Together We Can Change Hunger & Homelessness

As Thanksgiving approaches, many people in America reflect on the reasons for which they’re thankful. The holiday is also an appropriate time to show one’s appreciation by donating time, attention and resources to those less fortunate.

Join Catholic Charities in Honoring

National Hunger & Homeless Awareness Week

Through November 18

Catholic Charities combats hunger through our Food Assistance Programs, providing low-income families with monthly food distributions, and emergency food packages to households that find themselves in crisis. On average, over 700 food packages, totaling over 10,000 pounds of food, are distributed each month throughout Delaware and Maryland’s Eastern Shore.

Each year, Catholic Charities Shelter Services combats homelessness by providing a temporary home to approximately 130 men, women, and newborns through our two shelters – our adult shelter Casa San Francisco and our residential maternity program Bayard House. Both programs provide accommodations and three daily meals as well as case management support to help each resident to obtain income, find affordable housing options, and secure permanent housing. Bayard House residents also receive guidance in prenatal, postnatal, and infant care as well as parenting education.

Catholic Charities Basic Needs Program helps to reestablish permanent residences for persons who have experienced a recent period of homelessness, providing them with financial assistance and case management expertise to avoid future problems. The Homeless Prevention Service works with clients who are at risk of losing housing because of a financial disruption. Both are available to clients throughout Delaware and Maryland’s Eastern Shore.

“Every person deserves to live without worrying whether they will have food

on their plate or a roof over their head. Far too many people are forced to make

hard choices between paying for food, housing and other critical expenses.”

– Fritz Jones, Executive Director of Catholic Charities

Help Provide for Hungry Families in Our Community

Above: Catholic Charities Seton Center food pantry shelves are nearly bare! As we give thanks for our blessings this season, please consider making a donation to those who are in need.

This plea for help comes following the news that the Seton Center state grant funding has been cut. Seton Center program manager, Jennifer Trager, tells WMDT Channel 47 ABC News they need assistance in order to serve upwards of 350 families monthly. To watch the news clip, click here.

Designate your gift to Seton Center.

Buy Tickets Now! Sunday, December 10 • 4-6pm

The Sights and Sounds of Christmas

Christmas Concert to Benefit Catholic Charities

The Sights and Sounds of Christmas come alive with the Stars of Carnegie Hall with the NY Tenors. Join The New York Tenors, Andy Cooney, Christopher Macchio & Daniel Rodriguez, and International Soprano Arianna Paz, for a night that will bring the Spirit and Magic of Christmas into all of your hearts! 

The Sights and Sounds of Christmas concert will benefit Catholic Charities of the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington as we focus on giving and caring for those affected by hunger and homelessness. Please join us for an evening filled with beautiful music to support those in need in our community.

To read full article in The Dialog, click here.

Saint Mark’s High School Theater

2501 Pike Creek Road • Wilmington, DE 19808

Tickets - All Seats Reserved: $40, $50, and $60

VIP Reception with Tenors and Bishop Koenig after the Show: $50

We will be accepting donations of new or gently used winter clothing,

such as hats, gloves, scarves and socks for those in need. Thank you!

Thank You to Our School Sponsor:

For Sponsorships, contact Stephanie Kelton at skelton@cdow.org or 302-573-3120 x645.

Click here to download the Sponsorship flyer.

There's Still Time to Register!

All Proceeds to Benefit Catholic Charities

2023 Bishop’s 5K Run/Walk

Saturday, November 18 • Sign In 8am • Race 9am-11am

Saint Mark's High School • 2501 Pike Creek Road • Wilmington, DE 19808

This Year's Race is in Memory of Andrea Rotsch

Exemplary Employee of Catholic Charities Diocese of Wilmington

Show Your School Team Spirit & Win Big!

Students, sign up for the Team Challenge offered to all Diocesan Catholic Schools with the highest number of 5K participants, including family & friends.

Win cash prizes! $1,000 1st place, $500 2nd place, $500 3rd place! 

A combined 15 supporters from your school are required to qualify.



To download the information flyer, click here.

Thank You 2023 Bishop's 5K Sponsors!

A Special Thank You to Waldorf Risk Solutions!

Due to the generous Believer Sponsorship of Waldorf Risk Solutions and donation

of their race entries, our diocesan seminarians will be able to participate in the

Bishop’s 5K Race/Walk under the Team Name Priests 2 Be.

Building a Strategic Plan to

Guide Catholic Charities’ Future

In alignment with the Church-wide work on Synodality and the Diocesan initiative for pastoral planning – which is currently underway – Catholic Charities is building a Strategic Plan to guide the future. 

Working with Dr. Pamela Leland, executive consultant from the Delaware Alliance of Nonprofit Advancement (DANA), a team of leaders and board members have engaged in prayerfully considering strengths and opportunities, assessing community needs, and focused discussions with clients, staff and partners about how to best serve those in need in our community.

The final document will be a blueprint for future Catholic Charities’ decision making and is expected to be available in early 2024.

Meet Leslie Williams, Assistant to the Executive Director

We are pleased to announce the promotion of Leslie Williams to Executive Assistant for Catholic Charities! In this capacity, Leslie will be working closely with Executive Director, Fritz Jones, the Operations Director and Financial Analyst, to ensure that the office functions professionally and maintains the tone and culture of Catholic Charities.

Leslie has been an exemplary employee for almost 20 years! She has served in many roles, ranging from receptionist, to outpatient support staff, to domestic violence coordinator/clinical intake, to billing coordinator. We are thrilled to see her step into her newest role where she will assume new responsibilities as the executive assistant, where her professionalism, dedication and many positive contributions will be showcased!

Thank You to Star of the Sea Knights for "Coats for Kids"

Rehoboth Beach Star of the Sea Knights of Columbus (Council #7297) purchased 72 winter coats and donated them to Catholic Charities to be distributed through the Basic Needs program. (L to R): Ken O’Conner (KOC), Porsha Harvey, Nina Pierce and Melanie Kessler (Catholic Charities) and Larry Kenney (KOC).

A Day in the Life of Seton Center

Stepping Up for People in Need

By Jennifer Trager, Catholic Charities

I’d like to share a story of an amazing day when we see all the hard work from people come to a spectacular ending.

After a young mother and her daughter found themselves in a homeless shelter, they were then displaced when that shelter closed unexpectedly. I saw partner agencies work together to ensure that they had shelter at a local hotel.

Then I saw partner agencies at work together to help this single mother work through the barriers to attain housing. And on this day, we were able to see this single mother move into housing and have a place for her and her daughter to be safe. And have chairs to sit in, beds to sleep in and a furnished kitchen to eat in, while a (donated) air conditioner kept them cool on this hot summer day.

This didn’t happen only because agencies were committed to the things that they said they would do, but we all walked hand-in-hand with this young single mother, while she maneuvered through issues and concerns while doing the work… >>READ MORE

Bayard House Client Spotlight

The Catholic Charities Bayard House is the only licensed residential program in Delaware providing direct client care service 24/7 to at-risk, homeless, pregnant and/or newly parenting adolescents, young women, and their babies. The Bayard House program helps young women become nurturing parents and self-sufficient, contributing members of society.

Bayard House provides residential maternity care, pregnancy counseling and diaper distributions through our Diaper Bank.

(Inset Photo) A St. Patrick’s Baby Shower was held in October to benefit the Catholic Charities Bayard House.

Hold a Baby Shower, Food or Diaper Drive!

If you are interested in giving back, you can organize a baby shower or diaper drive! It's easy! To get started, ask your family, friends, neighbors, and/or civic group to consider donating new baby items.

To learn more about the Bayard House Program and about holding a donation drive, click here.

To donate online, click here and designate your gift to the Bayard House ministry.

University of Notre Dame's Alumni Club of Delaware

Provides Assistance to Catholic Charities

In October, volunteers from University of Notre Dame's Alumni Club of Delaware sorted and organized the baby donation closet at Catholic Charities Bayard House.

In addition, the Alumni volunteers assisted the residents at Catholic Charities Marydale Retirement Village with many landscaping projects and various maintenance needs.

“The volunteers were wonderful helpers and we were able to assist every resident who requested assistance with their specific tasks. In addition, we were able to ‘winterize’ our community garden, pulling out remaining tomato and cucumber plants and storing the cages for next year. It was a beautiful day! We are so grateful to be included as a beneficiary of the Notre Dame Alumni Club."

— Cathy Weaver, Administrator of Marydale Retirement Village

The Global Day of Giving

Giving Tuesday is November 28

Giving Tuesday is the Global Day of Giving, celebrated on the Tuesday immediately following Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Giving Tuesday kicks off the charitable season, when many focus on their holiday and end-of-year giving. We hope that you will consider supporting Catholic Charities, one of the best ways to get involved with our community. You can help others through the gift of your donation!

For more information about Giving Tuesday, click here.

To make an online donation, click here.

Thank You to All Our Supporters & Partners! 

We Appreciate the following Catholic Charities Partners

Applied Bank, Rocco and Mary Abessinio, DE Community Foundation, DE State Housing Authority, Catholic Charities USA, Citizens Bank, Community Foundation of Eastern Shore, Somerset County Commissioners, Laffey-McHugh Foundation, Raskob Foundation, United Way of DE, and United Way of Lower Eastern Shore.

Catholic Charities serves the most vulnerable in Delaware and the 

Eastern Shore of Maryland, regardless of religion, race, or ability to pay.

For more information about Catholic Charities, click here.

To make a donation to Catholic Charities, click here.

To learn about employment opportunities, click here.

To follow us on Facebook, click here.

Catholic Charities Mission

Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Wilmington exists to help fulfill the Christian duty to love and serve God's people. Our mission is rooted in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The universal and local Church proclaims the Gospel and teaches the recognition of the dignity and sacredness of each human life and the belief that we are called to share our resources with the most vulnerable among us.

It is the mission of Catholic Charities to address human suffering and to promote and restore the well-being of people and society by:

• Providing, as a primary focus, caring service to families and persons in need;
• Coming together with members of the community to become informed about and to take action on critical social issues; and,
• Advocating publicly for social policies which enhance human dignity and safeguard basic human rights.

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No person is excluded from service because of race, color, religion, sex, age, disability, or national origin.

© 2023 - Catholic Charities - Diocese of Wilmington

501(c)(3) Non-Profit Organization