Sharon Johnson, Senior Communications Leader/Journalist

This Giving Tuesday, we invite you to stand with Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Raleigh as we work to bring hope, stability, and healing to families in crisis.

From rebuilding homes after disasters to ensuring families have access to food and other necessities, your generosity fuels year-round disaster recovery and support services that help communities recover and thrive.

Your gift today can:

Provide disaster survivors with essential resources and case management.
Support families working to rebuild their lives.
Empower communities with training and tools to strengthen resilience.
Every dollar makes an impact. Together, we can transform lives and create a brighter, more hopeful future for our neighbors in need.

Click here to give today.
https://www.catholiccharitiesraleigh.org/giving-tuesday/

Thank you for being part of the Catholic Charities mission to provide help, create hope, and serve all in need.

A New Beginning: Catholic Charities Completes First Tiny Home Project

Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Raleigh has taken a significant step forward in addressing the housing needs of vulnerable communities by completing its first tiny home project.
This initiative marks the beginning of a new program dedicated to building and repairing homes for neighbors in need across central and eastern North Carolina.

Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Raleigh is celebrating the community for the success of the 7th Annual Drive Out Hunger golf outing, held at Prestonwood Country Club in Cary on August 5, 2024.

The event raised over $80,000 and will support the organization’s five food pantries across Central and Eastern North Carolina in Durham, Raleigh, Greenville, Fayetteville, and Wilmington.

With a family history of service intertwined with a legacy of giving, Kitti Hardison is deeply rooted in community service. From her grandmother to her mother, the spirit of service runs through generations. It’s a culture that led her to the helm of the Catholic Charities New Bern Regional Office as its new program director.https://youtu.be/w-eThZ2FQHY

In the heart of the Creekwood Community in Wilmington, the smell of fresh dirt and the sounds of construction flowed throughout. Drilling and hammering echoed in the neighborhood just as students were getting home from school. Volunteer David Nelson, from Hickory, is responsible for many of the sounds and some heavy lifting too. He said he’s good at it and now has time to volunteer. “Oh yeah, I’m an engineer, always love working with my hands,” said Nelson.

Volunteers and staff from the Cape Fear Regional Office of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Raleigh gathered with one common goal. “I’m interested in making it better and helping the community,” said Intern Kadence Baumgardner. With each shovel of dirt and plenty of hope in their hearts, together, they will create a total of eight raised community gardens in a neighborhood that’s still rebuilding. Some residents in the Creekwood Community are just now able to return to their Wilmington Housing Authority apartments following flooding and mold created from Hurricane Florence, five years ago.

The Catholic Charities Clean Start Laundry Trailer in the Cape Fear Region is rolling out in 2024 to help our neighbors in need in North Carolina and beyond.

The 12-unit mobile laundry trailer is a multi-purpose laundry vehicle with six washing machines and six dryers. It’s designed to allow people the opportunity to wash their clothes not only during disasters, but also during what they call “blue sky” days. Blue sky days are times when there are no disasters. On these non-disaster days, people in the community can benefit from washing their clothes for free and often without leaving their neighborhoods.

It's a sleepy little town with Catholic Charities visitors going there every 4th Friday of the month to distribute healthy groceries to our Senior neighbors in Fair Bluff, NC.
According to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, people 85 and older will have the fastest growth in the next 20 years. Catholic Charities is working to keep up with serving that growing community.

From the rotted wood to the mold and a leaking roof, Debbie McClain’s home shows the force of nature and the facts of poverty. She said water damage to the wood caused the flooring to collapse, sending her through the floor and rushed to the hospital.
McClain said, “I would pray about it, and pray about it, Like Lord I need some help, I don’t know what to do. I tried to ask for help from different people. And it was no kind of help. It’s like I was reaching out and begging. But it was like I wasn’t being heard. So, I just prayed to the Lord… just to LET SOMEBODY HEAR ME!” And touch somebody to hear me so that I won’t have to live the way I’m living.”
Debbie McClain said she has survived more hurricanes than she’d like to remember and said the wounds of poverty may never go away. “Living in poverty like we do. Some people don’t know how rough it is to be able to get the things you need.”
Her needs include safe and healthy housing. Her 30-year-old mobile home has been battered by time and storms, with the most damage coming from Hurricane Florence in 2018.
But the winds of change began this year with the January groundbreaking of Debbie’s new tiny house.
Catholic Charities Cape Fear Regional Construction Manager Brian King said her mobile home was “basically falling down around her.”
“This home has been impacted by several hurricanes and the storms in between that. With extensive floor repair needing to be done, roof repair, and wall repair. You weigh out the battle of what repair cost is versus replacement costs.,” said King.
McClain said she tried to get help to repair the mobile home but was rejected time after time. She said she wanted to give up.
“I did give up a couple of times, I was like I don’t know what else to do, I’m just done. And I was sitting in this house, this broke down house and a bird kept tapping on my window, tapping on my window. I was just sitting there like, is this real? And it was. I felt like it was a message to me from the Heavenly Father, letting me know it’s going to be ok. And not long after that, they got up with me and everything went from there.”
Everything went from there – from a place of ruin to refuge. Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Raleigh’s Cape Fear Regional staff took on Debbie’s situation. The team determined it was more cost effective to build a tiny home from the ground up rather than repair the decades old trailer.
Catholic Charities’ construction manager said, “this will be our first tiny home project. To be able to move into something that’s a lot healthier and a lot safer, is one of the most amazing things.”
The CEO of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Raleigh said she hopes the family now feels supported by the community. “People who experience disasters or people who experience homelessness can often get caught up in cycles where they, for years, must deal with the consequences of the storm or lack of affordable housing or whatever it is. I feel like us being around to stick through that with them is what we should be doing as an organization,” said CEO Lisa Perkins.
Debbie’s journey to safe and healthy housing is a community collaboration with volunteers like the team from AmeriCorps’ National Civilian Community Corps (N-Triple-C). Catholic Charities Director of Disaster Services and communications Daniel Altenau said the tiny home build is a new beginning for the family and a new opportunity for Catholic Charities to impact the community.
“In 5 to 6 months from now there’s going to be a home for a family that’s been waiting 5 years to have a safe and stable home. It’s just special to know that we’re part of that family’s journey, said Altenau.
Private donors and Legal Aid are among the partners making Debbie’s tiny home possible. Cape Fear Regional Disaster Specialist Vickie Sasser said, “the single wide mobile home was in her father’s name, so we had to collaborate with legal aid to get a deed actually executed into the resident’s name.”
The Cape Fear Healthy Opportunities Pilot (HOP) also partnered with Catholic Charities for the tiny home build. HOP is the nation’s first program to evaluate the impact of providing non-medical interventions related to food, housing, transportation, and safety.
Emilie Hart, Cape Fear’s Regional Director, explained the impact. “When you’re together and in a safe place, everything in your life changes, your health, your mental health, all those things. I’m just glad to be a part of this journey.”
From ruin to refuge - Debbie’s journey of faith and renewal with Catholic Charities. “For them to help me, means more to me than anything in the world,” McClain said.

Catholic Charities Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion video highlighting the Engage IDEAs series and reviewing it's purpose... for staff viewing.

Volunteers playing Santa and making Christmas brighter for hundreds of kids!
Catholic Charities Tar River Regional Office in Greenville helped make Christmas brighter for 658 kids during Christmas 2023. The community was a huge support and made it possible for staff and volunteers to distribute new coats, Barnes & Noble gift cards, toys, books, toothbrushes, and toothpaste to families!

Anchor/Reporting