GULFPORT – Catholic Social Services and Community Services Director Jennifer Williams calls agency’s new Disaster Command Center and Food Bank “a true testimony to the power of prayer and the power of multiple entities working together for the common good.”

Bishop Roger Morin blessed the new facility, which is located on Cowan Road, on July 15.

The new building was purchased through a grant from Catholic Charities USA and Lions Club International provided an additional grand to fund modifications to the building. The State of Mississippi Department of Human Services also provided a grant to purchase much needed equipment.

“With Bishop Morin’s blessing and the support of Greg Crapo, Executive Director of Catholic Charities for the Diocese of Biloxi, the purchase was made and the work began. Don Huey, former construction manager for the Diocesan Office of Long Term Recovery, led the construction component from start to finish. He and many vendors and volunteers brought this place from literally a shell to the magnificent warehouse you see here today. The modifications exceeded our vision while remaining in budget.”

Williams said the entire staff of Catholic Social and Community Services invested much sweat equity in the building along the way, especially the staff of 12 Baskets Food Bank and the Disaster Relief and Recovery Office.

Twelve Baskets

Jennifer Keegan, who heads the food bank, said the new building will better enable her staff to supply food to its 112 partner agencies in the eight lower counties of South Mississippi.

“Just last year alone, we serviced out 1.5 million pounds food and that was out of our 10,000 sq-ft warehouse on 29^th Avenue,” said Keegan. “Now that we’ve moved and almost tripled in size, we really look forward to being able to provide even more food to those individuals who are in need and that need is desperately great. With the oil spill, the need will increase because people are definitely out of work, especially the shrimpers. We’ve already seen an increase in the number of calls from people looking for food.”

Keegan said she’s also seen an increase in the number of agencies that are partnering with the food bank. After Katrina, the number of agencies had dropped off to approximately 45 agencies and now that number has more than doubled.

“We’re very proud of that,” said Keegan, who encourages anybody who knows of a church in their area that has a food bank that is not affiliated with 12 Baskets, to let her know so she can disseminate info about the food bank to those churches, regardless of denomination.

“This is a ministry and we’re very proud of our ministry. We’re here to serve. We’re here to make sure everybody is fed.”

Bishop Morin, who dedicated many years his of ministry in the Archdiocese of New Orleans to feeding the hungry, including the establishment of the Second Harvest food Bank of Greater New Orleans, said he has a great appreciation for the work that is being done at Twelve Baskets.

“There is no doubt that we are never more closely living out the Gospel mandates, in terms of the Corporal works of Mercy, when we respond with our time, energy and resources to help to feed the hungry and that we are never more clearly witnessing to our faith as God fearing, Christian people who have a responsibility to help those who are in need, especially the least among us,” the bishop said.

“This facility, as a major stride forward continues to allow us to provide that witness to that community and I pray that the spirit of God will prevail and dwell here and that all that is done here and every person who volunteers to serve the needs of the people will always be filled with compassion, mercy and love for our brothers and sisters who are in need.”

Bishop Morin reminded those present that what is being provided is emergency assistance.

“While we are able to provide what people need for a day or a week, I urge everyone to continue to be advocates for all that needs to be achieved so that people can access all of the resources that they require to live with the full human dignity that is theirs by virtue of the gift of life with which God has blessed them. This is a great achievement. It is no less than we should be doing but still not all that must be done in the days ahead.”

Disaster Command Center

The new disaster command center, which is headed by Nancy Loftus, will allow the CSCS to take more of a proactive role in times of disasters.

“The realization that Catholic Charities needed a disaster program was one of those hard lessons that Katrina taught all of us,” said Loftus.

“Throughout our Katrina response, we did feel called to be proactively prepared to assist our community when there’s a disaster. We have case managers who are trained in disaster case management, which is a little different than other case management processes. We have a comprehensive process to address the needs of our residents. We’re blessed through the skills and talents of our other programs. We have Vietnamese and Hispanic translators and we also have interpreters for the death. So Catholic Charities is known for going out and meeting the needs of people who may fall through the cracks and those are the groups that we do seek out.

“We also have local partnerships with other social service agencies and this building is going to enable us to grow those partnerships as well in times of disaster. This is a beautiful but, more importantly, completely useful building. There’s no wasted space in this building,” said Loftus. “This is really another piece of the disaster recovery process. We have the opportunity to safely store items that we would need for those initial relief efforts like food, water and infant items. We’re hoping to get some materials in to secure people’s houses when their roofs blow off or their windows blow in. When we begin to recover, Catholic Charities will be well prepared to work hand in hand with individuals in our community to help rebuild damaged lives and structures. We pray, of course, that we won’t have to activate this disaster plan, but, as we all know all too well, it’s not a matter of if disaster happens but when it does.”