Catholic Charities

Catholic Charities, a non-profit agency committed to providing help and creating hope to people in need, is celebrating 90 years of service to thousands of people in the Diocese of Springfield this year. The agency will commemorate its 90th anniversary with a series of celebratory events over the course of 2015.

When Patrick Ghiota migrated to Springfield from the Republic of the Congo, he left his wife, 4-year-old daughter, and 2-year-old twin sons behind so he could save enough money to pay for their green card fees and bring them to America.

Last October, the community of Decatur pulled together for the 13th annual WSOY Community Food Drive and raised over 1 million pounds of food and money to help restock the shelves of the Decatur Catholic Charities’ food pantry. The fall community effort began in 2002 with the collection of 35,000 pounds of food and the event has grown substantially over the years.

The Catholic Charities Mobile Food Pantry (MFP) program started in 2013 with two refrigerated trucks based out of the Effingham and Madison County Catholic Charities offices.