By Ambria Hammel | March 19, 2009 | The Catholic Sun

Mainstream media outlets regularly devote airtime and pages to stories about unemployment and victims of the housing crisis, but it’s not all bad news.

Thanks in large part to funding from the diocesan Charity and Development Appeal, local agencies like Catholic Charities Community Services and St. Joseph the Worker are able to work hard to help people find jobs and remain in their homes.

“Catholic Charities helps over 1,000 people per month at a time of crisis in their lives,” said Paul Martodam, CEO of Catholic Charities. The agency received $1.2 million from the CDA last year to help local families.

Martodam recalled the Floyd family who recently benefited from the agency’s emergency shelter program. The mother had worked at a deli for five years and was asked to transfer to Chicago. She declined.

“She wanted to stay in Arizona to help care for her aging and ill parents,” Martodam said. “She found herself without a job and behind on rent and utilities.”

Floyd received short-term services from Catholic Charities, which helped her get her life back on track. That included a new job at a staffing agency “where she recently received a raise, benefits and a bonus for her excellent work,” Martodam said.

Don Gregory doesn’t know where he’d be working if it weren’t for the support one of the job developers at St. Joseph the Worker offered him more than a year ago. He had a temporary job lined up, but needed help purchasing tools for the work site.

St. Joseph the Worker — which received $20,000 from the CDA last year — specializes in helping the homeless and disadvantaged secure meaningful employment. The agency offered to help Gregory, but reminded him that they prefer to support individuals in finding permanent, full-time employment.

Meanwhile, Gregory was called in for testing for a permanent position he applied for. He took a gamble and declined the temporary job.

It paid off. Gregory has held that permanent position for the past 14 months.

“I’m still thankful for their help,” Gregory said of St. Joseph the Worker.

“Sometimes it’s only a word or a phrase that makes a difference,” said Greg Vargo, one of St. Joseph the Worker’s life skills instructors.

Vargo, a St. Thomas the Apostle parishioner and business management instructor by day, has been volunteering with the agency for six years.

“You give them even a little bit of hope and things can turn around,” he said.

Caren Swart knows that. She used employment services at both St. Joseph the Worker and Central Arizona Shelter Services late last year. Both agencies sit on the Human Services Campus near downtown Phoenix. The facilities are designed to help the homeless and other individuals get back on their feet.

“I’m living proof that it works,” Swart said. She did volunteer maintenance work on the campus while job searching and, when a paid position opened up, she applied.

Swart was hired in November and went full-time a few weeks ago.

Not every client is as fortunate. In a tough job market, instructors at St. Joseph the Worker are putting greater emphasis on a variety of skills and workplace communication. The classes can offer transformation from hopelessness and depression to self-confidence and opportunity.

St. Joseph the Worker also helped Lawrence Reynolds restore his self-esteem a year and a half ago. That’s when he moved to the Valley of the Sun with the clothes on his back, a Bible, and a pair of shoes.

The staff encouraged him and provided support for his job searches. Reynolds got his first position taking voter registration surveys and two weeks ago began working as a quality control inspector.

St. Joseph the Worker also encouraged him to increase his education background. They offered him opportunities that gave him a grant to pay for the training. Reynolds is now ready for a certification test in project management.

“I feel that I’ve been on a roller coaster ride, but I’m at the end of it,” Reynolds said. Because of his training and education he now has had his own home for the last 15 months.

Home saved

Catholic Charities, which offers many programs to help the community in this crisis, recently prevented Renaldo and his family of four from losing their mobile home. They faced eviction for falling four months behind on rent. Renaldo lost his job and his wife’s income wasn’t enough.

Their daughter was enrolled in Catholic Charities’ Head Start preschool program. Its leaders secured money for the missing rent until Renaldo got his first paycheck from his new job.

Helping families and individuals move out of crisis mode is what agencies like Catholic Charities and St. Joseph the Worker do best. Local Catholics gave more than $2.3 million to 10 local agencies through the CDA last year.

Those funds affirmed human dignity, developed a caring community for the vulnerable and assisted the poor, homeless and unemployable. In today’s economy, the need is even greater.

Martodam, with Catholic Charities, said, “Those of us who are fortunate to have jobs have an increased responsibility to share the gifts God has given us.”