Catholic Charities Coronavirus Response Plan
As we all are being vigilant in protecting ourselves and our families from contracting, and potentially spreading the Coronavirus to others, we must be mindful of those who are most vulnerable to serious health risks if exposed, and those who will suffer economically during this extremely difficult time. Catholic Charities is working with social outreach ministries, as well as community partners, to be responsive to the needs. But we must adhere to practices that assure the safety of all those we serve.
Our faith calls us to be proactive and serve those in need withcompassion and love. Catholic Charities offers the following ways in which you can answer this call:
1. Make contact via phone or email with your neighbors or the elderly. If they are in need of food, medication pick-up or in other ways, there are community protocols and response teams in place. You can visit the Lexington Urban County Government website or contact Catholic Charities (Ginny at [email protected] or 859-253-1993 ext. 215) to be informed about these protocols. If you are aware of a senior citizen in need and you choose to respond personally to expressed needs, you must exercise extraordinary caution that you not expose those in fragile health to the virus even if you have no symptoms.
2. Fayette County Schools are responding to the needs of families in terms of food and other basic needs items. Their plan is comprehensive and is being very well executed. See FCPS.net for more information.
3. There are ongoing conversations between providers of social services and faith based groups as new issues related to the virus in our community continue to emerge.
How can you help?
1. Financial contributions will be critical in responding to those families that are forced to be off work without pay. We anticipate a significant number of families who will be in severe financial crises as they are faced with rent and utility payments in the upcoming months. We expect Catholic Charities to be one of the main entities in our community to be called upon to help in this manner. Perhaps your parish will have a special collection. But you can also give directly to Catholic Charities via this link or mail your contribution to Catholic Charities at 1310 West Main St. 40508. https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/catholiccharitieslexington
2. Provide basics need items such as: canned goods, coffee, feminine products, laundry detergent, hand soap, canned food items such as vegetables, spaghettios, ravioli, boxes of pasta, cans/jars of pasta sauce, cereals, Kleenex, toilet paper, paper towels, etc. The safest way to get these items to the community is for you to make a direct donation to Catholic Charities via the link above or you can send a gift card via e-mail to [email protected] or mail to: 1310 West Main Street Lexington, KY 40508. Catholic Charities staff and volunteers will pick up items, or if financial donations or gift cards are provided we will purchase the items.
We know that we will be receiving many requests over the coming weeks and we need to prepare our agency to respond to those needs.
last revised 03/15/2020 jm