By Ana Rodriguez Soto - The Archdiocese of Miami
Photographer: COURTESY PHOTO
Jesuit Father Eduardo Alvarez, pastor of Gesu Church in Miami, hands a 0 gift certificate from Archbishop Thomas Wenski to Aura Herrera and her children, Marco, 7, and Roger, 11.
MIAMI | Christmas became a little merrier this year for 40 struggling families thanks to a $500 gift card each of them received from Archbishop Thomas Wenski.
The "Heart of Christmas� project distributed a total of $20,000 last week to families or individuals selected by the archbishop, their pastor or agencies such as Catholic Charities and the St. Vincent de Paul Society who work with the poor year-round.
�The families are people most in need,� said Katie Blanco-Crocquet, the archdiocese�s chief development officer. Pastors in economically struggling neighborhoods were asked �to identify a few of their parishioners who are in desperate need this Christmas season.�
The idea was to surprise them. The gift cards were couriered to the pastors, who in turn presented them to the families.
The recipients came from Corpus Christi, Gesu, Notre Dame d�Haiti, St. Ann Mission, St. John Bosco and St. Mary Cathedral parishes as well as Catholic Charities� New Life Family Shelter in Miami-Dade County; and from Little Flower, Our Lady Queen of Martyrs, St. Elizabeth of Hungary and San Isidro parishes in Broward.
The families� circumstances encompassed a gamut of need: �a single mother who works in the fields� � a mother and her five children, whose father was deported � the wife and four children of another husband �who may be deported tomorrow as we speak� � a woman with Alzheimer�s � a single mother trying desperately to avoid another stay in a homeless shelter � a refugee from the Haitian earthquake �who has worked tirelessly� but is unable to do so now due to a difficult pregnancy � a family of four whose youngest has leukemia and whose mother has been unemployed for over a year � a catechist whose son needs heart surgery � an uninsured husband who will be unemployed for three months following heart surgery � a number of families �in dire need� who are receiving help each week from the St. Vincent de Paul Society.
The $20,000 came from a fundraiser for the poor hosted by members of the Neocatechumenal Way, plus $8,000 in donations given to the archbishop throughout the year �to be used to help those in need,� said Blanco-Crocquet.
She added that this is just a visible example of the many ways the archdiocese, thanks to the generosity of local Catholics, helps the needy throughout South Florida year-round.
One of those helped, who consented to being identified, was Aura Herrera, a mother of two boys, ages 7 and 11, who are preparing for first Communion and confirmation at Gesu � and who sometimes walk to class.
Herrera got a call from the parish Dec. 14 telling her that her sons had been selected to receive an award and Gesu�s pastor, Jesuit Father Eduardo Alvarez, needed to see her in his office. When she arrived, he presented her with the gift card from the archbishop.
Herrera said she was quite surprised. The money will allow her �to buy them (her sons) some gifts this Christmas because sometimes I can�t buy them anything.�
�I�m very thankful to Father Alvarez and the archbishop for the gift they gave us,� Herrera said. �It was a great help to us.�
The "Heart of Christmas� project distributed a total of $20,000 last week to families or individuals selected by the archbishop, their pastor or agencies such as Catholic Charities and the St. Vincent de Paul Society who work with the poor year-round.
Front of the Christmas card from the archbishop which was given to each of the families with their 0 gift card attached.
The idea was to surprise them. The gift cards were couriered to the pastors, who in turn presented them to the families.
The recipients came from Corpus Christi, Gesu, Notre Dame d�Haiti, St. Ann Mission, St. John Bosco and St. Mary Cathedral parishes as well as Catholic Charities� New Life Family Shelter in Miami-Dade County; and from Little Flower, Our Lady Queen of Martyrs, St. Elizabeth of Hungary and San Isidro parishes in Broward.
The families� circumstances encompassed a gamut of need: �a single mother who works in the fields� � a mother and her five children, whose father was deported � the wife and four children of another husband �who may be deported tomorrow as we speak� � a woman with Alzheimer�s � a single mother trying desperately to avoid another stay in a homeless shelter � a refugee from the Haitian earthquake �who has worked tirelessly� but is unable to do so now due to a difficult pregnancy � a family of four whose youngest has leukemia and whose mother has been unemployed for over a year � a catechist whose son needs heart surgery � an uninsured husband who will be unemployed for three months following heart surgery � a number of families �in dire need� who are receiving help each week from the St. Vincent de Paul Society.
The $20,000 came from a fundraiser for the poor hosted by members of the Neocatechumenal Way, plus $8,000 in donations given to the archbishop throughout the year �to be used to help those in need,� said Blanco-Crocquet.
She added that this is just a visible example of the many ways the archdiocese, thanks to the generosity of local Catholics, helps the needy throughout South Florida year-round.
One of those helped, who consented to being identified, was Aura Herrera, a mother of two boys, ages 7 and 11, who are preparing for first Communion and confirmation at Gesu � and who sometimes walk to class.
Herrera got a call from the parish Dec. 14 telling her that her sons had been selected to receive an award and Gesu�s pastor, Jesuit Father Eduardo Alvarez, needed to see her in his office. When she arrived, he presented her with the gift card from the archbishop.
Herrera said she was quite surprised. The money will allow her �to buy them (her sons) some gifts this Christmas because sometimes I can�t buy them anything.�
�I�m very thankful to Father Alvarez and the archbishop for the gift they gave us,� Herrera said. �It was a great help to us.�
