Sally O’Dwyer, director of volunteers for Catholic Charities, and
Margot Chavez, communications associate and volunteer coordinator, presented two
talks at the 2018 Catholic Charities USA annual gathering in Buffalo, N.Y.,
Sept. 12-14. The conference brought together Catholic Charities volunteers,
professionals and partners in one place to attend workshops and presentations.
The local staff members participated on a panel discussion with other
staffers from Albany and Central Texas titled “Increasing Impact through
Strategic Parish Partnerships,” focused on the Parish Liaison Network. O’Dwyer
and Chavez also presented “The Call.”
“Catholic Charities USA, by allowing us to present this on a
national level, is recognizing that we are doing something right and that our
model of working with the parishes is something that should be shared with
other Catholic Charities,” said Chavez.
Chavez said a number of diocesan agencies are working to be more
integrated with their local parishes. “There’s a number of Catholic Charities
that are doing well and we are considered one of them,” she said.
O’Dwyer and Chavez talked about the structure and how Parish
Liaison Network works, and shared information, including a handbook that they
give to the liaisons.
Liaisons serve as the principal contact at their parish for
matters relating to Catholic Charities, work cooperatively with the pastor to
promote teamwork and collaboration, expand their knowledge of Catholic
Charities’ work, and advertise and enlist support for agency programs and
initiatives within the parish.
“They wanted to be able to allow the Catholic Charities that are attending to
recognize the challenges and successes in working with parishes,” Chavez said.
The panel presentation drew many questions, including how to get
support from parishes.
“The feedback I was getting was from agencies who struggle with
getting parishes on board with them if the agency doesn’t provide a direct
service to the parish,” she said. “There always are ways in which an agency can
involve the parishes in the diocese by knowing and asking the needs of the
parish and how they can collaborate with them.”
Their presentation, “The Call,” was geared toward showing
volunteers how they can help. Chavez said people want to know how to discern.
“The reason Sally and I are passionate about this particular
topic is because we have so many volunteers come through our doors and they say
they feel they should volunteer but they don’t know how or where to start,”
said Chavez.
Volunteer coordinators and directors of mission attended the
presentation. Chavez said attendees were eager to provide the information to
their agencies.
“We proposed the presentation as a way to promote volunteering in
their dioceses and as a reminder to staff as to why they were doing what they
were doing,” said Chavez. “The volunteer coordinators and directors of mission
incorporate that language into the work they are doing, and remind staff
regularly that there’s a higher purpose for their work.”
Chavez advises people to look at the areas where they already are
passionate. “You probably already give money to a charity you care for and
support, so why don’t you start to look at volunteer opportunities with that
charity,” she said. “I imagine other Catholic Charities come across people who
don’t know exactly how they want to serve, so it’s a rubric for them, as well
as a way to get people excited and motivated.”
In addition to O’Dwyer and Chavez, Walaa Ali, program assistant
for Catholic Charities Migration and Refugee Services, shared her story during
a plenary session. Ali, an Iraqi, came to the United States in 2012 under the
Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) program. She served the U.S. government for more
than seven years after the Iraq war, but received life-threatening messages for
her support of the U.S. Ali was personally invited to speak by Dominican Sister
Donna Markham, CCUSA president and CEO.
