CHARLOTTE — At the end of last year, lack of funding nearly forced Be Not Afraid to shut down its ministry of helping parents carry their baby to term and not choose abortion after receiving a poor prenatal diagnosis.
But the Catholic nonprofit reached out to past supporters, parishes, families they have helped over the years, and the media, and the response was overwhelming.
To keep operating beyond 2018, BNA set a fundraising goal of $25,000. That was met with just one of the many donations the ministry received, a gift from a foundation set up by a family they had helped. A BNA family in Connecticut also made a donation of $10,000.
“Suffice to say, we believe we have raised enough money to ensure our continued operation beyond just this year,” the ministry’s co-founder, Tracy Winsor, recently announced.
Feedback they received also helped Winsor appreciate how much BNA has grown from its original mission 10 years ago in the Diocese of Charlotte as a “peer support ministry” to “a case management service” that assists parents across the U.S. and in other countries, she said.
“We no longer are just ‘talking’ to parents; now we are coordinating care, helping parents identify their needs and providing connections and referrals that seek to address their needs,” she said.
Medical professionals told BNA they consider the ministry “a partner in supporting parents carrying to term following a prenatal diagnosis,” she noted.
Since its founding by Winsor and co-founder Sandy Buck in 2008, BNA has supported over 140 families and welcomed 149 babies in 12 states as well as in Finland, Spain and Australia. Several dioceses in the U.S. have used BNA as a model for building their own similar ministries to families who need help carrying their babies to term after receiving a poor prenatal diagnosis.
BNA also developed a free webinar for pregnancy resource centers to help them better understand the needs of parents who find themselves in this difficult situation.
And BNA has worked with the National Catholic Bioethics Center to highlight the problem of denial of healthcare to parents whose unborn children have been diagnosed with Trisomy 13 or 18 and are not expected to live long past birth.
Currently BNA is supporting 10 families in eight states, including North Carolina.
This year will be an opportunity to develop a long-term fundraising plan and seek improvements to its services, Winsor added.
“We remain blessed to have found this work through our own experiences of loss, and it is our privilege that parents continue to let us share in the lives of their often frail, but very precious babies,” she said. “God is good.”
— SueAnn Howell, senior reporter
More online
At www.benotafraid.net: Learn more about the Be Not Afraid ministry
January marks Poverty Awareness Month
January marks Poverty Awareness MonthCHARLOTTE — Breaking the cycle of poverty requires more than just solving one “crisis.” It takes addressing the whole person.
Catholic Charities Diocese of Charlotte’s Transitions Out of Poverty program does just that.
Since its creation in 2016, the comprehensive anti-poverty program has helped 135 households in Charlotte and Asheville connect with resources they need to break from the cyclical nature of poverty, said Sharon Davis, program assurance director for Catholic Charities.
TOP looks at addressing the family’s needs in five areas: access to food, access to affordable health care, safe and affordable housing, opportunities for adults who need education and employment. “Those are the five challenges,” said Davis, who started the program in the diocese. “If we remove the challenges in those areas, we can help them be successful.”
Through the intensive program, a social worker works with the person or family to connect them to the resources they need to achieve self-sufficiency. They remain in frequent contact to ensure progress, said Branden Lewis, Catholic Charities’ assistant regional director who supervises the program in Charlotte.
“It’s a work in progress,” Davis said. “Families and individuals enter the program at varying stages of poverty. We attack the area presenting the most challenge. The cycle is inter-related, however. We can address one area, and then there’s a crisis in another. We work to address barriers to all five areas of need to be able to reach a point of thriving.”
There’s no time limit for people to remain in the program, because each family situation is unique.
“We are partnering with them as they are on this journey,” Davis said. “A family in crisis will need to meet more frequently.”
Participating families and individuals are referred to the program from parishes, local shelters, community partner agencies and even some area participants in Catholic Charities’ food pantry.
“We have strong collaborating partners in the community,” Davis said. “This is work we can’t do by ourselves. This is a community effort.”
During Poverty Awareness Month in January, the faithful are challenged by Pope Francis to live in solidarity with the poor. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops seeks to raise awareness about poverty across our nation.
“It’s a partnership within the community to help these people get to the finish line – to get them to where they can be whoever or whatever God has called them to be,” Davis said.
In 2018, Catholic Charities started using a program that addresses the five areas of needs and charts their progress, Lewis noted. “It’s helpful for those involved to look back where they’ve started and see how they’re progressing through the program towards self-sufficiency.”
As with all of Catholic Charities’ work, what’s always important is to respect the dignity of every person they serve.
“That’s where our work begins and ends: that we see in each person the image and likeness of God. At the end of the day, that’s what’s most important to us: respect the life of the person and their right to live a happy life,” said Davis. “Case management services through this program offers the best opportunity for their lives to be transformed.”
More online
At www.povertyusa.org: Learn more about Poverty Awareness Month
Backpack ministries among local anti-poverty efforts
January is Poverty Awareness Month, a time set aside by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to highlight the problem of poverty and efforts to combat it.
Among those efforts are Catholic Charities Diocese of Charlotte’s Local Catholic Campaign for Human Development Grant Program, the Catholic Relief Services Mini-Grant Program, and the Far West Growing Opportunities Grant Program.
These grant programs fund projects across the diocese addressing poverty. Grants have funded projects addressing a wide range of social concerns, such as food insecurity, affordable housing, employment training gaps, illiteracy and homelessness. All grant applicants and projects are reviewed for their conformity to Catholic teaching.
People who struggle with poverty often struggle with food insecurity. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimated 12.3 percent of U.S. households – 15.6 million families – were food insecure in 2016. North Carolina is the eighth most food insecure state in the nation, with 15.9 percent of households, according to the USDA’s 2015 Report on Food Insecurity.
With funds from the Catholic Charities’ grant programs, non-profits (including diocesan parishes) in the Charlotte diocese have addressed food insecurity at the grassroots level by promoting community gardening, stocking and expanding food pantries, offering meals to the homeless, supporting mobile food pantries and funding “backpack ministries.”
In 2018, Catholic Charities grant funded projects addressing food insecurity have included the Clay County Food Pantry (supported by Immaculate Heart of Mary Mission in Hayesville), providing shopping carts for Manna FoodBank’s “Mobile Market Project” in Graham County, and funding community backpack ministries supported by parishes in Ashe County (through St. Francis of Assisi Church in Jefferson), Cherokee County (through St. William Church in Murphy), and Gaston County (through Queen of the Apostles Church in Belmont).
Addressing the effects of food insecurity among low-income children is the target of “backpack” ministries. Children suffer from food insecurity at higher rates than the general population, with many children living in households where meals are skipped to make ends meet. These ministries provide nutritious food to school-aged children on weekends during the school year, and some programs operate in the summer.
A parish’s assistance with backpack ministries is illustrated by Queen of the Apostles’ BackPack Weekend Food Program, which partners with two schools in Gaston County. Forty-five students receive weekend meals, packed by parish volunteers, during the school year. This number is multiplied greatly as other churches in Gaston County join in this ecumenical partnership addressing food insecurity.
Julie Russo, who coordinates the parish ministry, sees the benefits firsthand.
“The BackPack Weekend Program means so much to the children. We have had children ask for more food because they are so hungry,” Russo said.
Backpack ministries have been shown to improve concentration and academic performance levels in schools, promote growth and oral health, and diminish sleepiness in daytime hours.
Russo noted, “When a child eats over the weekend, they are able to sleep better and are prepared for school on Monday. The teachers comment how much this program really helps these children and they notice it in the students’ grades.”
— Joseph Purello, special to the Catholic News Herald. Joseph Purello directs the Office of Social Concerns and Advocacy of Catholic Charities Diocese of Charlotte.
CHARLOTTE — Catholic financial planning? Sounds like an oxymoron when the goal of growing wealth doesn’t necessarily match up with faith practices.
Catholic author and retired financial professional Dan Gallagher tackles tips for financial planning from a faith-based perspective in a new book “The Secrets of Successful Financial Planning.”
“There’s a perception that financial planning is about maximizing your wealth, which isn’t a Catholic value,” Gallagher says. “But there’s a moral aspect of financial planning, too.”
Gallagher, a parishioner of St. Gabriel Church in Charlotte, writes fictional and narrative nonfiction. His other works include a novel, short stories and Catholic letters. Gallagher has four faith-based short stories scheduled to be published by Millhaven Press this year, and his fiction work consistently calls readers to consider the things of God.
“The Secrets of Successful Financial Planning” is perhaps the only such book with a Catholic perspective, he says. After three decades in the field, he offers bias- and agenda-free advice and the book carries the Catholic Writers Guild’s Seal of Approval.
The book’s “Catholic perspective is subtle, but appears at crucial and edifying points,” he says. “A fifth of the book is comprised of 30 dramatic but true tales of client triumph and tragedy.”
Through this book, Gallagher says he wants to help people from a wide range of economic means and situations, persuading them to consider proper stewardship and attitudes toward money.
“Money decisions almost always have a moral dimension and a relationships dimension,” he says. “Which is why this type of book from a Catholic perspective is needed.”
The book empowers readers to meet obligations to self, family, charity and posterity, Gallagher says.
By using a secular publisher, Gallagher says he hopes to reach people of all faiths, not just Catholics, to consider matters such as healthcare power of attorney versus living wills, charitable giving and tithing, the responsibility to share one’s resources and not hoard wealth, and preserving family relationships through thoughtful money decisions including disability planning.
“The Secrets of Successful Financial Planning” sheds light on “poorly knowns” that consumers and professionals alike need to understand, he says. It enables Catholics to better their understanding of these issues and realize the merit of managing their finances as they would any other blessing or talent from God.
Gallagher says he has been influenced by secular financial writers and his work incorporates a Catholic conscience.
“My true love is writing fiction. I feel like I can reach people more emotionally that way, and it sticks,” he says.
“They remember what I’m trying to convey. I’m not necessarily trying to teach someone something about morals or the Bible or whatever. I’m trying to coach them to consider doing something that’s wholesome and good, and incorporate that into their lives or their philosophy.”
— Kimberly Bender, online reporter
More online
At www.authordan.com: Learn more about Dan Gallagher and read more of his work, including his latest book, “The Secrets of Successful Financial Planning”
Order “The Secrets of Successful Financial Planning” on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2H5nWAW
CHARLOTTE — Frank Garcia, Charlotte Catholic High School's assistant football coach, has been suspended from his coaching job after being accused of assaulting a woman.
Garcia, a former Carolina Panther football player, was arrested Dec. 8 and charged with misdemeanor assault.
He did not coach in the team’s 3A state championship game. Charlotte Catholic defeated Jacksonville in the Dec. 15 game, 17-14.
Garcia remains suspended as of Jan. 10, said Principal Kurt Telford.
Telford said Garcia's employment at the school dated back to 2012 and his only position there was assistant coach.
Garcia has also been off the air as a sports-talk radio show since his arrest. He co-hosted the "Garcia and Bailey" show on Charlotte's WFNZ-AM station.
Garcia played with the Panthers from 1995 to 2000, the Rams from 2001 to 2002, and the Cardinals in 2003.
— Catholic News Herald