The Diocese of Buffalo Association of the Ladies of Charity celebrated the 3rd annual World Day of the Poor on November 14, 2019. The program for the day included presentations by Holly Walter, Spiritual Moderator; Kathleen Roseti, President; Eileen Nowak, Director Catholic Charities of WNY (CCWNY) Parish Outreach and Advocacy Department, and four of her employees: Carolyn Kwiatkowski, Outreach Specialist, Jen Pitisi, Service Corps Program Director, Laura Steuerman Nutrition Educator and Cassie Fee, AmeriCorps.
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Spiritual
Holly Walter began the day sharing Pope Francis’ message explaining his designating November 17th as “World Day of the Poor’ three years ago. Pope Francis designated this year’s theme “The hope of the poor shall not perish for ever.” Holly shared a beautiful reflection, prayer, advocacy information to help the poor and all sang “Hear the Cry of the Poor” together.
Begin to Weave and God Will Provide the Thread
Kathy Roseti then introduced this year’s LCUSA Assembly theme “Begin to Weave and God Will Provide the Thread”. Kathy spoke of our organization relating it to the weaving of a tapestry. She explained how if you only had the warp, or vertical lines, the tapestry would be very limited in its effectiveness or strength. The tapestry needs the woof, or horizontal lines. She asked everyone to picture the threads of the woof and warp weaving together, up and over each other. The tapestry resulting from weaving these two threads together is strong, functional, rich with color, perhaps even has a creative design. Ribbons were then distributed to each member who were asked to let their ribbon represent them as individuals. Kathy spoke of how each of us is an individual, a family member, a member of a community and a lady of Charity. Each of us brings different interests, talents, skills, beliefs, education and experiences to LOC. The way in which these skills, talents, experiences etc. are used as members LOC was then highlighted. Perhaps sewing elastic into a crib sheet, reading to a young child, advocating for someone without a voice, feeding the hungry, praying, helping a thrift store customer find a pair of winter boots, doing physical work, speaking Spanish etc. Kathy pointed out how we are each individuals with our own experiences, interests and skills but when we work together through collaboration, we make LOC stronger, more successful and more effective in our mission. Individually we are good, but together just like the warp and woof, we are stronger. Together we weave the tapestry of our ministries to help those living in poverty. Members then took time during the day to weave their individual ribbons into the warp to be displayed at the Center on Broadway.
CCWNY Parish Outreach and Advocacy
The CCWNY Department of Parish Outreach and Advocacy was recently awarded a grant to assist them in educating those living in poverty with nutritional education. Jen Pitisi, Laura Steuerman and Cassie Fee gave a PowerPoint presentation explaining their new program, “Nutrition – Simply Said”. They shared their goals of helping individuals and families make good healthy food choices. They spoke about educating their clients on meal planning, nutrition awareness and substituting healthier ingredients, especially if dealing with weight, cholesterol and diabetes issues. They demonstrated the preparation of a healthier cookie choice, Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies, sharing the cookies once they were baked with the audience. Jen and Carolyn also gave overviews of their program responsibilities and the results of LOC’s collaboration with Catholic Charities, sharing volunteer hours and other information on the
number of people impacted with our ministries. Eileen Nowak gave an in-depth explanation of the client-caseworker referral process and the many services offered within her department at CCWNY. She answered many questions posed by LOC members. All found it very informative. Carolyn shared a personal story involving her own father who after a tour of our LOC Center and knowing Carolyn’s involvement with the Christmas toy donations, motivated his place of workplace to collect toys for LOC’s toy distribution this year! A perfect example of “Begin to Weave and God Will Provide the Thread”.