Editor’s Note: The Diocese of Camden is planning to hold a Job Fair from 3 to 7 p.m. Nov. 10 at the Catholic Church of Saint Mary, Cherry Hill. Employment opportunities are available in multiple departments across the Diocese’s six counties. In advance of the Job Fair, the Catholic Star Herald is spotlighting men and women who work for the Diocese and how the Church has been a satisfactory career destination for them. Job seekers are welcome to pursue the employment opportunities advertised on the diocesan website at camdendiocese.org/employment.
Melissa Hruska remembers the first time she truly felt that she was beginning to understand the mission of Catholic Charities.
“I was nervous and brand new and just left the for-profit world, so this was something different,” she said, recalling one of her first days on the job – visiting Catholic Charities’ Cape May County center in Rio Grande, when suddenly a food truck pulled up.
Eight years later, she said, it’s still a moment she’ll never forget. “It was a line of dozens of people waiting for food. There were mothers with babies. There were the elderly, standing patiently with walkers, waiting for over an hour so that they wouldn’t lose their place in line.”
Hruska was not unfamiliar with this scenario. She also had experienced poverty.
“We were always being evicted and struggled with stable housing and putting food on the table,” said Hruska, who lived most of her life in Cape May County. “But standing there years later and seeing people in that same situation I was in as a child … people waiting in line for food like that … something changed in me during that moment; suddenly my place made sense.”
Like many of her colleagues who work at Catholic Charities in various programs across the Camden Diocese, Hruska was, and still is, drawn to the agency’s mission – to serve the most vulnerable across South Jersey, regardless of their faith, according to Gospel values and Catholic social teaching.
“It is an honor to be part of that mission, to grow and to learn more about how it applies to our day-to-day work,” she said. “I have a passion for what I do. I’m blessed to work somewhere that’s so mission-oriented and meaningful. Not everyone is so lucky.”
Hruska became involved with Catholic Charities Diocese of Camden after Superstorm Sandy. She was tasked with overseeing disaster response efforts in all six counties, where she excelled in disaster case management and long-term recovery efforts.
“You hear about disasters on the news, about the hundreds and thousands of people who are affected by it,” she said, remembering the mountain of case files on her desk from people who had been displaced from their homes. “You can see the numbers – but then you get to know each family. You hear about everything that they’ve lost – their furniture for example. Then you talk to them a little more, and you learn more about their lives and how that sofa was the last place that someone sat with her husband. That room that was destroyed was the first place someone’s baby slept when they came home from the hospital.
“They’re not just files on my desk – each and every one is a story.”
Hruska has assumed many roles over the years at the agency. While flexibility and adaptability are virtues in her work, she pointed to some “constants”– managing staff and funding, fostering relationships with donors and community partners, working with parishes and other ministries, serving on internal committees, and working directly with some of the most vulnerable populations in Southern New Jersey – the homeless, the hungry, those struggling with addiction and domestic violence, refugees, veterans and others.
The greatest challenge she faces, she said, is “that there’s endless need. But there’s not endless staff, and there’s not endless money.”
Along with helping others with immediate needs is helping people reach self-sufficiency. “We are here to help people better their lives. Not just pay their rent, not just feed their families,” she said, adding, “but those things are important, too. That’s part of Matthew 25.”
Also important: getting a hug from clients when they realize they don’t have to worry about putting food on the table. “That’s a hug you don’t forget,” she said.
It’s moments like those, she said, that help her stay positive and energetic without experiencing burnout. She also pointed to supportive leadership and staff.
“I can pick up the phone and find support from my supervisor or colleagues; we can talk through things,” Hruska said. “We have ongoing conversations about the mission and how it applies to our work. As hard as the days get, I’ve never felt so honored to be part of something.”
“Over the course of these eight years, there’s just been so many opportunities to grow … as a person, professionally … to instill in [my children] what I’ve learned,” she continued. “Every day is a reminder that we may not have everything, but what we have, so many others want. We can’t take that for granted.”
In reflecting on what she has learned over the years, Hruska noted, “Oftentimes when people think about the poor, the vulnerable and the homeless, they picture someone in a city holding a sign that says, ‘I’m homeless’ – or people waiting in line at a food truck. But that’s not always it – they’re everywhere and all around us. They’re people dressed in nice clothes fighting for an interview. They’re the ones smiling in a store and crying in their car.”
But with suffering, there is hope and there is success, she said. “The way I see it, I’m here to use the abilities I have and the opportunities I’m blessed with to serve others. The best days are when you see people improve and you’re able to help them … and on the days when you can’t, there’s always tomorrow.”
To learn more about Catholic Charities, visit catholiccharitiessouthjersey.org.
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Curious about what it is like to work for the Church? Listen to the Diocese’s latest Talking Catholic podcast at talking.catholicstarherald.org/show/talking-catholic.
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