Story - February 4, 2021 - Policy watchers expect an immigrant-friendly path forward from U.S. President Joe Biden, who signed a trio of executive orders Feb. 2, mostly reviewing immigration directives from his predecessor for possible reversal. But what that path forward will look like still is not clear. Biden’s team seems to be laying out the groundwork for short-term and…

Story - January 11, 2021 - The Max Kolbe Program (MAX) of Catholic Charities Diocese of Cleveland addresses and alleviates poverty using an enhanced peer support program that incorporates job training, community collaboration and social enterprise. MAX offers certified peer support services to clients who are in poverty and struggling with addiction. MAX staff meet clients in crisis in emergency rooms…

Story - January 12, 2021 - The novel coronavirus threw Maria Arreola for a loop in June, sending her to the hospital for four weeks in a battle with COVID-19. For a while, she was sick enough to be placed on a ventilator. Arreola, 43, who arrived from Mexico 19 years ago and is living in the U.S. illegally, recovered enough…

Story - January 5, 2021 - The coronavirus has reshaped life in the United States in many ways, but in key respects it has affected Black, Native American and Latino individuals more than other racial or ethnic groups. People of color get sick and die of COVID-19 at rates higher than white individuals and higher than their share of the population,…

Story - December 8, 2020 - Here at Catholic Social Services (CSS), stories of strife flood in from the community on a weekly basis. This is a particularly difficult one to tell. It happened today. This morning, at our St. Francis Center in Portsmouth, the center’s Director, Barbara McKenzie, heard the usual Wednesday morning ruckus of the garbage truck collecting its…

Story - December 4, 2020 - The path to adoption for Mandy and Keegan Wilson looked nothing like they envisioned. “Adoption is something I wanted to do since I was in high school,” Mandy Wilson said. “I have friends who have placed babies for adoption. I’ve had family members and friends adopt babies. I knew it was in my heart to…

Story - November 18, 2020 - When Tyresha Riquelmy-Yankton first entered Catholic Social Services’ Uplifting Parents Program (UP) in 2019, she was hesitant about the mentoring that she would be asked to do twice each month with a UP mentor. “At first I thought, ‘I don’t need anyone to talk to, I’m fine!’” Tyresha said. But as she started to get…

Story - November 16, 2020 - Adoption is always a family affair, but for Matt and Carrie Bunkowske, it has become a family tradition, too. Matt was adopted in 1979 as an infant through Catholic Social Services. His sister, Melanie, arrived four years later when Jill and Duane Bunkowske adopted their second child from CSS. Adoptions run in Carrie’s family, too.…

Story - November 10, 2020 - For years, Wayne Eldridge couldn’t get a job. Shop Rite, Sam’s Club, Dollar General, Goodwill … the list of places where he applied – and got rejected – goes on and on. “Most wouldn’t tell me why. Sometimes they would be honest — they’d say it was because of my background check,” Wayne said, referring…

Story - October 26, 2020 - Veronica Felix works for Catholic Charities of Southern New Mexico in Deming, New Mexico. When asked how things are going in the small, southwestern town, she replied, “It’s a farmworker town, so it’s seasonal work, and every year we have the same challenges of distributing food and finding employment for people. But this year has…

Story - October 21, 2020 - White Mountain Catholic Charities (WMCC) of Lakeside Arizona in Partnership with St. Mary’s Food Bank has begun distributing Farmers to Families produce/dairy boxes to those in need in southern Navajo county, Arizona, which serves Native Americans from three reservations, Navajo, Hopi and Apache. The boxes are available to anyone in need and contain fresh fruits,…

Story - October 13, 2020 - Pope Francis commented in his encyclical, Fratelli tutti, that the Covid-19 pandemic has reminded the world’s inhabitants “that we are a global community, …that we are brothers and sisters of one another” (No. 32). The pope’s words may have no better illustration than the wonderful events that have occurred in a corner of Mississippi. The…