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Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston broke ground in October on the 24,000-square-foot Mamie George Community Center in Fort Bend County. Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, along with the trustees of The George Foundation and Catholic Charities board members and president, participated in the ceremonial ground breaking.  

According to Stan Marek, Catholic Charities board member and chairman of the agency ’s capital campaign, the community center will address a range of unmet needs in Fort Bend County and serve an average of 400 people per day, particularly low-income seniors.

The center, located on 10 acres at the corner of Collins and Clay in Richmond, is scheduled for completion in Fall 2010 and will include a Wellness Center, Trini ’s Corner Market and a Café.

The Wellness Center will provide seniors, individuals and families with a wide range of activities designed to enhance health and fitness. The center will also provide pregnancy services, support for frail seniors and self-sufficiency services such as job training and financial planning. Trini ’s Corner Market will give low-income clients the option of selecting grocery items that meet individual preferences and special dietary needs.

Bonna Kol, president and CEO of Catholic Charities, commented that the community center was designed to allow clients to receive services with the utmost dignity and respect. “Trini’s Corner Market will allow individuals the dignity to receive assistance in a grocery store setting. ” Most importantly, Kol added, “Families will be able to get the food items that are in line with their dietary needs. ”

In addition to the community center, Catholic Charities is working toward providing group homes for orphaned and abandoned children in Fort Bend. A capital campaign now

A 2007 needs assessment of Fort Bend County—by The George Foundation, The LBJ School of Public Affairs and residents of the county —assessed the needs of the elderly and low income residents in three areas: health, education and human services. The findings showed that although Fort Bend County does a very good job of meeting the needs of its residents in these three areas, there is still a specific segment of the population that is being underserved.

The Wellness Center and group homes are expected to fill in some of the gaps in the three areas studied.

A spokesman for Catholic Charities said, “Currently, Catholic Charities leases homes in neighborhood settings. But in order to provide a stabilized environment for the lives of the children who are being cared for through the St. Jerome ’s program, Catholic Charities is seeking the funds to establish three permanent homes in the Fort Bend ISD community where the children are currently accepted and loved.

A nonprofit, United Way agency founded in 1943, Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston provides a comprehensive network of social services to more than 80,000 people annually throughout the Greater Houston area. Services are designed to promote self-sufficiency and include basic needs assistance, affordable home ownership and transitional housing programs, counseling, disaster recovery, HIV/AIDS ministry, immigrant legal services, adoption and foster care, and case management for seniors. For more information, go to www.shelteringarms.org.