Our History — csstuscaloosa

Our History - Early Years

In 1928, Catholic Social Services was established in Central Alabama by the Trinitarian Sisters under the authority of the Archdiocese of Mobile to serve the immigrant communities in Birmingham and the surrounding areas. Several orders of sisters later brought their talents to expand services to both the growing Catholic community and the much larger non-Catholic community. Now, Catholic Social Services has a network of programs throughout the Diocese of Birmingham. Under the umbrella of Catholic Social Services are several entities: Centers of Concern, Catholic Family Services, Multicultural Services, Emergency Services, Disaster Services, and Child and Youth Protection.

In West Alabama, the Glenmary Order of priests and brothers established four direct service centers to serve the poor in Hamilton, Fayette, Winfield, and Sulligent. Later in 1972, the Consolata Sisters established a mission in Eutaw Alabama to serve the poorest region of Alabama in the Black Belt.

Catholic Family Services served the Tuscaloosa area through the Birmingham office offering counseling and child welfare services while direct services were offered through Holy Spirit Parish. In 2001, Mr. James Harrison had the vision, with the support of Fr. Jeremiah Deasy and Bishop Foley, to establish a diocesan center in Tuscaloosa to meet the social service needs of the community especially with direct aid and other programs to serve the poor. Mr. Harrison funded several years of the center to allow the Diocese of Birmingham time to develop sustainable funding.

2002-2017

In January of 2002 the Birmingham office relocated to 608 37th St East, now James I. Harrison Jr. Pkwy into a house owned by the Diocese of Birmingham in Alabama to offer assistance with rent, utilities, medication, transportation, food, and clothing to individuals who qualify. In January 2003, Bishop David E. Foley, Bishop of Birmingham, AL, blessed and dedicated the new facility officially.

From 2002 to 2004 Suzanne Coleman, MSW, the Regional Director for Catholic Family Services in Region IV of the Diocese, also become the first Director for the Center of Concern.

In 2004, Sister Bernadette Sachs OSB, a Benedictine Sister, became the next Director from 2004 to 2005. She was a former principal and teacher and had worked with migrant families.

Angel C. Steadman, MS, MSW volunteered while Sr. Bernadette was Director. Angel became the Director, from 2005 to 2006 then she entered a Dominican religious congregation in New York. She was the first to begin fundraising by having an annual garage sale, supported by volunteers and parishioners.

Sister Carol Ann Gray, Mission Helper of the Sacred Heart, became the Director in 2006. She spent 8 years in her Congregations Leadership Team, working with black youth and adults in Boston, New York City and West Virginia. Before joining the Diocese, she was working as a foster care worker in Tuscaloosa. Because of her license as a Clinical Social Worker, she was able to include counseling, Project Rachel and adoptions. During her time, the Center operated as a team of staff and volunteers. Under Sr. Carol’s direction a working Advisory Board of Directors was established. To increase fundraising, our Annual Silent Auction was started.

On April 27th, 2011, a Category 5 Tornado devastated Tuscaloosa and surrounding area. With help coming from local and multiple states, sending 18-wheelers filled with food, clothing and household goods, we were able to assist survivors. Also, donations mounting over a half a million dollars and countless hours from volunteers benefited many people.

In 2014 Sister Carol took on the Diocesan position as Assistant Executive Director and Emergency Services Director of Catholic Social Services.

Becky Latham, who was the Business Manager at the time, became Director of the Center.

She has a degree in Early Childhood Education and a natural ability to relate with children and adults. With her compassion, concern and humor, the Center flourished. Numbers of clients served and volunteers added increased. The Annual Silent Auction also expanded. She also established the Mom’s Program which assisted single moms in finding jobs, budgeting, and child rearing. During her tenure, a warehouse was built and dedicated on November 3rd, 2017.

2017-Present

After Becky Latham’s retirement in 2017, Misty Moon became Director. She came from Easter Seals. She was dedicated to serving others and making the community around her a better place to live. She raised money for the Center in a variety of ways through social media, local restaurants, the Annual Silent Auction, and additional events. Misty left in 2019 to accept the position as Director of the local American Red Cross.

In 2019, Sister María Elena Méndez, with the Missionaries Guadalupanas of the Holy Spirit, became the next Director. She had a Master Degree in Theology and Ministry from Boston College. She had experience working with diverse groups of people in the United States: Florida, Colorado, California, Pennsylvania, and Mississippi. Before she came to Alabama, she had been working in the office of Hispanic Ministry in the Diocese of Jackson, Mississippi. With her warm and friendly manner, she brought to the Center more diversity in clients, volunteers, staff, board members, donors, and use of the Spanish language. She worked with a Catholic Social Services team to write a grant and pursue funds to help first -generation Hispanics in the community. The grant would target Hispanic high school students to go to college or university. This is in collaboration with the county schools, city schools, local and national organizations which have some programs in place. In this program (Adelante-Forward) parents play a pivotal role encouraging their children to succeed for themselves and society.

In 2020, Covid-19 pandemic hit the economy worldwide. It has made a tremendous impact on our communities with the lots of lives, lost work, and businesses closing making life more difficult for people with low-income that Catholic Social Services serves. The pandemic challenged the staff and gave them more opportunities to be creative in the ways of how to operate the Center with less money, less volunteers, and more demand. Our Annual Silent Auction, which has been held for the last ten years, had to be put on hold. Because of the generosity of donors, the Center was able to continue its services to help people during this difficult time.

In 2021, the Diocese removed three counties from the local Catholic Social Services.

Marengo and Perry Counties are now part of Green County in Eutaw, and Walker County became part of the Birmingham Center of Concern.

Catholic Social Services, throughout its history has been thankful for the input and funding from Catholic Charities USA, the Catholic Diocese of Birmingham, our dedicated volunteers from Holy Spirit Parish and St Francis of Assisi University Parish. Holy Spirit Catholic School has been very instrumental in providing support through monthly food collection.

Since Catholic Social Services started, multiple programs have been offered by the Center that has a budget of over $400,000.00 for this year, 2022. Over half of that budget has been distributed to the poor in direct aid and food assistance. When disasters strike the Tuscaloosa area, additional funds are distributed both from the Diocese and from Catholic Charities USA. Normally thousands of dollars are provided to victims.