Catholic Charities fills gaps in 39-county region

When people hit rock bottom, Catholic Charities of Southern Missouri Inc. is there to pick up the pieces. Self described as a faith-based social services agency, the 501(c)(3) lists more than a dozen broad services on its website, but for the people the nonprofit helps, it’s the little things that matter most.

Covering 39-counties across southern Missouri – from the Kansas and Oklahoma state lines to the edges of Tennessee, Kentucky and Illinois – Catholic Charities has become one of the largest providers of case management in the region. That broad field takes multiple forms from disaster recovery and construction to a crisis maternity home, homelessness prevention and supportive services for veterans.

“We’ve tried to ID the true needs in these 39 counties. We don’t want to duplicate services already in place; we want to fill a gap,” says Executive Director Maura Taylor. “Through concentration on case management and a move toward self sufficiency, we are giving people hope again.”

Generational poverty continues to plague southern Missouri. Shortly after Bishop James Johnston Jr. joined the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, he made a point to address the needs of the poor and Catholic Charities was born with two employees and a $100,000 budget. Seven years later, the organization has grown to six locations, roughly 70 employees and increased its budget to $4.9 million this year. The nonprofit now has offices in Joplin, Van Buren, Sikeston, Poplar Bluff and Cape Girardeau.

Though the Catholic faith is part of the nonprofits name, Taylor says it in no way limits the mission.

“Only 6 percent of southern Missouri is Catholic,” she says, adding the majority of Catholic Charities staff and volunteers are not. “Our mission embraces everyone – people of other faiths and people of no faith.”

That mission became clear May 22, 2011, when an EF5 tornado forever changed the face of Joplin. Catholic Charities was there to help reassemble the pieces.

“We responded to the immediate needs of that disaster, but we were also there in the days following,” Taylor says. “Case management was key to help get back what was lost.”

Since that deadly day, Catholic Charities has helped repair over 150 homes and built 19 from scratch.

LifeHouse
Always looking to fill gaps, Catholic Charities more recently noted a rise in pregnant homeless women and a need for safe housing. The LifeHouse Maternity Crisis Home opened Dec. 27, 2013, and has become a central part of Springfield Catholic Charities headquarters.

Serving as a transition space for women to get clean from addictions, learn life skills and become self-sufficient on their path to permanent housing, LifeHouse Director Michele Marsh says the process is all about building relationships.

“We call our case managers family strengthening coordinators,” she said. “These women are going through so much, we don’t want them to feel managed, we want them to feel empowered.
 
“This place is about building on your strengths, learning about your own power and growing a relationship with your child.”

In addition to living in a group environment – a surrogate family – the women also hold jobs, do chores, take lessons from the on-site nurse, grow vegetables and plan healthy meals together. One of many Catholic Charities partners that help LifeHouse, the Ozarks Area Community Action Corp. currently is working with eight women and children to strengthen their bond.

OACAC’s Ann Valentine meets each mother for 90 minutes a week for a parent/child activity, counseling on a parenting topic and family well-being.

“It’s hugely important for these women because babies build trust from birth,” says Valentine, an OACAC early Head Start home-based visitor. “We also continue the program after they leave LifeHouse, so that provides a level of consistency in their lives.”

Valentine says many homeless moms already may have two or three children adopted or in the foster system, and LifeHouse program is critical to giving them a fresh start and helping them keep their babies.

Since opening, the center has served 65 women, 20 toddlers and saw the birth of 30 healthy babies.

“There is a small window where we can reach out and really grab their hand as they fall,” Marsh says. “They believe they are worthless; their spirit is broken.

“Once they know somebody truly cares about them, they change for the positive. They want to try; they know they can do it.”

Steeped in history
On the 11-acre campus tucked behind a Holiday Inn and Texas Roadhouse on the city’s south side, signs of the building’s former residents abound. The Carmelite Monastery grounds housed up to 20 nuns since its creation in the 1950s and their presence can be felt from the chapel to the LifeHouse dorms.

“The sisters lived a cloistered life,” Taylor says, pointing to a metal grate system separating the chapel.

According to OCarm.org — The Order of the Carmelites – the sisters show their joy of serving the Lord by living in his presence all their days, cloistering, or sequestering, themselves from the outside world.

In addition to the chapel separation, the south Springfield building is equipped with turntables built into walls to exchange tokens with churchgoers and special rooms for supply deliveries.

“We feel this is truly holy ground,” Taylor says. “People have prayed here for more than 50 years.”

Catholic Charities has a long-term lease on the property from the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau for undisclosed terms. Photos of the sisters now line the halls filled with offices. There are nuns riding the lawnmower, sitting in the grass and tending the garden.
 
The building’s past is an important part of its future. When a volunteer found a keychain containing a bone shard, nonprofit leaders knew it was a sign.

The item turned out to be a relic – a preserved object usually consisting of the physical remains of a saint – of St. Mary Euphrasia Pelletier, a French nun who helped establish a ministry for girls and women in difficulty, many of whom were homeless, abandoned and turned to the streets in order to survive.  

“We knew we were on the right path; we knew this was meant to be,” Taylor said.

Armed with that knowledge, Taylor continues to look forward. Top of the list is Catholic Charities’ goal of receiving accreditation from the Council on Accreditation. An up to 18-month process, Taylor says the charity officially started the process Jan. 1 and is preparing for site visits.

“This would mean we meet the national standard for management of our programs, fiscally and otherwise,” she said. “It’s huge. There aren’t many accredited charities.

“The better we are, the more efficient we are, the more people we can help.”