This month’s congregational highlight story isn’t about a congregation at all. Meet Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Santa Rosa (CC), a faith-based non-profit organization that serves people of all faiths in the six counties of the Diocese of Santa Rosa – Sonoma, Napa, Mendocino, Lake, Humboldt, and Del Norte. CC serves over 76,000 men, women, and children from Sonoma to the Oregon border with more than 20 different programs of service including food, shelter, immigration, and senior services, just to name a few.
After teaming up earlier on smaller projects, the Collaborative began partnering with Catholic Charities this year when employee Cynthia King, who was already a member of the Singing Frogs Farm CSA, had the idea of inviting the rest of Catholic Charities’ staff to join the CSA. CC’s nutrition education program lead Rosa Herrera then led the effort to assess interest from fellow coworkers, select a farm that fit the group’s wants and needs, and coordinate logistics with Elizabeth Kaiser of Singing Frogs Farm.
After getting eight families to sign up for the CSA, Catholic Charities’ office on Airway Court (Santa Rosa) became a new drop-site for Singing Frogs Farm in May of this year. Now, CC employees have weekly access to fresh, healthy produce all while supporting a local farm. Catholic Charities employees are loving the new partnership with Singing Frogs Farm; Gladys Amador-Cordoba says, “I eat so many more fruits and veggies because of my CSA box! I have never eaten this many veggies before!” Saskia Van Donk enjoys the “big reveal” each week, saying “It’s really fun opening my box with my coworkers each week to see what’s inside. It’s like opening presents every week!”
The Catholic Charities team hopes to soon invite their own clientele to participate in the Singing Frogs Farm CSA and incorporate SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as “food stamps”) as a method of payment.