Catholic Charities Appeal: $4.7M goal reached, but participation goal fell short

By Shannon Roh 
For The Catholic Week
MOBILE – The 94th annual Catholic Charities Appeal Sunday was Jan. 26. As of Friday, Feb. 28, a total of 6,503 generous donors helped us exceed our $4.7 million goal with pledges totaling $4,898,373. Thank you to everyone who made a pledge to help our neighbors in need. 
While we exceeded our financial goal, we fell short in our participation goal of 100 percent participation. Back in 2000, more than 10,000 families participated in the annual Catholic Charities Appeal. While our population has grown in the past 25 years, the number of donors to the annual Catholic Charities Appeal has dropped by more than 30 percent. 
Remarkably, we achieved our financial goal with participation from only a quarter of the households in the archdiocese. Their generosity is inspirational, but not sustainable. I challenge you to be a part of this amazing appeal that funds more than 30 ministries that serve those in need in Central and Southern Alabama. 
In the Gospel of Matthew, we are reminded of our call as disciples of Jesus to serve our neighbors in need. “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink” (Matthew 25:35).
God loves us so much that He gave us the perfect model of charity in Jesus. He calls us to imitate His love through our actions. Every gift to the Catholic Charities Appeal is modeling His charity.  
Our generosity is critical to the ministries that serve those in great need throughout the Archdiocese of Mobile. For 94 years the annual Catholic Charities Appeal has allowed these ministries to serve tens of thousands of people suffering physically, mentally and spiritually in Central and Southern Alabama.
If you have not yet participated, I encourage you to make your pledge today to the Catholic Charities Appeal. No amount is too small or too large, please give what you can afford. Text CCA to 91999 to make your gift online or mail your gift to Catholic Charities: PO Box 230, Mobile, AL 36601.  Together we can make a difference and show God’s love to those in need.

Catholic Charities is blessed with 
dedicated volunteers 
The many teams of dedicated volunteers are essential to the Catholic Charities Appeal. 
The parish chairs and their team of volunteers sacrifice countless hours to sort pledge envelopes and follow up with parishioners who have not yet participated. Thank you to all the parish volunteers for your dedication to Catholic Charities. 
Thank you to Susan Cunningham, Bill Mansfield, Sandra Ramos, and Mary Ann Stevens for countless hours of service to the Catholic Charities Appeal. These four exceptional volunteers dedicated weeks of their time in our office sorting, counting, recounting and preparing deposits so that your donations get to the ministries that need them as quickly as possible. These faithful volunteers show up day after day and donate their time until every pledge is deposited, entered and alphabetized. The development office is a lean team of three: Michelle Knizley, Kasey Keeney and myself. We could not do this alone. We are so grateful for all the amazing volunteers!