Catholic Charities adds volunteer coordinator

By William T. Clew  | The Catholic Free Press

Volunteers.
That is who Catholic Charities Worcester County is after. And Rose Gage, coordinator of volunteer services, is out to get them.
She is newly arrived at Catholic Charities. She grew up on Staten Island, New York, and graduated from St. Joseph-by-the-Sea High School there. She earned a bachelor’s degree in clinical psychology and master’s degree in agency counseling from Marywood University in Scranton, Penn.
She has spent the last 15 years working at colleges and universities in New York, Michigan, Ohio and Massachusetts. She said she began her career in housing and residency life and later served in campus ministry, community service and civic engagement. Before coming to Catholic Charities, she said, she was director of civic and service-learning at Middlesex Community College.
She said she has experience at nonprofit agencies and “loves creating partnerships within the community.” She said she believes her present position with Catholic Charities will give her “the opportunity to mobilize volunteers, build relationships with parishes, and collaborate on different projects with schools and colleges.”
She said she lives by Gandhi’s words, “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”
She said that she wants to create a volunteer base at Catholic Charities by bringing in and training new volunteers. She said she will meet with groups in parishes, schools and other community groups.
“There is a lot of talent in the area,” she said.
She said she will visit colleges in the area, both Catholic colleges and others. She want to reach out in the community.
Parishes have called and asked “What can we do?” People are willing to give time and want to help, she said.
Tim McMahon, executive director of Catholic Charities Worcester County, said the organization is taking a new approach to build a volunteer base in Worcester County. “We want to reach people we didn’t reach before. There are tremendous opportunities here,” he said.
He said Catholic Charities “has not been capitalizing on people wanting to work with us. We want to let them know what we do. We have a need and volunteers will come in. We have to connect with them.”
“Rose is working with people at colleges, identifying what our needs are. It’s remarkable what she’s accomplished in a couple of weeks, he said.
Catholic Charities Worcester County has many programs and services, provided through its Worcester Central office at 10 Hammond St. and three area offices. They are in Southbridge, at 79 Elm St.;  Leominster, at 196 Mechanic St., and Whitinsville, at 9 Spring St. There are other offices, including a satellite office in Milford, at 126 Main St.; Athol Homecare office at 12 Riverhead St., and Greenfield Homecare office at 91 Main St.
Catholic Charities has three other Worcester facilities, Mercy Centre, 25 Chester St.; Crozier House, 10 Hammond St., and Youville House, 133 Granite St.
Services include, but are not limited to, basic needs and emergency stabilization, community information and referral services, education programs, family services, refugee citizenship and immigration services, shelter services, substance abuse and recovery home for men.
Catholic Charities also sponsors the bishop’s Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners and meal deliveries, and food and toy deliveries from area offices.
Catholic Charities serves people of all faiths and no faith tradition, and provides services throughout Worcester County for elders, single households, families, children and also people with developmental disabilities, according to a Catholic Charities publication about its programs and services.
Catholic Charities Worcester County is one of the organizations that receives funds from Partners in Charity. The diocesan budget for 2016 listed a contribution of $350,000 to Catholic Charities.
Mr. McMahon said the lion’s share of that money goes to supplement emergency services such as clothing, food pantries and other basic needs. He said some of the money also supplements the refugee resettlement and immigration programs. Those programs, he said, are what they call deficit programs, meaning that federal funds do not pay all the costs.