett, Eastern Region Director For the sixth year in a row, volunteers in the Eastern Region provided free tax preparation services for low to moderate income families as part of the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Program. During February, March and April, 14 community volunteers prepared a total of 195 federal and 203...
It is Good Day when We Feed People
It was time for the mobile food pantry to end when a young mother literally ran through the door. Out of breath, she anxiously asked “Am I too late?” I assured her she was not too late. She then explained her family had had very little in the house to eat for two days. She...
Helping Provide a Home Cooked Meal to those in Need
Soup Kitchens in America can be traced back to the year 1929 with the effects of the Great Depression. Since then, most communities have maintained their own versions of a soup kitchens; in Elkins we have the Common Ground Café. After seeing an increase in the number of individuals requesting assistance with food, Pastor Bill...
Volunteers – Our Foundation
Volunteering means to carry out a duty or a job without expecting repayment. Charity work requires a wide variety of people, doing a wide range of tasks for everything to work. There are many benefits one can gain through volunteering, it can teach new skills, help you stay active, lead to employment or become a...
Adult Education Program Inspires Family to Succeed
At the young age of 16, Sandra Roberts made the decision to leave school, get married and start a family. After 32 years of marriage, Sandra is now the mother of two adult sons and has five grandchildren. At the end of 2016, Sandra made another big decision. She decided that she wanted to start...
St. Marys Correctional Center Provides Produce
Those who have driven Route 2 through Pleasants County during the growing season may have observed splashes of color across the fields at the St. Marys Correctional Center. If you look closely you will see rows of cucumbers, peppers, zucchini and tomatoes surrounded by masses of zinnias and other annuals. The gardens are maintained by...
Finding Confidence and Success Through Case Management
Through our case management program, which helps struggling neighbors move to self-sufficiency, we were able to help a young woman named Autumn finally end her homelessness. Our case manager, Kelly, spent nearly six months working closely with Autumn, who had been homeless off and on for about two years. Autumn had been trying to overcome...
Putting the Neighbor Back in the Neighborhood Center
Pope Francis reminds us that “Our commitment does not consist exclusively in activities or programs of promotion and assistance; what the Holy Spirit mobilizes is not an unruly activism but above all an attentiveness which considers the other in a certain sense as ‘one with ourselves’.” This “loving attentiveness” at times can be overlooked in...
Companions (Compañeros) – A Story of Partnership
My name is Jeff Hornbeck, and as a member Shepherdstown Presbyterian Church, I want to tell you a story about God’s love when a local family of six experienced tragedy. After 14 years of steady work with a major firm, ICE arrested the father for overstaying his visa. That’s when Catholic Charities got involved. While...