St. Elizabeth Ann Seton parishioners provide a meal for the homeless shelter clients every first Saturday of each month.

Cedar Valley Habitat offers a hand-up to area families in need of safe, decent and affordable housing. SEASP assists CVH monetarily and through home building volunteers.  

Non-perishable items are collected each week at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton just inside the church entrance. Parish volunteers takes the groceries to MCO every week where they are sorted, bagged and given out to anyone in need. Many St. Elizabeth Ann Seton parishioners volunteer at the food pantry, in the office of MCO, and for financial assistance appointments. In addition St. Elizabeth is responsible for helping to fund MCO through the agreement set up when 11 local Catholic parishes joined together in 2012 to open one place to serve the needy and hungry of our city. In 2016 MCO helped 17,409 people in 536 different families. Financial assistance of $97,112.00 was given to assist 1272 people with money for rent or utilities.

The Society of St. Vincent de Paul is a Catholic lay organization that provides assistance to those in need. The aid comes in the form of rent/utility assistance, food assistance, furniture, and clothing. An essential part of the Society’s work is to provide help while maintaining the confidentiality and dignity of those we serve.

We contribute to the parish’s efforts to call people everywhere, and of every faith, to work toward the elimination of poverty, to speak out against injustices and to actively shape a more peaceful and just world. We strive to bring the Gospel to the world by developing social justice and service related opportunities for growth in faith and spirituality for all parishioners. The Social Justice Commission works with local, regional and international organizations/agencies and our sister parish in Nicaragua to provide financial support and coordinate volunteer involvement.  Our efforts are faith-based and consistent with Catholic social teaching.
 

• Refugee Mentoring- this small team works closely with Catherine McAuley Center to assist an incoming refugee family in multiple ways for a six month period. Contact Dale March for more information at marchdalecar@gmail.com
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• Advent Giving Tree (Nov-Dec) In 2017, the parish worked with the Hawkeye Area Community Action Program(HACAP) to provide forty plus families with specific gift requests along with a $25 Hy-Vee gift card given to each family. These are delivered to families in need the first weekend in December

• Panera Bread Delivery-The local Panera Bread restaurant donates bread, bagels and pastries left over from the day’s business to area food pantries assisting populations in need. Two days a week St. Elizabeth parishioners pick up the bags of bread in the evening and distribute them to selected organizations the following morning.

• Loose Coin Collection-Offertory basket collections of loose coins each week are used to support quarterly projects. Each project is typically and outreach ministry in the Greater Cedar Rapids community. The loose coin collection allows the Social Justice Committee to support outreach ministries beyond those already budgeted. This is a great way to get your children involved and develop a lifetime habit of giving. You’re welcome to use a plastic zip top bag if you are contributing more than a few coins. Every penny does count.

• Christmas in June-This is our summer parish food drive which provided food for over 225 people in 2017. We partner with Hy-Vee, HACAP, MCO, and Salvation Army this year.

• CRS Rice Bowl-Each Lent the St. Elizabeth Ann Seton community generously contributes to the CRS Rice Bowl project. Please coninue the tradition!

• St. Patrick/St. Joes Musical Parties at Hiawatha Care Center/Promise House. Music and singing is also provided once a month by St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

 
To become involved in our Social Justice Committee please contact Maize Micek at maizemicek@gmail.com. 

May 2023 Update:

Pictures of the move

In the past month, the family’s middle children (Joellah and Josiane) have begun attending Harrison Elementary School, about a mile’s walk from their home. As it has been a rather cold Iowa Spring so far, they have requested help in driving the children to/from school each day. Our team has mobilized enough additional drivers to handle this unexpected need. Once it warms up, we expect there may be more of a willingness to walk to school, but we are still planning transportation.

To our surprise, the landlord had made one adult-size bicycle available for the family's use. Our team donated a helmet, tire pump, and bicycle lock. The immediate goal is to have the eldest son use this bike to get to/from Jefferson High School, about a 2-mile ride each way. In addition, CMC plans to teach the family how to use the ground transportation system, which we assume might be used on inclement weather days. We expect that Jean will be enrolled in Summer School at Jefferson HS. The team also found garage sale bicycles (in excellent shape) for the rest of the children.

The family’s parents and their eldest son Jean attended the first (of many?) Cultural Orientation (CO) classes in April. A number of our team’s CO-trained members were able to attend this event. We have the CMC CO training material and intend to supplement CMC’s teaching as they are able to schedule more of these sessions. Two of the required four Job Club sessions have been completed, in anticipation of the family securing jobs soon. Their Case Worker has indicated two good-paying jobs are available, with CMC-provided vanpool transportation, at Whirlpool (Amana) and a meat packing facility (Tama) but a daycare solution is not yet clear for the youngest two children (Josue and Joselyne). We understand that family members must acquire a job by the end of their first 90 days here in the USA (i.e., mid-June). 

The parents (Justin and Rose) have begun meeting with their English-speaking tutors for ESL classes at CMC. The family reported connecting with an Iowa City Pentecostal Church around Easter. The church supplies transportation to/from Iowa City and even
reached out the first week to help the family with grocery shopping. 

We believe the family now understands how to manage the garbage collection process (no small feat, especially when neighbors were apparently adding to their Yardy bins kept outside). One of our team was able to snag a friend’s renovated lawnmower prior to it going on sale and we can now report that the family has mowed their lot at least once and filled the yard waste Yardy once, as well.

The main challenge ahead appears accelerating the CO training process and helping the family establish an operating budget to help manage their home expenses. This is tightly coupled, of course, with future income associated with ultimate employment and securing daycare for their two youngest children. Once the minimum expected US government expectations have all been fulfilled, we can broaden our attention to helping with more social events outdoors. We plan to start by having the small team interact with the family. Sometime this summer, we will plan a picnic at a nearby park, reserving a pavilion. When we do, we will advise the parish so that any other interested parishioners can come and meet the family.

March 2023 Update:

Friends -

There is an old African proverb that states: "It takes a village to raise a child."

So true.  And once we have had some quiet time to share stories of our family's lives here in the USA, our new African friends may soon help us understand just how true that proverb is from their own perspective.

On behalf of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI), and the Catherine McAuley Center (CMC) of Cedar Rapids, please welcome our newest international friends, Justin & Rose, and their five children (from oldest to youngest): Jean, Joellah, Josiane, Josue, and Joselyne.

Many - indeed: a "village" - have cooperated to enable the successful relocation of this newest American family from their troubled homeland(s) half a world away. Many - yet another "village" - of SEAS parishioners have collaborated to help fill the small NW side rental home secured by CMC that Justin & Rose have filled with love.

We now enter Phase II of this resettlement effort: orienting this new family to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and the USA. We certainly hope that this phase goes as smoothly as the first, and will endeavor to make it so, with God's grace.  A much smaller SEAS team will now assist CMC with the cultural orientation tasks for the next 3-6 months.  We must respect the family's privacy throughout, but of course, be open to their requests for greater involvement with the larger SEAS family. 

Their first task will be to begin learning English with great urgency.  Their children will be enrolled in public schools with English Language Learning (ELL) services.  With increased English proficiency, they will begin to seek critical employment opportunities to solidify their family income and self-sufficiency.

As always, keep Justin & Rose and the kids in your daily prayers.  Feel free to bring public/free social events of interest to our attention (marchdalecar@gmail.com) so that they can become better acquainted with the gifts that our city and State have to offer.

Thank you for everything you have donated, and every hour of labor you have expended on their behalf.  You have truly been a "village" to them already.

And as they begin to learn English, put one Swahili word in your family's vocabulary: "Amani."  It means "peace." May we do everything in our power to help them finally feel peace as they begin the long path to becoming full-fledged American citizens.

We can do this.

In Christ's Name,
Dale & Kate March
 

If you're searching for good places to volunteer or donate please consider any of the organizations listed below.

Organizations with budget donations for FY19:
Birthright: http://birthright.org/cedarrapids/
Bridgehaven: http://bridgehavencr.org/
Catherine McCauley Center: https://cmc-cr.org/
Coalition for Life of Iowa: http://www.lifeiowa.org/About_Us.html
Discovery Living: http://discoveryliving.org/
Foundation 2: https://www.foundation2.org/donate/
Fresh Start Ministries: https://www.freshstartministriescr.com/
Habitat for Humanity (Cedar Valley): https://www.cvhabitat.org/
Horizons Meals on Wheels: http://www.horizonsfamily.org/
Knights of Columbus: https://www.facebook.com/kofc15921
Mercy Hospital: https://www.mercycare.org/volunteer-   opportunities/
Metro Catholic Outreach: http://metrocatholicoutreach.org/
Prairiewoods: http://prairiewoods.org/
St John of the Cross Catholic Worker House: http://www.catholicworkerhouse.org/
St. Vincent de Paul: http://www.crsvdp.org/