By Joel Langton
The 830 Times
Part of Del Rio’s Catholic community came together Saturday morning to celebrate the one-year anniversary of Catholic Charities.
The small 4,500-foot facility, located right behind Del Rio’s What-A-Burger at 106 Miers Street, has served nearly 6,000 people since its opening a year earlier.
“We opened this location so we could extend our services to Del Rio,” said Armando Medina, Board of Directors Chairman for Catholic Charities.
Their service has been received with open arms. The facility offers food, clothes, mental health counseling, legal aid help, parenting support and education services as well as senior citizen support.
“When we first opened our doors our goal was to serve 1,500 people this year,” said Thomas Putnam, Catholic Charities Del Rio office
manager.
That goal was quickly trampled, as they hit that target in the first quarter and have helped nearly 6,000 people, more than half senior citizens, according to Putnam. That’s been nearly 23,000 bags of food and another 11,556 items from the clothes closet. ‘
“We just want to treat people with dignity,” said Father Ricardo Ramirez, Catholic Charities board member.
Saturday, after the short 10-minute ceremony, volunteers gave away window fans and a bag of groceries to more than 100 people lined up along Miers Street.
While most sat in their vehicles, one local duo pushed their grocery cart along the line. Isabel Fitch and her daughter Jasel Precado got their carts to the front of the line and the volunteers loading cars pointed them to another group ready to literally load their cart up.
“This is such a great help,” Fitch said, as two of the organization’s 81 volunteers loaded her cart. “If it weren’t for this place, we wouldn’t make it to the end of the month sometimes.”
The writer can be reached at Joelalangton@Gmail.com .
