St. Anne Community Outreach Gears Up for Busy Holiday Season
Center to Provide Holiday Help to Families in Need
St. Anne Community Outreach, a food and clothing bank serving Muscogee County residents, will provide Thanksgiving and Christmas food baskets to needy families. Each holiday season, the Muscogee County Division of Family and Children Services, Adult Protective Services, and the Columbus Health Department refer approximately 120 families who are living in poverty and struggling to meet daily needs of food, clothing, and shelter. St. Anne Community Outreach provides these families with food so they can prepare Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. Through its Operation Angel Tree, St. Anne Community Outreach also will provide over 230 children with presents for Christmas.
Food for the baskets is donated by many different groups in Columbus. Students and teachers from St. Anne Catholic Church’s Children’s Religious Education Program and St. Anne-Pacelli Catholic School donate items such as canned yams, cranberry sauce and canned vegetables. Each year, several local businesses collect stuffing or donate turkeys. St. Anne-Pacelli Catholic School’s Cub Scout Pack 112 collects canned goods through its Scouting for Food program. Parishioners at St. Anne Catholic Church and other businesses participate in Operation Angel Tree, helping to provide Christmas gifts for each child in the families being served.
St. Anne Community Outreach, a ministry of St. Anne Catholic Church, has provided food for over 3,200 families so far this year, feeding 8,942 people a total of 188,027 meals. This is a 28 percent increase compared to last year. Clothing also has been given to 2,041 people so far this year. The Outreach center serves families residing in Muscogee County, including single parents, the elderly, displaced families, recovering drug or alcohol addicts, victims of crime/abuse, the medically ill and the mentally or physically disabled.
The primary mission of St. Anne Community Outreach is to provide food and clothing to those in great need or in emergency situations. Very limited financial assistance for utilities, rent, and prescription costs may also be provided, dependent upon the availability of funds. The center’s secondary mission is to provide the following items when donated: items for the care of infants, linens and blankets, fans, items for elderly care, toiletries, small household items, and school supplies.
How you can help: Donations of money, food, clothing and small household items are always welcome. If you are interested in partnering with St. Anne Community Outreach for Thanksgiving or Christmas, please contact St. Anne Community Outreach Director Katie Byers at 706-568-1592 or email [email protected]. St. Anne Community Outreach is located at 1800 Box Road in Columbus. The Outreach Center is open Monday through Thursday from 9 to 11:30 a.m.
