Tough winter challenges Catholic Charities’ ability to help needy

Catholic Charities is stretched thin because the cold weather has sent more and more people flocking to its offices and food pantries, asking for help.

“It’s been very challenging,” said Monsignor Michael Boland, president of Catholic Charities. “Because it’s been cold for so long, there’s a lot of people who are not prepared.”

The organization, which usually helps about 1 million people every year, has seen a 20 percent increase in the number of people asking for assistance at its offices. But with resources slated to last only until the end of February, Catholic Charities is now in need, Boland said.

“Many people come to us for emergency assistance – food, clothing and help paying utility and rent bills,” said Kristine Kappel, a spokeswoman for the organization.

In a news release Thursday, Kappel said about 75 people stop at the Emergency Assistance Center downtown, a big jump from the 40 to 50 people in an average week.

Chicago and some of the suburbs have been the most hard hit this winter, with Catholic Charities offices at 721 N. La Salle Street and in Cicero, Des Plaines and Waukegan getting the most aid requests, Boland said.

The situation is so desperate that they’ve started to turn people away because resources don’t match the growing demand.

“A lot of times we have to say, ‘We can’t afford that’ or ‘We can’t pay for that.’ The demand is always much greater,” Boland said. “We don’t have the resources to give them.”

These resources include warm clothes; transportation to homeless shelters and warming centers; food from pantries and emergency packages; and help to pay for heating bills, Boland said.

“We have five 24/7 vans,” he said. They help distribute food to people who call when they run out, and they also transport people to shelters.

All of this, along with the operation of food pantries and other programs, comes at a price of “hundreds of thousands of dollars every winter,” Boland said. The money comes mostly from donations.

Catholic Charities is now asking for winter clothes, food and financial help to meet the demand. As winter drags along, more and more people knock on the organization’s doors asking for help, Boland said.

“This is not a fundraiser,” he said, adding that this year has been one of the hardest winters in his 15 years as president of the organization. “We want to raise awareness of the people suffering. . . . If we get a positive response, we’ll be able to keep helping people.”

At the organization’s office in downtown Chicago, dozens of men line up a little after 4 p.m. Thursday waiting for dinner to be served.

Jerry Graham, 48, said he has been receiving help from Catholic Charities for 19 years, getting winter clothes once a month and going to the pantry for a warm meal.

“It’s usually more crowded at this time” he said, referring to the big group as it entered the building. “They start telling people ‘don’t come’ in and ‘get back’ because they don’t have no more chairs for people to sit down.”

Graham lives on the streets, sleeping in Blue Line trains when he gets the money. Catholic Charities helps him with housing.

Although he’s banned from the food pantry downtown for getting into a fight with another diner, he says he still gets help from the organization when he asks for it.

“The Catholic Charities help us get clothes, food, medical care and help us get housing,” he said.