Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County, named the Silicon Valley Organization’s Nonprofit of the Year in 2018, creates pathways of hope and opportunity for those living in poverty. Last year, almost 500 employees and 1,000 volunteers served more than 40,000 individuals of all cultures and beliefs through a broad base of programs. Rooted in gospel values, we work to create a more just and compassionate community.

Please consider a donation to “Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County” and designate one of these Community Impact Funds.

With your investment, Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County is disrupting the cycle of poverty by making an impact in these six areas:

FOOD for body and soul

When you are hungry, life’s everyday challenges seem insurmountable.

CCSCC serves over 575,000 meals each year, including hot meals at our senior centers, free monthly grocery bags at our community centers, and daily nutritious and substantial snacks for our after-school students.
Read more at www.catholiccharitiesscc.org/food

HOUSING for security and peace

The Silicon Valley housing crisis has forced too many families to live in shared apartments, converted garages, or even their cars. This is not home.

CCSCC provides support to ensure that 1,150 families are kept in housing each year. This includes our house-sharing program, housing placement for disaster survivors, individual case management, and supportive services offered at our many Charities Housing sites.
Read more at www.catholiccharitiesscc.org/housing

HEALTH for strength and well-being 

Physical, emotional, and mental health are essential factors in alleviating and preventing poverty.

Through CCSCC programs, seniors receive free wellness assessments and in-person nurse checkups; individuals and families have access to counseling; low-income neighborhoods get help to address unsafe and blighted properties; the elderly sick and frail are cared for; and young men and women attend peer-support groups and gang prevention workshops to put them on the path to healthy adulthood.
Read more at www.catholiccharitiesscc.org/health

EDUCATION for progress and future

Education opens the doors to opportunity and success.

CCSCC’s work in education is critical in preventing poverty in Santa Clara County. Our initiatives include STEM-based afterschool literacy programs for elementary and middle grade students; parenting workshops; early childhood education classes; and ESL (English as a Second Language) support in our neighborhood centers. More than 2,500 students are served daily in our CORAL afterschool programs at multiple sites throughout San Jose.
Read more at www.catholiccharitiesscc.org/children

ECONOMIC SECURITY for stability and advancement

When employment, food, health, housing, and education become stabilized, employment opportunities and economic security become realities for the poor.

CCSCC’s employment programs specialize in placing those with severe barriers to employment in stable and sustainable jobs. Through job coaching, financial education, citizenship workshops, and refugee foster care, we offer a safe, legal, and free hand up to those in need, providing them the keys to self-sufficiency.
Read more at www.catholiccharitiesscc.org/economic-security

THE INKEEPER FUND for now and forever

So our doors will always be open as a place of hope and caring.

Like the story of the Good Samaritan, we must secure the Inn—Catholic Charities—to provide capital and infrastructure resources to serve those in poverty. Support will enable Catholic Charities to upgrade multiple facilities, equipment and technology and to build operating reserves. This fund also allows us to remain flexible in our response to the greatest needs in our community.

Please consider a gift directly to “Loaves and Fishes” or to the “Loaves and Fishes Endowment” which is managed by the Foundation.

Founded in 1980, Loaves & Fishes began with a simple meal of bread and fish for 11 adults and 15 children. The mission of Loaves & Fishes is to provide hot nutritious meals that are prepared, delivered and served to low-income families, disadvantaged individuals with a special concern for children, families, seniors, veterans, students, disabled, and the homeless. All are welcomed, no questions asked. Annually we provide over half a million meals to 300,000 people across the Bay Area.

Please consider a gift directly to “Martha’s Kitchen” or to the “Martha’s Kitchen Endowment” which is managed by the Foundation.

Nestled within a stone’s throw of Willow Glen lies a “little soup kitchen” that turned 37 in 2018. From its humble beginnings at her Willow Glen garage, our founder Louise Benson began giving away peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to the poor. Then in 1981, she started Martha’s Kitchen at its leased site in the Sacred Heart Church campus. It is named after the biblical figure, Martha, sister of Lazarus and Mary who unfailing offered meals to Jesus and his disciples on their frequent journeys to and through Bethany. Today this “little soup kitchen” is not so little anymore. It has been feeding the hungry with dignity at the same location continuously and has served over 4,500,000 meals since its founding. Martha’s Kitchen now serves over 450,000 meals annually to over 50 nonprofit organizations as far away as South County, as well as Merced, Santa Cruz and Monterey counties. Your generous donation will help us continue the good work we do in your name.

Please consider a gift to the “Parish Outreach Endowment” at the Foundation.

Every spring, the Foundation issues grants to parishes in the Diocese of San Jose to support their outreach programs. These programs serve vulnerable people in our midst and perform corporal works of mercy – feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, sheltering the homeless, and the like. Our local parishes are doing amazing work with the resources they have, and these funds allow these programs to increase their reach and effectiveness.