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Providing Help. Creating Hope.

To promote healing, restore hope and affirm human potential through services that empower, voices that speak for justice; and, partnerships that strengthen communities.mission

Summer Picnic: A Time to Remember and EnjoyTenants at our St. Joseph apartments gathered for their annual summer cook-out on Friday, July 9th. The new picnic tables were put into use and residents helped with grilling hamburgers and hotdogs on their new grills. They also contributed side dishes and desserts. Both the grills and the picnic tables at the apartments were provided by the outreach grant from St. Timothy parish. The Blessed Sacrament St. Vincent DePaul society also provided many items to make the picnic a great time for all.

Prior to the picnic, residents gathered for a brief prayer service to remember a tenant who died in July 2012 as the result of a tragic accident. Her boyfriend and their two children led the group in a symbolic balloon release at the end of the prayers. Residents also planted a tree as a symbol of hope and of their perma-nent home, or “roots,” at St. Joseph apartments, and the end of the “rootlessness” and despair of being homeless.

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summer 20�3 newsletter, edition #72

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2 | Partners Newsletter, Edition #72, Summer 20�3

Dear FriendsThe Gift of Self

This has been a challenging year so far for Catholic Charities as we deal with the absence of Bill Jones, our Executive Director, who is now on medical leave following a stroke which happened in early February. We are looking forward to his return next year, but in the mean-time we miss his passion for our work, his commitment to our mission, and his vision for the agency. In recent years we have embarked on new initiatives because of Bill’s innovative leadership. Our work with prisoner re-entry and housing for the homeless are direct results of Bill’s desire to increase our commitment to the poorest and neediest of all.

I am proud to be able to report to you, in my role as Interim Executive Director, that the staff continues to carry out the mission of Catholic Charities in Bill’s absence. It is a tribute to Bill’s foresight, and to the internal structures that he put in place, that the agency is running smoothly and that staff are as involved and committed as always. Here are a few high-lights of the past six months.

The Boone County Fiscal Court has increased its allocation to Catholic Charities. This means that we will have mental health counselors working in several public grade schools and middle schools in Boone County, and now will be provid-ing mental health counseling at Boone County High School. We are very pleased that the Fiscal Court in Boone County has chosen to endorse our work in their schools by increasing our funding. In addition, donor support has enabled us to add more counseling days each week to two of the ACUE schools.

Our case management services at the St Joseph Apartments in Elsmere are showing strong results. More tenants are work-ing or in school than ever before. The picnic tables we installed thanks to a grant last year from St Timothy Parish have encouraged the development of a sense of community and cooperation among residents. We recently held our summer cookout and residents worked together to provide home-made desserts for the whole group, as well as games and activi-ties for the children. Our community gardeners are growing tomatoes and zucchini.

Our housing counselors continue to help families avoid foreclosure and stay in their homes. Foreclosure takes a tremen-dous toll on families, and results in a wide variety of problems for those affected. By the end of June, we had successfully completed services to 83 families and individuals, about 20% over what we had projected.

In closing, I would like to add one of Bill’s favorite quotations from Pope Benedict XVI. “We are not owners but rather administrators of the goods we possess. These goods are a means through which the Lord calls us to act as a steward of His gifts for our neighbor. As for Christian charity, this is not philanthropy, but a virtue that demands interior conversion focusing on the gift of self, rather than the gift of things.” Our mission of healing and hope is about the gift of self to those who are in need in our community.

Shannon Braun has worked at Catholic Charities since 1995. For the first six years Shannon worked in schools as a School Coun-selor, facilitated Classroom Prevention Groups and Youth Devel-opment Programs; she became supervisor of the School Counsel-ing program in 2001. In 2006 Shannon was appointed Program Director for Operations and Human Resources Coordinator, and in addition supervised the Classroom Prevention Programs, Sub-stance Abuse Treatment and Youth Development. In 2011 she became the agency’s first Chief Operating Officer, and was ap-pointed Interim Executive Director by Bishop Foys July 1, 2013.

Your partner in service,

Shannon Braun, MSW, CSW Interim Executive Director

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Duke Energy Volunteers at St. Joseph Apartments

Catholic Charities owns two apartment buildings in Elsmere that together house 16 formerly homeless fam-

ilies. There is no time limit on how long families may live there; however, the goal of case management services is to help families achieve stability and self-sufficiency. Rent is based on income, and includes utilities. The case manager works with the family on goals related to health, education, parenting skills, employment and money management.

In May, a team of volunteers from Duke Energy gave a big boost to staff and residents at St. Joseph Apartments. For a long time, the case manager, Brandy Medaugh, had wanted to clean out the large storage shed on the property. When a family enters the case management program from homeless-ness, they often have lost all their possessions. When people become homeless they distribute their possessions among friends and relatives, and by the time they come to our prop-erty their “stuff” is long gone. Medaugh needed a place where she could store donations such as dishes, linens, and small appliances. She also needed space to store materials for community building activities for adults and children.

The volunteers from Duke Energy cleaned out the entire space, which was full of heavy junk. After that they installed commercial shelving units. Medaugh had already gathered storage bins from donors so that items would be protected. “It’s very helpful to new ten-ants when I can go to the shed and find plates, bowls, silver-ware, cooking utensils and

sheets for a family that literally has a bag of clothes and nothing else,” says Medaugh.

About 75% of our tenants who are able to work do so. (The others are actively looking.) When people start to work, they lose assistance such as food stamps (now called SNAP.) Sometimes there is no food and no money left at the end of the month, and Medaugh keeps emergency supplies on hand for this reason. She also uses the storage space for items such as toilet paper, feminine hygiene products and laundry detergent. For low income families these are often hard to come by. The work of the Duke Energy volunteers, along with support from donors, has enabled Medaugh to improve case management services in this way.

The Duke volunteers, after cleaning out the shed, then built a path of gravel and pavers so that in wet weather it’s acces-sible and people don’t get their feet muddy. When it rains the area around the shed tends to turn into a sea of mud. This path to the shed makes the space accessible year round.

If you would like to make a donation of cash or items to St. Joseph Apartments, please contact Brandy Medaugh or Vicky Bauerle at 859-581-8974.

� | Partners Newsletter, Edition #72, Summer 20�3

Bishop of CovingtonMost Reverend Roger J. Foys, DD

Board of DirectorsSuzette Glaab, ChairpersonCatherine Jung Byrne, Vice ChairGary Massie, TreasurerCharles BradleyKathy DannemanCindy HassanFred HollmannDeacon Joe McGrawScott McIntyreKes MurphyThomas NeltnerFr. Gerry ReinersmanJack Rudnick, Jr.Shannon SchumacherMatthew SwindemanAmul ThaparSr. Dennise Wagenlander, SNDMarna Zalla

Executive StaffShannon Braun

Interim Executive Director William R. Jones

Executive Director–on medical leaveMary Massie

Chief Financial Officer

Administrative StaffVicky Bauerle, Institutional

Advancement ManagerTheresa Bergmann, Institutional

Advancement & Housing SupportJoy Boothby, Volunteer CoordinatorCindy Dixon, Pre-Service

CoordinatorSusan Heppler, Business OfficeJoseph Kiesewetter, IT CoordinatorAmy Littleton, Quality Assurance

CoordinatorJohn Plymesser, Building

Maintenance

Program ManagersMary Fleischman, Program

Director–Capacity Building; New Leaf Center Supervisor

Monica Kuhlman, Program Director–Treatment & Adoption and Pregnancy Services Supervisor

A reminiscence by Joy Boothby, Volunteer Coordinator

Fr. Bill Mertes was Executive Director of Catholic Charities and preparing to retire. Sr. Joan was just finishing a one year Leadership Course at Notre Dame. Fr. Mertes convinced her that this would be the perfect place for her to use her talents.

I was here when Sr. Joan arrived and worked with her for 20 years. It was a very challenging ministry being Executive Director. I watched her charm and get what was needed from people in the community for the agency. If Sister needed it, there were many who would move heaven and earth to get it for her.

Sr. Joan was one of a family of 13. She was the second oldest girl – the respon-sible one in the family – and she helped raise all of her siblings. At 16 she joined the Sisters of Divine Providence and she was teaching school at the ripe old age of 17. She taught in Lexington, Ft. Thomas, and was the principal at Corpus Christie in Pikeville, KY. The mountain folks in Pikeville were a bit leery of those Catholic sisters who dressed in full habit – they crossed the street when they saw them coming.

Sr. Joan was the Provincial administrator for the Sisters of Divine Providence for 11 years, and this experience was an excellent preparation for her role as Ex-ecutive Director. When she retired after 20 years, Joan shared that her mind had been stretched and her heart had been expanded by her experiences here.

After her retirement from Catholic Charities, her community called her to a new position as Director of Mission Advancement Effectiveness. Sr. Joan continues to meet with administrators, staff and board members to ensure that the spirit of their community flourishes.

While Sister was here she was also in charge of the Parish Kitchen so when she left us, she agreed to volunteer a day with them and a day with us. She is our Monday morning receptionist and on Thursday mornings she volunteers here by processing checks through Quick Books. She has truly been a gift to us and to many others through the years.

Volunteer of the Season: Spring Sr. Joan Boberg

This newsletter is published three times a year in spring, summer and winter for friends of Catholic Charities. Catholic Charities provides adoption services, housing support, thera-peutic counseling, neighborhood and community organizing, parenting services, pregnancy counseling, substance abuse treatment, jail ministry and prisoner reentry services, youth de-velopment services, intake and referral, and volunteer support.

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Program Staff

Staci Alder, Women’s Reentry, Senior Case Manager

Patti Anderson, Housing Supervisor

Joe Behler, Counselor

Sheila Dumford, School Counseling Supervisor

Karen Gutzeit, Insights Program

Nikki Hizer, Women’s Reentry, Intensive Case Manager

Darryl Humphrey, Parish Kitchen Associate

Laura Jackson, Counselor

Brian Kinne, Substance Abuse Treatment Counselor

Erin Maggard, School Counselor

Brandy Medaugh, Intake Specialist, Case Management

Donna Moreland, School Counselor

Diane Mushaben, Counselor

Alana Morgan, Parish Kitchen Associate

Elmer Meyers, Parish Kitchen Staff

Jeff Mynatt, Parish Kitchen Staff

Dan Nolan, Parish Kitchen Director

Anna Phillips, Intake Coordinator, Parenting Educator

David Phillips, Second Chance and Jail Ministry Coordinator

Sharon Raaker, School Counselor

Kara Riegler, Adoption and Pregnancy Counselor

Karen Rowe, Community Building

Michelle Schuck, School Counselor

Paula Weber, Counseling Supervisor

Jennifer Wilson, School Counselor

Nancy Woeste, Housing CounselorDiocese of Covington

Judy Speaks came to us the weekend of CaSSba 2011. She was introduced to Catholic Charities by her neighbor, Karen Paolucci, who brought her to help cook the Saturday before CaSSba. Joy Boothby and Lauren Young imme-diately knew she had wonderful gifts that she could share with the clients and staff of Catholic Charities!

Judy quickly went to work organizing recipes, grocery store flyers and healthy food options for our residents at the St. Joseph apartments. Since then Judy has had a regularly scheduled cooking class for our residents. She has helped at some of the parenting weekend retreats with Anna Phillips, and has also pre-sented to the staff. Judy has created an email especially so our clients can reach her and they lovingly refer to her as “cooking mama”.

Judy has since brought in most of her family to help Catholic Charities in a variety of ways. Her daughter Mariam assists her with her cooking class, and according to the St. Joseph residents always has a wisecrack to share! Another daughter Sara works Tuesday mornings in pre-service, her husband Bob and son Eric have helped till and plant a garden for St. Joseph for the past two summers. Bob and Eric are also responsible for helping to build the stone pathway at the apartments, and cleaning out the storage unit.

Without Judy, all of these volunteer services would have been a dream. Because Judy is passionate about her cooking, and about helping Catholic Charities live out our mission of healing and hope, these dreams have become reality.

Volunteer of the Season: Summer Judy Speaks

Mariam and Judy Speaks

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Catholic Charities has been providing counseling services since 1962. The pro-gram has been accredited by the Council of Accreditation of Services to Families and Children since 1995. Counselors are expe-rienced in many areas of practice and help

clients address a wide array of concerns. All counselors have master’s degrees and are trained and licensed in their respective fields, includ-ing psychology, social work, and clinical counseling. The counselors are experienced in many areas of practice and can help clients in ad-dressing a wide array of concerns. A unique aspect of the service is the opportunity to focus on spirituality as a part of the process.

Catholic Charities is the approved provider of the Diocesan Employee Assistance Program (EAP). The EAP is intended to help diocesan em-ployees and their covered dependents in managing personal or family problems that might adversely impact their health, well being and/or work performance. Services include assessment and short-term coun-seling and referral services for employees and their covered household members.

Counseling is a shared effort between the mental health professional and the client. Counselors help their clients identify goals and devel-oping potential solutions to the problems that cause them emotional turmoil. Counseling can help improve communication and coping skills. They work to strengthen self-esteem and aid clients to develop healthy behaviors and responses by building on personal strengths. Counseling is available for:

Catholic Charities’ Counseling Program Provides Hope

Did you know?Catholic Charities...

• Has a staff of 38 dedicated professionals.

• Served a total of 11,129 individuals last year, 62% of whom were living below the poverty line; more than half of these had no income.

• In 2012 provided mental health counseling to 570 individuals, including adults, chil-dren, couples and families.

• Enlists the help of volunteers and donors so that needy families are able to celebrate Christmas with good food and presents, just as the rest of us do.

• Depends on the support and help of 350 vol-unteers to deliver services to those in need.

• Offers professional counseling for individu-als and family members touched by adop-tion, and has been offering adoption services since 1948.

• Has professional counselors who work to help women experiencing an unplanned pregnancy, and in addition offer support and guidance to their family members.

• Enables the formerly homeless families in the St. Joseph Apartments achieve stability, and identify and reach their goals, with the help of a caring case manager.

• Provides professional mental health counsel-ing in 14 elementary schools, both Catholic and public, as well as two high schools.

• Ensures that families facing foreclosure are able to keep their homes.

• Works with men and women re-entering so-ciety after serving a jail or prison sentence, so that they can find housing, employ-ment and a stable and healthy support system.

• Serves over 75,000 meals annually to hungry people at the Parish Kitchen (photo right).

• Brings together high schoolers and inner city grade school children in our tutoring and mentoring program, Reach and Teach.

• Substance abuse • Emotional distress• Major life events• Health care concerns• Financial concerns• Family/personal relationship

issues

• Parenting issues• Work relationship issues • Concerns about aging parents • Referrals to more intensive

psychiatric services

Continued on next page.

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School Counseling Touches and Changes Many LivesIn the 2013/14 school year, Catholic Char-ities will pro-vide mental

health counseling in a total of 15 schools in Kenton, Camp-bell and Boone Counties. This includes five ACUE grade schools (St. Augustine, Prince of Peace, Holy Family, Holy Cross and Holy Trinity) and one ACUE middle school (Holy Trinity). In addition, we serve Sts. Peter & Paul and St. Phil-ip in Campbell County, and St. Agnes and Mary Queen of Heaven in Kenton County. We will provide services in three public elementary schools in Boone County (Collins, Ock-erman and Goodridge) and one middle school (R.A. Jones). In addition, for the first time in many years, we will have a counselor in a public high school (Boone County). In the coming school year, nine counselors, all of whom have mas-ter’s degrees, will staff the program.

The school counseling program is preventive in nature. Reaching children who are currently having difficulties can help prevent bigger problems later in life, and studies show that 85% of adults who have depression report that they suf-fered from childhood anxiety. At each school, counselors at-tempt to de-stigmatize counseling by letting children know that it’s okay to ask for help. Children may refer themselves to the counselor, or a parent or teacher may make a referral. Counselors typically work with children on issues such as improving their behavior in the classroom, their communi-cation skills, and their peer relationships. The counselors are also available for children going through difficult situations at home, such as divorce, job loss or eviction. Counselors tell the children that sometimes change is difficult, and that counseling can be helpful for a child who is dealing with change. School counselors will provide individual counsel-ing to over 350 students in 2013/14.

School counselors wanted to find a way to provide extra help and support to the children they work with, and devel-oped a mentoring program, Reach and Teach, that pairs high school students with elementary school students. Under the supervision of the school counselor, grade school children meet weekly with a high school age mentor. Mentees may need extra attention because they lack positive role models in their lives, and need help with homework and social skills. The program has had a huge impact on mentors and mentees. Mentors see the difference they can make in a child’s life, and mentees improved their grades as well as their class-room behavior. The program has expanded over the last two years, and now involves approximately 120 children, and the same number of mentors. Mentors are drawn from three lo-cal Catholic high schools, and the children they work with attend five ACUE schools.

If you would like more information about our School Counseling Program or our Reach and Teach Program contact Sheila Dumford, School Counseling Supervisor at 859-581-8974.

Continued from previous page.

Catholic Charities has always charged a fee for mental health counseling, using a sliding scale based on income and fam-ily size, the agency now also accepts Anthem insurance.

For more information, please call the Intake department at 859-581-8974. To make an appointment, call the same number and have your insurance and your income information available to determine your fee. Intake hours are from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Reach and Teach program in action.

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3629 Church StreetLatonia, KY 41015(859) 581-8974 · (866) 440-9612www.covingtoncharities.orgwww.facebook.com/covingtoncharities

Sunday, August 25, 2013

CaSSba Salutes the Armed ForcesDrees Pavilion Devou Overlook, 3–7 p.m.

Admission $50 per person presale/$55 day of event

See enclosed flyer to order tickets or call Vicky Bauerle at 859-581-8974 today!

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Hungry and Homeless Come, Remember and

Respond EventNewport Middle School

Begins at 6:00 p.m. with memorial service

followed by dinner.If you are interested in

volunteering at the event contact Vicky Bauerle

at 859-581-8974.

Saturday, October 19, 2013

Latonia Halloween Block Party

Historic Ritte’s Corner

Featuring Ronald McDonald, Costume Contest and more.

Visit www.LBAKY.com for more information.

SAVE THE DATES!

Catholic Charities is now registered with the Kroger Community Rewards Program.

If you have a Kroger Rewards Card please sign up for the Community Rewards Program using the number 83331. This does not affect your fuel points but Catholic Charities will get money on a quarterly basis for all the purchases that are made under our number. Thank you for your support!