After our Poverty Simulation, it is likely you have been moved to DO something to help those who live in poverty. Below are ways that you can be part of the solution through Advocacy, Donations and Service.

Sponsors

National Charity League

First, we want to thank the NCL who donated the food and service that enabled us to have a delicious lunch at our Poverty Simulation. The National Charity League Inc. is a Costa Mesa, California-based national non-profit organization designed to encourage community service and volunteering opportunities for mothers and their daughters in grades 7-12. Founded in 1925 and incorporated in 1958, the group focuses on community service, leadership development and cultural experiences. It has over 72,000 members in 27 states and has contributed more than 3 million volunteer hours to over 6000 charities.

Learn More: https://www.nationalcharityleague.org/who-we-are/ 
Donate: https://www.nationalcharityleague.org/support-ncl/

St. Vincent de Paul

The Society of St. Vincent de Paul is a worldwide organization of lay Catholics, following Christ’s call to serve the poor, the suffering, and the deprived. Their founding activity is the Home Visit, through which, Vincentian members establish personal relationships with our neighbors in need, not only providing material assistance such as rent, utilities, food, or clothing, but also offering friendship, understanding, and prayer.

To learn more about St. Joan of Arc’s Vincentians, contact Frank Wnuk, 

Advocacy Opportunities

Bread for the World

Bread for the World is a Christian advocacy organization urging U.S. decision makers to do all they can to pursue a world without hunger. Their mission is to educate and equip people to advocate for policies and programs that can help end hunger in the U.S. and around the world. 

Through nonpartisan political engagement, they’ve helped strengthen national nutrition programs, drastically reducing hunger in the U.S.; advocated to strengthen and improve U.S. international assistance, thus supporting the dramatic progress against hunger that many countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America have achieved. 

This progress shows that it is possible to end hunger in our lifetime, in the U.S. and abroad. The policies and programs Bread fights for have impacted 320 million Americans and more than 7 billion people around the world.

Contra Costa and Solano Food Bank

The Contra Costa and Solano Food Bank is leading the fight to end hunger by serving all people in their counties who suffer from hunger and food insecurity. The Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano strategically engages in advocacy work to raise awareness and mobilize support to end hunger, improve economic security and promote health and well being for our community. This includes educating the public and policymakers about food insecurity and encouraging them to partner with us to improve access to healthy food. 

Donation and Service Opportunities

Alameda County Community Food Bank

Alameda County Community Food Bank passionately pursues a hunger-free community by assuring that children, adults and seniors of Alameda County do not worry about where their next meal is coming from. They do this by partnering with over 400 food banks, soup kitchens and non-profits to distribute millions of pounds of fresh food every year. They provide school meal programs and stock college pantries to enable thousands of low-income children, teens, and college students have the nutrition to develop, learn, and thrive every day. 

Bread for the World

Bread for the World is a Christian advocacy organization urging U.S. decision makers to do all they can to pursue a world without hunger. Their mission is to educate and equip people to advocate for policies and programs that can help end hunger in the U.S. and around the world.

Catholic Campaign for Human Development

The Catholic Campaign for Human Development is the domestic anti-poverty, social justice program of the U.S. Catholic Bishops (USCCB). Its mission is to address the root causes of poverty in America by funding and promoting community-controlled, self-help organizations. 

Catholic Charities of the East Bay

Catholic Charities East Bay helps children, youth, families, and seniors to move from crisis to stability to well-being and self-sufficiency. Their work is focused on vulnerable communities in Alameda and Contra Costa Counties. In partnership with all, they celebrate the diversity of the varied backgrounds in our community, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, and religious or spiritual affiliation or belief. 

Consider the Homeless

Consider the Homeless is a non-profit organization that cooks and delivers nourishing soup directly to the tents and vehicles of the homeless in Berkeley. They are a a grassroots community based group of like-minded neighbors and friends who want to help those less fortunate than themselves! Unlike most other services for the homeless, they do not expect the homeless to come to them: they deliver dinner and supplies to whomever needs them by driving slowly around downtown and calling out to those huddled in doorways, on sidewalks and in parks – “Sir/Ma’am, would you like some hot homemade soup?”

Volunteer opportunities include donating soup ingredients, cooking the soup, acting as drivers and  delivering soup to the homeless.

Contra Costa and Solano Food Bank

The Contra Costa and Solano Food Bank is leading the fight to end hunger by serving all people in their counties who suffer from hunger and food insecurity. They distribute food from warehouses in Concord and Fairfield and have become “second responders” during times of crisis. 

Summer is the hungriest time for the poor…and volunteer shifts at the Food Bank are going unfilled. They have openings for daytime, nights and weekends.

Goodness Village

Goodness Village is an affordable neighborhood of 28 tiny homes that provide the Tri-Valley’s formerly un-housed neighbors a safe and supportive community to live independently, heal, and thrive! Their approach involves four critical elements: Rest, Rapport, Recover, and Restore.

JustFaith

JustFaith Ministries prepares people of faith for the life-changing and world-changing call of the Gospel to help heal the world and, in so doing, to experience a deeper faith, a more fulfilling life, and a community of care and vitality. They do this by building awareness and community through educational studies on important topics. 

One such study is the Faith and Poverty Series: “FAITH AND POVERTY: A BIBLICAL RESPONSE” guides participants in exploring the Gospel’s call to respond to poverty in our local communities, equipping participants with practical tools to take action in effective and sustainable ways. “FAITH AND POVERTY: A SOLIDARITY RESPONSE” explores questions such as, “why don’t people in poverty just get a job?”, “What are common hurdles that people in poverty face?” and “What are practical tools for alleviating poverty in my community?” “FAITH AND POVERTY: A JUSTICE REPONSE” awakens participants to systemic barriers that keep people from rising out of poverty, barriers which are often invisible to those of us who don’t have to face them.

If you are interested in joining a study group here at St. Joan of Arc, contact Rosemarie McKenney

Loaves and Fishes

The mission of Loaves and Fishes of Contra Costa County is to provide community-based food programs and services that focus on basic needs. Working with partners and thousands of volunteers, they serve over 170,000 meals each year.  According to the Contra Costa Times, they are one of the most cost-effective charitable organizations in the Bay Area and are second only to the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano Counties for efficiency.  St. Joan of Arc volunteers serve at Martinez and Pittsburg soup kitchens and help prepare meals at Pittsburg Central Kitchen.

Learn More 
Donate
Volunteer
Contact: Lisa Guadagna, Development & Community Engagement Manager, Loaves and Fishes of Contra Costa
                O: 925-293-4792  M: 408-506-9760

Monument Crisis Center

The Monument Crisis Center provides food, education, assistance and referrals to children, families and seniors in crisis situations, regardless of legal status. They promote community awareness of needs of at-risk and low-income people in Contra Costa County.​

Open Heart Kitchen

Open Heart Kitchen is the largest hot meal program of its kind in the Tri-Valley Area. Founded in 1995 as a small, grassroots effort to address hunger in the Tri-Valley, Open Heart Kitchen serves meals at multiple locations in Dublin, Livermore and Pleasanton, California. There is no qualifying process and meals may be eaten at multiple serving sites or taken to go. Working in cooperation with local food pantries and non-profits, they serve three prepared meal programs: the Hot Meal Program, the Senior Meal Program and the Street Outreach Program. 

Shelter Inc.

Shelter, Inc. rebuilds lives one family at a time, by helping them re-establish a home, and assisting with the skills and resources needed to live the life they deserve. Affordability is only one factor that results in someone becoming homeless. Therefore, Shelter, Inc. offers “wrap-around” services such as education, training, counseling and goal planning, all of which are vital to the success of regaining and maintaining a home.

Shepherd’s Gate

Shepherd’s Gate provides safe places where women and their children suffering from homelessness, addiction and domestic violence can discover healing and freedom from life-controlling trauma issues through the power of Jesus Christ. Together with community partners, Shepherd’s Gate is committed to empowering and equipping women to transform their lives with a lifetime commitment to recovery.