By Joanna Gardner
Mary Rocco’s life had suddenly gotten even more complicated.
Suffering from severe arthritis, the 76-year old uses a wheelchair. Her husband died last year and her son, who had been her primary caretaker, was suddenly admitted to the hospital for mental health concerns. Without anyone to care for her, she was living alone in her house.
Friends referred her to Catholic Charities for the Diocese of Camden, which serves the six counties of southern New Jersey. Case managers helped her connect with various local agencies that could begin the process of finding her affordable live-in care. But in the meantime, one of her case managers, Patricia Chico, began visiting to care for Rocco herself.
“I was asked to go to the client’s home for 10 hours a week to assist with basic chores. I found this to be a very pleasant experience as well as a spiritually uplifting way to assist someone in need,” Chico said. “During the weeks I went to see this lovely lady a friendship and a bond was formed.”
The Census Bureau reported on Sept. 16 that the number of people living below the poverty level in the United States has not changed in the past year, holding at a little over 45 million. Catholic Charities USA (CCUSA), the national office for Catholic Charities agencies nationwide, recently released a report that shows that its network of faith-based social service providers served nearly 17 percent more clients last year than it did before the recession.
South Jersey’s local agency, Catholic Charities for the Diocese of Camden, provided 43,261 services last year in programs ranging from food services, to school counseling in districts stricken with poverty to homelessness prevention for clients like Mary Rocco in the counties it serves.
According to the 2014 “Help and Hope Report” by Catholic Charities USA, the more than 17.2 million total services provided by agencies from Guam to Maine is the highest ever recorded — a 24 percent increase from 2007. At the same time, the total number of clients served has fallen slightly from the record high of nearly 10.3 million in 2010, to approximately 9 million clients served in 2013.
“This year’s numbers show the continued commitment of our member agencies to provide comprehensive and sustaining care at a moment of crisis as well as along the journey out of poverty,” said Father Larry Snyder, president of CCUSA. “Through case management approaches, wrap-around services, compassionate approach and a commitment to treat the whole person, our members are responding to the needs of those seeking help and hope.”
Catholic Charities for the Catholic Diocese of Camden operates in 12 sites in Atlantic, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem counties and is committed to serving those in need throughout southern New Jersey regardless of their religious, social, or economic backgrounds. Last year they provided services to nearly 2,000 people affected by Hurricane Sandy.
“Our staff encounters their clients at some of the most vulnerable times in their clients’ lives. They are not only passionate about their programs, about the refugees or children or disaster victims or welfare clients they serve, but about meeting those people and their needs with dignity, empathy and respect,” said Kevin Hickey, executive director of Catholic Charities for the Diocese of Camden.
Chico says she still calls her client Mary Rocco every night to check in and is personally invested in her continuing struggles.
“My greatest fear was and still is that she will fall and have no one there to assist her. I made sure she was in bed for the night and prayed she would be safe,” Chico said.
The full Catholic Charities USA report analyzes the services provided in five priority focus areas, or pillars, of poverty reduction: hunger, housing, health care, education and training, and family economic security. A total of 151 agencies across the country participated in the survey.
The Annual Survey was conducted and compiled by researchers at the Center for the Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University. Catholic Charities USA’s member agencies and affiliates were asked to report statistical information for their main diocesan agency and branches, as well as diocesan affiliated agencies, institutions, and residential facilities, for the previous calendar year. Additional information on the methodology is available for download.
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