Spring is so close, and yet so far. We have exciting updates to share with you that will hopefully keep our minds off of this dreary weather we've been having!
OFFICE HIGHLIGHT: WAUKESHA AREA OFFICE
In Waukesha county, our staff provides bilingual Behavioral Health services, bilingual Outreach and Case Management, In-Home Support / Hoarding Intervention + Treatment, Supported Parenting Services, and CQI.
PROGRAM HIGHLIGHT: CHILD WELFARE SERVICES
PREGNANCY + PARENTING SUPPORT
We recently re-designed the Pregnancy and Parenting Support program with our new brand guidelines. Be sure to take a look at them at our Milwaukee office!
Be on the lookout for our new materials as the year progresses. Sarah Werner will be reaching out to programs and working to re-vamp the agency's materials.
ADOPTION
Our very own Sarah Chidester and a family we serve was featured in the 2019 Catholic Stewardship Appeal video. Fast forward to 1:48 to see how our services have blessed the Harris family!
One of our couples that we are working with recently created this video to showcase their life to our prospective birth mothers. We are continuously blown away by the creativity and commitment that these families have for loving their future children. We were touched by this video and thought you would like to get to know Travis + Ashlee!
PROGRAM HIGHLIGHT: PARISH RELATIONS
As a Friend Raiser for Catholic Charities, Archbishop Listecki established the annual Lenten Luncheon events to honor local individuals, businesses, and religious organizations who embody our mission of service to those in need. All proceeds go toward our agency!
Here is the schedule of our 2019 Lenten Luncheons:
Thursday, March 14 – Kenosha/Racine Lenten Lunch:
Bristol Oaks Country Club: 16801 75th Street, Kenosha WI
Awardees:
Rev. Edward E. Carroll
Snap-on Incorporated
Immaculate Heart of Mary Order
Tuesday, March 19 – Milwaukee/Waukesha Lenten Lunch
St. Francis de Sales Seminary: 3257 S. Lake Drive St. Francis, WI
Awardees:
Sister Patricia Rogers, OP
Town Bank
Sisters of the Divine Savior
Monday, March 25 – Sheboygan/Fond du Lac Lenten Lunch
St. Dominic Parish Activity Center: 2133 N. 22nd Street Sheboygan, WI
Awardees:
Robert & Arlene Ramstack
Anchor of Hope Health Center
Knights of Columbus District 61
Sharon Brumer, Parish Relations Coordinator, is retiring on March 29th, after 25 years with Catholic Charities. We thank her for her service and commitment to serving our clients, and blessings as she enters her well-earned retirement!
STEVEN'S RETIREMENT
In February, we celebrated Steven Xiong and his 15 years of leadership and commitment to the Refugee Resettlement program. Below are photos captured from the lunch, where Steven spoke and some of our staff was able to come together in community to wish him well in retirement. Thank you Steven, for all that you have done here for Catholic Charities and the individuals that you impacted!
HUMAN RESOURCES UPDATES
This spring will bring some sad goodbyes, but we also have a lot of hello's to say to new employees!
Auri is a graduate counseling student with a concentration in Clinical Mental Health at Mount Mary University and graduating this May. She has been in the social services field since 2014, graduated with her bachelor’s degree in 2013, and began working with children and low income families to coordinate mental health services at La Causa. The thing that she likes best about her role at Catholic Charities, is that it is never a typical day at the office, and she may learn something new from her colleagues and clients! Also, the support received from CC staff is amazing!
Tara Taylor – Therapist – SAO; Started 11/19/18
Tara grew up in New York and graduated from Marist College with a Masters in Counseling. She moved to California and spent time in San Francisco, Monterey, and Santa Barbara. She also spent time in Kansas City and Kailua- Kona, Hawaii before settling here in Wisconsin. She now lives in Kohler and enjoys raising her family as well as gardening, cultural events, and being a part of her faith community.
Her past work experience includes consulting for the IRIS program, private counseling practice, Assertive Community Treatment, Mobile Crisis, Foster Care Case Management, and inpatient geropsychiatric care. She has a passion for helping build strong, healthy people, families, and communities… and believes that we all reap the benefits of it. Her favorite thing about her job is the people. Her coworkers and the people she meets make this job very rewarding.
Emily graduated from UW La Crosse with a B.A in Spanish and political science in December of 2017. Her previous job was serving with AmeriCorps NCCC FEMA Corps. She was able to travel to Mississippi, Atlanta and both Carolinas for emergency management purposes. She had the opportunity to respond to hurricanes in both Puerto Rico and Florida. A fun fact about Emily is that she loves decorating, and has made a point to change up the office every month.
Payton is one of the Pregnancy Support & Adoption Social Workers here at Catholic Charities! She is currently attending UW Milwaukee’s graduate program and is working on receiving her Master’s in Social Work for Mental/Behavior Health. She is planning to graduate in May of 2020. Prior to Catholic Charities, she has had the opportunity to work as a youth mentor for three years and as a behavioral therapist for children with autism. She is very grateful to be a member of such a great team here and to be working for the Child Welfare Department and is excited to learn everything she can about this agency and all the great people that are a part of it.
Colleen Schmidt joined Catholic Charities in January after five years at Marquette University as an Executive Assistant in Athletics. Prior to her time at Marquette, Colleen managed the Housing Finance Institute at Fannie Mae in Washington, DC for 17 years. Colleen was drawn to Catholic Charities’ mission and is looking forward to the opportunity to serve the community through her role here.
After graduating from St. Norbert College in 2014, Tara started her career as a graphic designer with a startup printing company in Janesville, Wisconsin. When she moved to Milwaukee in 2015 she joined the marketing team at Pentair, where she continued with graphic design while also managing communications and content development. Tara loves working for Catholic Charities because of her supportive work environment and the opportunity to serve others.
This is her first job since graduating from Alverno in December 2018. Nicole received her Bachelor’s in Psychology , and Social Work & Sociology Minor. Prior to graduation, she worked at Panera for four years and was a nanny. During college, she interned at a transitional housing unit for women and children who experienced homelessness as a result of domestic violence, as well as at a charter school for pregnant and parenting teens. She likes staying busy, so this job is a good fit! The clients always keep me on her toes
Silvia started as a temp through SEEK staffing and has recently been hired to join Catholic Charities staff in Sheboygan. Silvia has over 10 years of experience working directly with customers in a variety of areas throughout the greater Sheboygan Area. Silvia loves her job; helping people always leaves a positive feeling.
2018 ANNUAL REPORT
Our agency's 2018 Annual Report arrived yesterday! The booklets will be dispersed at each office location throughout the month of March. We should be very proud of the work we do, and we hope that these client success stories bring smiles to your faces! Thank you to everyone for walking with our clients on their journey! Click here to see the full 2018 Annual Report!
STAYING PLATINUM
We are very excited to announce that we have kept our platinum level on GuideStar! Each year, millions of people use GuideStar information to make decisions about nonprofits and the work they do. Donors explore charities and issues they want to support.