2016 Harvest of Mercy Fundraising Dinner held on October 20th

The annual Catholic Charities Solidarity Team (CCST) fundraiser, renamed the “Harvest of Mercy” Dinner this year to align with the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, was held on October 20th at Ss. Peter and Paul Byzantine Catholic Church in Somerset, NJ. Nearly 300 people attended the gathering.

Catholic Charities staff was once again recognized as a Top-10 Contributor to Operation Rice Bowl, the annual national Lenten program sponsored by Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and overseen locally by CCST. Seventy-five percent of the funds raised by Operation Rice bowl go directly to development projects sponsored by CRS overseas, and 25% percent stays in the Diocese for local food security use, enabling local participants to understand the plight of the poor overseas through the experience of the poor in their own communities.

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) Rice Bowl Food Security Grant recipients were announced during the evening that included a $1500 grant awarded to Community House at St Thomas, a shared in-community residence located in Old Bridge, for low income adults with physical disabilities operated by Catholic Charities Diocese of Metuchen. The Catholic Charities Social Service Center in Phillipsburg, NJ, which houses the largest food pantry in Warren County, was also awarded a food security grant of $7,500.

In all, 19 groups received $57,500 of Rice Bowl local grant funding. The evening’s proceeds will benefit Catholic Charities Solidarity Team’s (CCST) work in Lebanon. To learn more about this and other programs of the Catholic Charities Solidarity Team, visit www.ccsolidarity.org .

More information about Community House and the Phillipsburg Social Service Center can be found here, on the agency website. More photos of the evening can be found on the Catholic Charities Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ccdom1/. Last year, Catholic Charities served more than 54,000 people through over 100 programs in Middlesex, Somerset, Hunterdon and Warren Counties. 

Look for more pictures on our Facebook page!