CHARLOTTE — The Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) is one of the Church’s primary means of fighting poverty at the grassroots level, both here in the Diocese of Charlotte and across the United States.
The annual collection, which will be taken up Nov. 20-21, is a source of both national and local funds to support organizations that address the root causes of poverty in America. Seventy-five percent of the funds collected go to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to support national grant funding, and the other 25 percent remains here in the diocese to fund local anti-poverty efforts.
Since 1970, CCHD has funded some 4,000 programs across the United States.
Local CCHD funds are distributed to local non-profit organizations through Catholic Charities Diocese of Charlotte’s CCHD Program. Grants of up to $5,000 are awarded to non-profit organizations fighting poverty across the diocese.
Morganton-based Material Return is a national CCHD grant recipient. As an employee-owned enterprise, it is playing a key role in reviving the manufacturing sector in the foothills region of North Carolina. It transforms reclaimed textiles for sustainable use and provides waste aggregation services that keep post-production textile remnants out of landfills. It also researches ways to return textile waste back into the supply chain, by helping client businesses create products and fibers from the waste material rather than discarding it. Material Return also manufactures its own brand of circular yarn made from textile waste called ReturnTex™, which is used in products sold by varied manufacturers that are part of the Carolina Textile District. 
Applications for the diocese’s 2022 grants are due Feb. 15. Each grant award winner partners in some way with a parish or entity of the diocese familiar with the work of the non-profit, and the parish provides a letter of endorsement with their grant application.
Supporting the Catholic Campaign for Human Development collection assists enterprises such as Material Return which are “Working on the Margins” to provide innovative, life-improving solutions in their communities.
World Day of the Poor
The 2021 World Day of the Poor will be recognized Nov. 14. The theme this year is “The Poor You Will Always Have With You.”
Pope Francis established the World Day of the Poor in his apostolic letter “Misericordia et Misera,” issued on Nov. 20, 2016, to celebrate the end of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy.
In Pope Francis’ message for this year’s World Day of the Poor, he appeals to us “never to turn our backs on poverty for a series of reasons that are ethical, moral, pastoral, political, economic and social,” says Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization.
The Holy Father will celebrate Mass for the World Day of the Poor on Nov. 14 in St. Peter’s Basilica.
— SueAnn Howell, senior reporter. Joe Purello contributed.
Learn More
At www.ccdoc.org/cchdcrs: Find out more information about the Catholic Charities’ CCHD Local Grants Program.
Read the Holy Father’s message for the 2021 World Day of the Poor.
CHARLOTTE — Students for Life of America’s National “See Me Now Bus Tour” will roll into Charlotte Saturday, Nov. 13, and everyone is invited to come out and show their support.
The bus tour is starting Nov. 6 in Jackson, Miss., and traveling to cities in Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia before ending Wednesday, Dec. 1, outside the U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C.
On that day, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments for Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, a case stemming from Mississippi passing a law to ban abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Legal experts believe how the Supreme Court rules on this case will very likely determine if states will be allowed to enforce abortion restrictions before viability for the first time since the Roe v. Wade decision and finally confront its flawed legal framework. At issue are limits on abortion before a baby can live outside the womb – along with the future of Roe v. Wade itself.
The National “See Me Now Bus Tour” will be a call to action for campuses and communities to wake up and realize that the time is now to see each precious child in the womb as deserving of the full protection of the law.
During its journey through North Carolina, the Students for Life bus will arrive at 1 p.m. at Romare Bearden Park, located at 300 S. Church St. in uptown Charlotte.
At each of the “See Me Now” tour stops, attendees will hear from prominent local voices and legislative leaders along with national leaders, and a live ultrasound will illustrate the humanity of people not yet born.
“The pro-life generation will make an historic pilgrimage from Jackson, Mississippi, to Washington D.C., where we have marched, prayed, rallied, lobbied and cried out on behalf of mothers and their preborn children for almost 50 years,” said Students for Life of America President Kristan Hawkins in a statement. “We will call on our nation’s leaders and citizens to ‘See Me Now,’ all of the beauty of life from conception to natural death. The Constitution doesn’t have ‘abortion’ written in invisible ink, scratched in the margins. We must end the legal farce that killing 62 million preborn infants is a ‘right’ that must continue rather than the most inhumane loss of life on U.S. soil ever imagined.”
For details, go online to www.studentsforlife.org/blog or click here to learn more.
— Catholic News Herald
BELMONT — Latino families who face financial barriers to higher education and career opportunities are about to receive help from a new partnership between LAWA (Latin Americans Working for Achievement) and Belmont Abbey College.
The college will match scholarship grants for LAWA students from low- to moderate-income families attending the college, doubling their award. The new program recognizes that finances often keep Latino families in the Charlotte region from gaining access to high-quality post-secondary career opportunities. In partnership with LAWA, Belmont Abbey will also host a workshop dedicated to helping students with FAFSA (student aid applications) and making college more accessible. The workshop will take place on Belmont Abbey’s campus on Thursday, Dec. 9.
“We feel incredibly grateful to Belmont Abbey College for partnering with us,” said LAWA Executive Director Ana S. Rey. “Our partnership will allow our organization to reach more Latino homes in Gaston County.”
LAWA is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing the education and quality of life for the Latino community in the Charlotte region through scholarships and career-readiness programs. Through collaboration with community organizations, LAWA offers youth scholarship programs and workshops to Latino high school students who might not see college as a possibility.
The initiatives with Belmont Abbey College aim to close Latino academic achievement gaps, improve Latino high school graduation rates and increase the number of Latino students who pursue and complete post-secondary study in Gaston County. These efforts are crucial, as the majority of LAWA scholarship recipients are first-generation college students.
“At Belmont Abbey, we’re excited about the opportunity to positively impact our local Latino community by providing them with a liberal arts education that prepares them – mind, body and spirit – to pursue the good for themselves and their communities,” said Martin Aucoin, vice provost and dean of admissions at Belmont Abbey College. “We welcome the talents of everyone, from any background and tradition, who is committed to fostering the development of the whole person and contributing to the mission of the college.”
The initiative with LAWA aligns with Belmont Abbey’s aim to offer an environment where students can work toward their full potential.
LAWA is a 501(c)3 nonprofit charitable organization serving Mecklenburg and adjacent counties. The organization’s mission is to advance the education and quality of life of Latinos in the Charlotte region through scholarships and academic and cultural programs. It is online at www.lawanc.org.
— Belmont Abbey College