Houston-area Charities Come Together for Poverty Awareness Month
January 11, 2014
Houston-area Charities Come Together for Poverty Awareness Month
Three Houston-area organizations are banding together for Poverty Awareness Month this coming January. Catholic Charities, San José Clinic, and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, with underwriting support from The Kristie Lee Tautenhahn Foundation, are promoting Poverty Awareness throughout the month with a variety of educational tools and resources, including a Mass on Saturday, January 11th, 2014.
“Poverty is an issue that impacts so many that all three of our organizations serve,” said Paule Anne Lewis, President and CEO of San José Clinic. “We hope that our community will come together to help raise awareness about poverty in our city, state, nation and beyond.”
The Poverty Awareness Mass will be held at 5:00 pm at the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in downtown Houston. All are invited to attend as the three groups join to pray together for those suffering in poverty and those searching for a solution to this worldwide crisis.
A Poverty Awareness Month calendar will be available in January on each organization’s website, with educational facts about poverty in our area and nation-wide, as well as ways to impact those who are most affected.
Poverty Awareness Month is a project of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). In a 2013 news release from USCCB, Bishop Jaime Soto of Sacramento, California, chairman of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, said: "We hope Poverty Awareness Month raises the consciousness of Catholics and other Americans about the debilitating poverty that smothers the spirit and weakens the soul of our neighbors everywhere.”
More than 46 million Americans are living in poverty today, including over 5 million Texans. 25 percent of children under the age of six live in poverty, with a family of four subsisting on less than $24,000 per year.
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Catholic Charities, San José Clinic, and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul are all 501(c)(3) non-profit corporations and ministries of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. Catholic Charities provides a comprehensive network of social services aimed at promoting and facilitating self-sufficiency. San José Clinic has steadfastly grown into a leading provider of quality healthcare services for individuals and families in the Greater Houston area who struggle the most with accessing care since their founding in 1922 by Monsignor George Walsh. The Society of St. Vincent de Paul has been going to those in need since 1871; providing basic needs, emotional and spiritual support through its network of 1800 volunteers.
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