crs-annual-report

IN A WORLD WHERE VULNERABLE PEOPLE OFTEN FALL BETWEEN THE CRACKS, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops brings hope, help, and healing annually through The Catholic Relief Services Collection. In addition to its namesake agency, Catholic Relief Services—which aids those suffering from war, natural disasters, and severe poverty—this collection supports four other agencies of the US bishops: USCCB Migration and Refugee Services, to assist refugee resettlement; Catholic Legal Immigration Network Inc., to help immigrants navigate the legal process to citizenship; the USCCB Department of Justice, Peace, and Human Development, to provide advocacy and education about Catholic social teaching; and the USCCB Secretariat of Cultural Diversity in the Church, to support evangelization and ministry. The collection also supports the Holy Father’s Relief Fund, through which Pope Francis aids people in crisis worldwide. Below you will find samples of all these works.

WELCOMING UKRAINIAN REFUGEES As Ukrainians flee Russian bombs and arrive in the United States, USCCB Migration and Refugee Services offers immediate friendship and local connections through Welcome Circles. Parishioners and other volunteers who have been vetted, trained, and certified greet refugees at the airport, bring them to their new home, and help them with everything from translation to health care. At the end of 2022, 25 Welcome Circles had recruited more than 200 volunteers and had expanded to serve refugees from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. Welcome Circles are an offshoot of Parishes Organized to Welcome Immigrants and Refugees (POWIR), which works with local Catholic Charities offices and other diocesan social services to help parishes become supportive communities to embrace new immigrants. From May 2021 to the end of 2022, nearly 10,000 parish volunteers assisted about 24,000 new immigrants through POWIR.

HEALTHY FOOD & CLEAN WATER IN AFRICA Catholic Relief Services is helping Africans challenged by the environmental impacts of climate change. With CRS support, African communities are growing nutritious food and building water systems that support crops, livestock, and households. In Zambia, volunteers for this program travel among villages to teach parents about good nutrition and hygiene and demonstrate how to establish vegetable gardens that will provide a healthy diet for their children. Gardening is difficult in Kenya due to persistent drought, forcing villagers to walk for hours to carry jugs of water to their dying livestock. In these communities, CRS is overhauling water systems to adapt to climate change and teaching new ways to manage pastures. In two counties of northern Kenya alone, these improved and expanded water systems now reach more than 1.2 million people.