Catholic Charities

"I wish we could have found this place at the beginning," said Mendy Hendel, talking about the positive changes Good Shepherd Children and Family Services has brought to her niece's life.

JEFFERSON CITY — In a Missouri Senate committee hearing on Jan. 17, advocates for immigrants voiced their opposition to Senate Bill 590, which would require schools to check students’ immigration status and send that information to the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

It's no big deal.

Just part of the fabric of their families' Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations.

Such a priority that everything else just fits around it.

For about 15 years, the Schaus and Klipsch families have been making Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner for clients of Rosati Group Home, a St. Patrick Center housing program. In 2008, when Rosati Apartments opened, they began providing meals there, too.

The meals are served to some 40 people.

Lara Pennington will become executive director of Queen of Peace Center on Jan. 1, replacing retiring executive director Connie Neumann, leaving after 23 years with the Catholic Charities agency.

Catholic Charities Community Services is the newest federation member of Catholic Charities of St. Louis.

Karen Wallensak, executive director of Catholic Charities Housing Resource Center, was named executive director of Catholic Charities Community Services in July, while remaining head of Catholic Charities Housing Resource Center.

There's no place like home for the holidays -- and for many people that's literally true. They have no place to call home, no place to provide shelter for their family, no place to celebrate the joy of Christmas.

The Catholic Charities Christmas Appeal kicks off Monday, Nov. 21, asking Catholics throughout the 11-county archdiocese to give generously and help other families in need enjoy a truly blessed Christmas in their own homes.

"Housing is at the core of everything we do," said Brian O'Malley, president of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of St. Louis.