Catholic Charities of Colorado Springs » Marian House

Rain, Wind, & Shawn Mullins

Rochelle — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 23:56:13 +0000

Although it rained buckets, and the lightening shut down the Freedom Financial Services Freedom from Poverty Community Celebration, it was still considered a success. More people in our community may be aware of a friend, a neighbor, or a co-worker who is struggling with poverty. Our community came together as one, on an overcast day in America the Beautiful park, to celebrate the arrival of the national Cycling for Change team, which included our CEO Jason Christensen, on their journey across America, to bring awareness to the issue of poverty in America. We didn’t get to great them at the park due to the storm, but we got to say hello later at the Marian House, where we all gathered after a long, wet, and windy day in the park. We want to thank Roy Clennan and Freedom Financial Services for being our title sponsor. His faith in us has been amazing.

The metric century bike ride got off in the morning, made it through the St. Francis Medical Center and St. Patrick’s Catholic Church AID stations, had a great lunch stop in Monument, thanks to St. Peter’s Catholic Church and La Casa Fiesta restaurant, and most of the riders made it back to town before the sky opened up. Those who didn’t, were rescued on the course. Thank you to Phil Long Dealerships for the use of their cargo vans, to First Lutheran Church for the use of their 15 passenger van, and all the ride support vehicles – CS West, Bike Pro Mobile- and all the other volunteer support vehicles who converged where needed to pick up riders.

The Bike Rodeo had lots of children come and take part in the safety courses. Thank you to all who participated in this event, particularly the Academy Optimist Club, Metro Rides, Kids on Bikes, Chick-fil-A, and Memorial Hospital. We could not have done it without you. The smiles on the kids faces who received new and used bikes was worth all the hard work. The rain seemed only to add to their enjoyment!

The Freedom from Poverty Community Celebration was just getting started. The band equipment was in place, and the Silent Voices Mime Team had just began to perform when the rain started. Everyone was holding out hope that the storm would just pass over. We had participation from local social service agencies, food and beverage vendors – Ranch Foods Direct, J&S Concessions, The Good Stuff, Pepsi Bottling Company, and Bristol Brewing Company, PPLD, Chick-fil-A, and the USOC in the KIDZONE, and the crowd was just beginning to gather to settle in for the free concert in the park and the arrival of the riders when the lightening began. Then it rained buckets! The music equipment got soaked as did all the performers. The crowd scrambled to secure tents, tables, etc., and made a run for the shelter of the pavilion.

The volunteers, staff, partners, donors, and attendees were great, even through the storm. We stayed to clean up the park, stacked the barriers which were donated by Midwest Barriers and put everything back in place, and wouldn’t you know it, once everything was cleaned up, the sun decided to shine down upon us. Even though we were all wet and tired, we gathered at the Marian House for pizza, Bristol Beer, and listened as Shawn Mullins gave us a private concert. He and his manager Kip Conner, even though tired and wet, came to the Marian House to spend several hours with us, and Shawn played the music that everyone loves.

When one door closes, another one opens. It wasn’t the event we planned, but it turned out to be a great event anyway.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the planning and execution of this event. We could not serve the people in our community who need help the most, without your support. Thank You!

Register NOW for Freedom from Poverty bike ride!

Rochelle — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 17:35:21 +0000

One Day, Metric Century Bike Ride

(100km / 63 miles )

July 8, 2010

Benefiting Catholic Charities & the Marian House

Follow the progress of Jason Christensen, CEO of Catholic Charities of Colorado Springs, as he traverses the country for 100 days to bring awareness about poverty and raise funds for the Marian House. You can join the local Freedom from Poverty ride, see information below, which will occur when the national riders reach Colorado, or support Jason and the Freedom from Poverty local riders with a one-time donation. Go to the website below for more information on the Cycling for Change event.

Registration: on-line NOW

at www.ccharitiescs.org/c4c

Event limited to 200 riders

$150 registration includes:

Custom Polar water bottle, Aid stations both days, Full SAG & Mechanical support, Lunch in Palmer Lake, Entrance into the July 8th Freedom from Poverty Community Celebration including beer and root beer by Bristol Brewing Company

Event jersey is available for puchase for $50. Limited quantities available

Teams of 4+ receive 15% off registration ( $128 )

St. Patrick’s Day Gala A Huge Success!

Rochelle — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 18:41:31 +0000

The 2010 St. Patrick’s Day Gala broke all previous records: more sponsors , more attendees, and more auction items than ever before! This resulted in Catholic Charities raising more than $150,000, a new record, for our programs. This would not have been possible without the generosity of all who attended and supported the event. We want to thank all of our sponsors, especially our title sponsor – Freedom Financial – who have supported this event year after year; our dedicated gala committee – many of whom have been on the committee since it’s inception; and our loyal attendees, who opened their hearts and gave generously.

There were other firsts for this event: A new location – the Antlers Hilton – was able to accommodate more people in their ballroom; and the change from a buffet to a seated dinner, where attendees were able to chose between corned beef, bangers or both.

One of the highlights of the evening was the Marian House paddle auction, which raised $50,000 for Marian House programs. Thank you to all who participated, and to the donors who thought the starting bid of $1,500 was too low and upped the starting bid to $5,000! The auction followed a video of Freda, a client of Marian House, who has worked extremely hard to move forward in life. Freda was in the audience and was given a standing ovation and presented flowers by Jason Christensen, CEO of Catholic Charities. One attendee said, “I just love the video because it gives a unique perspective of what Catholic Charities does, and puts a face on the many people they help.”

The event was comprised of a silent auction, big board auction, live auction, paddle auction, and a Pot O’Gold was raffled off. The winners, Marvin and Shirley Strait (pictured), immediately donated back the $1,000 cash prize to Catholic Charities! “I love our donors,” said Jason Christensen. “Their dedication to this event and to Catholic Charities is unmatched! I am amazed everyday by our dedicated staff, our clients, our generous donors, and our dedicated volunteers. We simply could not meet our mission without them.”

Very soon, we will have an auction on our website with unsold items from the auction. Click the St. Pats logo on the right side of this page for more information.

Weigel Event a Success!

Rochelle — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 16:13:30 +0000

George Weigel addressed over 200 people at St. Mary’s Cathedral on Monday night, February 22nd. The topic of the lecture was, “Charities: The Foundations of Catholic Social Doctrine”. After the lecture, audience members were able to participate in a question and answer session which ranged in scope from the Catholic Church’s view on border patrols, to divorce.

Once the Q&A was over, Jason Christensen, President and CEO of Catholic Charities of Colorado Springs, talked about how catholic social doctrine is the foundation for everything we do at Catholic Charities. “We had an unparalleled opportunity to bring in a nationally known scholar to help people appreciate and understand that what we do as an agency is born out of the teachings of the Church,” said Christensen.

The next evening, Mr Weigle spoke to a standing room only crowd at Colorado College. This was just the first in a series of lectures sponsored by the Hanifen Center at Marian House and the Sheffer Fund for Catholic Studies at Colorado College. Look for announcements for the speaker for the Second Annual Hanifen Center at Marian House Diocesan Forum in the Fall.

Free Tax Preparation

Rochelle — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 20:24:09 +0000

Beginning this Saturday January 30, the Marian House is offering free on-site income tax preparation through the VITA program. Any household that earned less than $50,000.00 wishing to receive expert volunteer assistance on submitting their taxes is invited to the Marian House on Saturdays from 9:00 – 3:30. These services are offered from January 30 through April 10 only on Saturdays. No appointments necessary. Clients must arrive with their W2 forms and current identification. 1040 tax forms are available on site.

Clients are asked to come to the Hanifen Center waiting room, next to the soup kitchen. A receptionist will check them in to work with one of five tax preparers.

Angel Project Delivers

Rochelle — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 19:06:14 +0000

The Angel Project, a new organization here in Colorado Springs, whose goal is to plant the seed of compassion, joy and service among children 3 years of age and up, delivered coats, food and money to the Marian House to help other children who are not as fortunate as they are.

“We want to teach our kids to give back. We want them to understand that they are so blessed, and there are those who don’t have as much as we do,” said Kanda Calef, the mother of two small children who are part of the Angel Project group.

Vickie Smith, the founder of the Angel Project, said the Marian House event was the first project for the group and it was named the 1-2-3 project. Each child was asked to get one coat, two cans of food, and a $3 donation to help other children who did not have as much as they did. “Our group promotes random acts of kindness,” she said. “We plan to do a project each month. We’re going to sing at an assisted living facility, or we might be in a neighborhood and take the trash cans up from the road to the door, or we might show up at a King Soopers and unload someones basket. Each time we do a ‘random act of kindness’, we will leave a card that says, ‘You’ve Been Touched By An Angel: Pay It Forward.’ ”

Rochelle Schlortt, director of communications for Catholic Charities told the children, “your gifts will help other children have a wonderful Christmas. Thank you so much for your compassion and your generous spirit. It is wonderful to see children at such a young age understand the importance of charity.

If you would like to join this group, contact Vickie at: theangelproject33@yahoo.com.

The donations from this group as well as other donations, will help many children with food and clothing in various programs of Marian House. Last year, over 54,000 items of childrens clothing were distributed through the Marian House Life Support Center, and more than 24,000 pounds of food were delivered to families who could not come to our location to receive services. Additionally, over 9,000 meals were served to children in the Marian House Soup Kitchen. Your financial support and donations of goods and services, are very much appreciated.

Marian House Helps with Urban Garden

Catholic Charities — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 17:07:42 +0000

Catholic Charities is embarking on a community project with Pikes Peak Urban Gardens and Springs Rescue Mission. We will be building an urban garden where clients of Marian House and Springs Rescue Mission will be developing and tending this urban garden. The site of the garden, which will be 50′ by 100′, will be located in Dorchester Park in downtown Colorado Springs.

The garden will not only give our clients the therapeutic benefits of working with their hands in the garden, it will restore dignity by having them involved in this process. It also address the hunger issue, as the product that is produced can be used at the Marian House Soup Kitchen to help feed the the people who come there everyday. Currently, more than 600 meals are served most days, with that number increasing substantially beginning around the middle of the month.

Click here to see the video detailing this project.

1st Annual Rocky Mountain Combat Conference Supports Marian House

Rochelle — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:08:18 +0000

The Defense Institute in Fountain, Colorado, held the 1st Annual Rocky Mountain Combat Conference on Saturday, November 14th. The event, held at the mixed martial arts sutdio, was an arts seminar & demonstration of numberous black belt instructors from all over Colorado. Proceeds of the event were given to the Marian House. Thank you to John Petrone, owner of the Defense Instutute and all the attendees for your generous gift!

Give Peas a chance

Rochelle — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:47:56 +0000

Give peas a chance!
and carrots and beans and mittens and socks…..

The Liberal Store & Rainy Days Silkscreen Studio is doing a fund-raiser for the Marian House. Anyone dropping off food and clothing at their location at 218 W. Colorado Ave, will get to pick out a free bumpersticker or button of their choice. Click here for more information.

Hyatt Place Fundraiser

Rochelle — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:53:07 +0000

Donate a Toy – Get a Present

Hyatt Place, located at 503 W Garden of the Gods Road, is conducting a fund-raiser for the Marian House. From November 20, 2009 through January 3, 2010, anyone who presents a new, unwrapped toy for donation to the Marian House will receive an additional 20% off the Hyatt Daily Rate. For those who live here and don’t need a hotel, bring a new toy and receive a $10 food & beverage coupon for use in the Hyatt Place bakery/cafe. What a great way to kick off the holiday season: Bring a smile to a childs face, and receive a gift for doing so! Thank you Hyatt Place!

For more information on Hyatt Place or to make a reservation, click here.