Catholic Community Services provides help, creates hope

Intermountain Catholic

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SALT LAKE CITY — Since 1945, Catholic Community Services of Utah has been providing various services for thousands of people of all faiths and ethnic backgrounds who are most in need in the community.

"CCS’s programs are essential to the life-blood of Utah and literally save lives every day," said Kathryn Brussard, whose last day as CCS director of development and marketing was July 15. She accepted a position at the University of Utah Red Butte Gardens.

"CCS not only fulfills individuals’ basic needs, but gives them hope by providing help," Brussard said. "CCS provides hope by helping them move to self-sufficiency through case managers and its programs or through referrals to other agencies. CCS has seen a 49 percent increase in the needs for services over the last two years. Thanks to the generosity of the community, we’ve been able to step up and fulfill those needs without hiring any extra staff. That shows the kind of dedicated staff we have, because our workload has increased tremendously."

Jose Lazaro replaced Brussard as the director of development and marketing. He has been at CCS since 2002, most recently as the director of Basic Needs Services.

"On any given day, 200 to 250 individuals would pass through the Weigand center, accessing a variety of services. One of the most important things we did was to provide shelter from elements, air conditioning in the summer and heat in the winter," he said.

"CCS is the only provider in Salt Lake City to offer a warm meal during the noon hour and we serve from 700 to 1,000 individuals each day, five days a week," Lazaro said. "We ask no questions, and anyone is welcome to come. Recently we have had a higher number of families with children come for meals. With the downturn in the economy, young families have been the ones who have been affected the most. We are happy we are there to help fill that void and alleviate some pressure and stress by providing that meal service for them."

Lazaro said the Emergency Assistance Program is CCS’s homeless prevention program.

"We try to keep families in their homes by offering rent and utility assistance," he said. "We also help families with emergency food assistance. To give you an example, three or four years ago, a busy month for us was helping 40 to 50 households, but currently we are serving 200 to 300 households with emergency food assistance. We see a wide variety of individuals, but many are recently unemployed and are struggling to find work."

Dennis Kelsch replaced Lazaro as director of Basic Needs Services. He has been at CCS since 2001 and most recently as program manager of Emergency Services. He said rent and utility requests have also increased.

"We used to help 100 to 160 families a month, now we assist at least 350 families each month," he said. "We assist those whose gas and electric have been shut off or those who have received a notice their utilities will be shut off."

From Jan. 1 to May 31, the utility assistance program paid $180,000 and they expect to pay another $50,000 through the end of August.

"We used to assist people mainly with heating, now people also have air conditioning," Kelsch said. "We are educating our clients to save by insulating and we are trying to teach them to be frugal in their use of gas and electricity."

CCS also has a Refugee Resettlement Program that relocates hundreds of refugees fleeing persecution each year and guides them toward self-reliance. Under the umbrella of refugee resettlement is the Refugee Foster Care, Immigration and the Sharehouse.

St. Mary’s Home for Men is offered under CCS’s Treatment Services. This is a residential substance abuse treatment facility designed to help men overcome addictions.

For information, visit www.ccsutah.org.