Catholic Foundation of Utah thanks donors

Intermountain Catholic

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Linda Itami (left), Kathy Tangaro, Sonny Tangaro, Bob Meyer, and Scott Czaja, president of the Catholic Foundation of Utah enjoy the appreciation reception held for donors Sept. 16 at the bishop's residence.IC photos by Christine Young

SALT LAKE CITY — "Thank you for your past generosity and support," said Scott A. Czaja, president of the Catholic Foundation of Utah (CFU) at an appreciation reception for donors at the Most Rev. John C. Wester’s residence Sept. 16. "We have had a healthy, successful year at Catholic Foundation of Utah."

The CFU through endowments and additional funds, supports nearly every office and ministry within the diocese, including the Intermountain Catholic, Mount Calvary Catholic Cemetery, and 51 separate endowments for parishes.

Czaja said one of the things he is really excited about is for the very first time the Catholic Foundation of Utah is making inroads in Southern Utah and not just along the Wasatch Front.

Czaja also said he was listening to National Public Radio (NPR) and heard in the Archdiocese of Washington D.C., seven Catholic Schools had to become Charter schools because of the financial condition in the archdiocese. In the last eight years, 1,000 Catholic schools closed in the United States.

Czaja said the Foundation will run full-page ads in four issues of the Intermountain Catholic. The purpose of the ads is to encourage people to think about estate planning and preparing a will.

"If you are contemplating either of these two ideas, I invite you to visit our website at www.dioslc.org, and click on Catholic Foundation of Utah," said Czaja. "On our website, we have some very elaborate estate planning issues for you to consider."

Czaja introduced Brad Drake, the executive director of Catholic Community Services (CCS) in Salt Lake City. Drake has been the director since July 1.

"I am most grateful for the opportunity I have of being director of CCS," said Drake. "I feel it is a privilege to associate with an organization that does so much for so many. I would also like to commend Kathryn Brussard, CCS communications and development director. Without Kathryn, CCS could not exist. He also introduced his wife, Sally, who has supported him for 36 years.

"I want to tell you that I honestly cannot wait to get to work every day," said Drake. "I have such a passion for this work and seeing all the good that CCS has done for people. In the fiscal year of 2007-2008, in our Refugee Resettlement Program, approximately 400 refugees came to CCS, and 99 percent of those refugees are placed in jobs within six months. We are also starting to bring foster care refugee children in to CCS, and we will sponsor 36 children this year."

Drake said the Saint Vincent de Paul Center serves between 650 and 900 hot meals every day between 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. to those who are homeless and have no other resource for food. In northern Utah, the Food Bank provides over 4,000 families with food every month.

"Our Saint Mary Treatment Center for Men has 40 beds," said Drake, as he told the story of one heroin addict who was court ordered to the center. He had been a heroin addict for more than 30 years. As a result, he lost complete contact with his family through lies, stealing, and mistrust. He became homeless, and went to Saint Mary willingly, but only enough to satisfy the requirements so he would not go back to jail.

"Then after a few months, something changed in him," said Drake. "He began to treat other Saint Mary clients with respect. He began to think about his family and he began to believe in himself once again. He reached out to his family, who mistrusted him at first. But over time, he regained their trust. He graduated from Saint Mary and has been clean and sober for 18 months, is employed, and has an apartment.

"Through the contributions of you people here tonight, there is a family that is not without a father and a grandfather because of drug addiction," said Drake. "We at CCS love you because of your integrity of putting service ahead of self, and after all isn’t that the Lord’s work."

"We are living in very interesting times," said Bishop Wester. "But CFU is one of those organizations that is in it for the long haul. We just heard some beautiful and eloquent stories from Brad about what they do at CCS, as well as the schools, parishes, and other endowments that are administered through CFU, and the tremendous growth that is done for the long haul, not just for the moment.

"What your contributions do for us is they put a human face on our desire to reach out to others," said Bishop Wester. "It is so important, for the individual’s life who was turned around, and for the people who are resettled. I went to some of those refugee camps in Thailand, Malaysia, and Burma, and they are living in terrible conditions. They come here to Utah to a brand new life. You good people make that brand new life possible. It is tremendous what you do. I just want to thank you and let you know from the bottom of my heart that all your generosity is deeply appreciated."