Gather4Good® is sponsored by Catholic United Financial
Based in St. Paul, Minn., Catholic United Financial is a life insurance and financial products cooperative serving 80,000 Catholics in the Upper Midwest since 1878. As a not-for-profit, Catholic United transforms its profits into purpose, bringing together members, employees and community volunteers to pursue its mission through local grants, post-secondary education scholarships, service opportunities and more. For more information about Catholic United Financial, its Foundation or Credit Union, call 651-490-0170, 1-888-568-6670 or visit us online at www.catholicunitedfinancial.org.
ST. PAUL, MN — What can you say to a volunteer activity that the whole family can participate in, takes place after Mass, only takes an hour, and makes a real difference? Apparently the answer is, “Sign me up!”
Hundreds of volunteers — members of Catholic United and otherwise — flocked to this year’s Gather4Good® events hosted in Cold Spring, Minn., and Yankton, S.D. Volunteers assembled 4,000 total kits and achieved the project’s year-end goal.
The kits were distributed to meet the specific needs local to the event sites. Catholic United partnered with several organizations, faith-based and secular, to get the kits in the hands of people who need them most. For the Cold Spring event, kits were delivered to local agencies in Stearns County including Anne Marie’s Alliance, Lutheran Social Services, Catholic Charities and Boys and Girls Clubs.
In South Dakota, kits were distributed to shelters for domestic abuse and other forms of hardship, such as Children’s Home Society, River City Domestic Violence Center, St. Francis House and more. In both locations, the meaningful service provided by the participant volunteers directly impacted their neighbors in need.
“We’ve yet to encounter a community that wasn’t 100 percent supportive and enthusiastic about being a part of Gather4Good®,” Member Engagement Advisor Kaitlin Groeneweg says. “We have a lot to look forward to in 2017.”
We will announce the locations on social media as soon as they are confirmed. Next year’s Gather4Good® events will endeavor to pack another 4,000 kits.