Just before Christmas, a couple came to Catholic Charities because their water had been shut off. They were going across the street to a 24-hour convenience store to use the restroom, and bathing their two month-old daughter in the store’s sink. They became worried about taking the baby out in the cold during the harsh winter months ahead. Catholic Charities used funds from Keep the Kids Warm to get the family’s water turned back on.

Another family came to Catholic Charities in November. Their gas had been off all summer and when the cold weather set in, the entire family slept in one bed under an electric blanket. The family did not seek help until their landlord became concerned about pipes bursting, and threatened them with eviction. Catholic Charities used funds from Keep the Kids Warm to help get the family’s gas turned back on.

While on maternity leave, a new mother carefully set a budget to meet her monthly expenses. However, when her doctor extended her leave a month due to complications, she came to Catholic Charities because she could not afford to pay her utilities for the extra month off of work. Catholic Charities used funds from Keep the Kids Warm to help keep the new mom and her five week-old baby from going without heat during the month of January.

In recent months, Catholic Charities has not only experienced an increase in the number of people needing assistance with food, rent and mortgages, but also those needing help with utilities. In 2009, Catholic Charities in the Diocese of Youngstown provided utility assistance to 5,632 people, including 2,781 children. A significant percentage of those served were helped with money raised through Keep the Kids Warm, a Catholic Charities initiative to provide specific utility assistance to families with children. Last year, diocesan parishes and others of good will raised $60,000 for Keep the Kids Warm. So far this year, Catholic Charities has collected nearly $40,000 — and the need is growing.

In a fourth quarter 2009 snapshot survey conducted by Catholic Charities USA, responding agencies across the country reported a 51% increase in the number of middle class families seeking assistance, and a 70% increase in the number of families coming to Catholic Charities for help. Middle- and double-income families who never dreamed they would have to ask for assistance have become victims of corporate downsizing, permanent lay-offs and reductions in work hours. Through illness or injury, other previously self-sufficient families are faced with exorbitant medical expenses. Rising health insurance costs are hurting employees and employers alike. Families who were struggling to keep their heads above water before the recession hit are now drowning.

“Over the past couple of years, the Catholic Charities agencies have been dealing with high demand for services, fewer resources to meet needs, and clients who have multiple issues that need to be addressed,” explains Nancy Voitus, executive director of Catholic Charities Regional Agency, serving Columbiana, Mahoning and Trumbull Counties. 

Special efforts like First Step for Change and Keep the Kids Warm provide additional funds so the Catholic Charities agencies can help the new population who need social services for the first time, as well as those living in poverty, whose needs have grown significantly in the current economy.

“We consider those thirty-one parishes and numerous concerned people who generously participated in Keep the Kids Warm this year partners in our ministry of service to families in their communities. Their funds make it possible for us to make sure that children go to sleep in a warm house and are able to take a warm bath at night. Those comforts that most of us take for granted, others consider a luxury, even in 2010,” Voitus continues.

Catholic Charities will be collecting funds for Keep the Kids Warm through March. Parishes are still encouraged to take up a second collection for this effort. Individual donations may be sent to Catholic Charities, Keep the Kids Warm, P. O. Box 614, Youngstown, Ohio, 44501, or made online through PayPal at www.ccdoy.org. One-hundred percent of the funds collected through Keep the Kids Warm are returned to the county in which they were collected.

For more information, contact Rachel Hrbolich at 330-744-8451, ext. 328.