Thirty-one central Illinois organizations that benefit people living in poverty received grants from the Diocesan Campaign for Justice and Hope (DCJH) sponsored by the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois. The awards were given out by Bishop Thomas John Paprocki during a luncheon June 8 at the Cathedral Atrium in Springfield hosted by the Office for Social Concerns and Respect for Life.

The DCJH is an annual collection in parishes of the Springfield diocese on the weekend before Thanksgiving. This year the campaign distributed $86,931. All money collected is used by organizations and projects that help meet the needs of the poor within the diocese. The DCJH allocation committee determined each award on the basis of a grant application.

Not-for-profit organizations applying for grants must be located in the Springfield diocese and the application must be signed by a local pastor or a parishioner sitting on the board of the organization. Priority is given to projects or organizations that address the root causes of poverty as well as programs that promote stable family life and the protection of human life from conception to natural death.

Organizations that receive grants may not promote or participate in activities that contradict the moral and social teachings of the Catholic Church.

"We commend you and are encouraged by the important work you do in carrying on these two great virtures of justice and hope, " said Bishop Paprocki in congratulating those who received the grants.

The awardees and highlights of how the grants are used include:

• Mercy Communities, Springfield: to host the Workforce Readiness Training for 27 mothers and their 43 children. This program is a road to independence by nurturing the strengths and talents of homeless mothers and their at-risk children.

• Open Door Program in Charleston: to provide monthly training workshops for the neediest individuals living in rural Charleston without access to public transportation. Workshops include finding and keeping employment, budgeting and nutrition for approximately 240 persons.

• Effingham County Public Transportation: provides 340 individuals with county transportation round trips; equal to 680 passenger trips to doctors, shopping and nutrition centers,

• Birthright of Quincy: gives client support, including baby items, household items, groceries, etc., for women or girls facing unplanned or unwanted crisis pregnancy. Birthright served 160 clients in 2014, helping to save the lives of unborn babies.

• Lifetime Pregnancy Help Center, Springfield: offers free ultrasounds to those who have a positive pregnancy test and facing an unintended pregnancy. The objective is to give clients accurate information and a visual image of the baby in a safe, caring atmosphere. The budget covers the nurse sonographer part-time salary for one year.

• Family Caregiver Support, Alton deanery: St. John's Community Care helps older and disabled adults live at home as long as possible while preserving their dignity. This project will help to fund 2015 caregiver support groups.

• Helping Hands of Springfield, Inc.: will be used for the laundry and warming center and pay for three sets of washers/dryers for the homeless and sleeping bag coats.

• Med Assist Program — Catholic Charities, Decatur deanery: provides prescription assistance to those without public or private health insurance to provide life-sustaining maintenance medications.

• St. Francis Xavier St. Vincent DePaul Society, Jacksonville deanery: will help with rent and food for the needy and to increase assistance from $100 per family to $150 per family. Helps make "good faith" payments associated with LIHEAP for past due utility bills.

• St. Francis St. Vincent DePaul Food Pantry, Quincy deanery: supplement grocery orders by providing necessary hygiene items not included in assistance programs such as detergents, toothpaste, and shampoo for 2,500 people.

• Staunton Food Pantry: provides nutritional assistance to residents in Staunton, Worden, Livingston, New Douglas and Williamson; a monthly average of 233 families; 166 adults and 65 children.

• New Directions Warming/Cooling Center, Jacksonville deanery: grant provides the materials so those in shelter can learn to create and design flowers and scented candles for possible sale to the public. Estimates are that 15-20 individuals can participate in this weekly skills class.

• Pregnancy Care Center of Springfield: grant provides services to at-risk women and their children. Grant will be used for the Happy "Birth" Day childbearing and parenting classes that served 400 pregnant women and their families last year.

• Med Assist of Catholic Charities in Effingham: grant helps low-income people access medicines for free or reduced costs; help with Medicare applications and those in the Medicare "donuthole." They serve a seven country area around Effingham. In 2014, 2,250 prescriptions totaling $1,772,200.

• St. Hedwig Haus of Hospitality, Effingham deanery: a transitional home for women and their children in crises, "Moving Forward" requires an individualized course in budgeting for 15 homeless women to help move them toward independent living.

• Hearts United Association, Litchfield deanery: provides emergency assistance, temporary housing and education. In 2014 they served 331 households which included 818 individuals for a total of $46,340 given for emergency assistance. One hundred fifty-five of the clients were new and 23 clients were homeless. Volunteers served 7,993 hours in the past year.

• Compassionate Clothing Closet, Inc., Decatur deanery: provides clean, good clothing to area residents in need. Nearly 160 volunteers donated more than 4,400 hours at the center, serving 461 families, representing over 1,650 individuals during 2014.

• Mobile Food Runs — Catholic Charities of Coles, Douglas and Edgar counties: will be used for the purchase of food for mobile food runs; begin a seed fund for the mobile food runs. In 2014, they assisted over 6,300 individuals with basic needs and emergency food for more than 4800 individuals.

• Effingham Preschool For All: grant will provide scholarships to preschool children ages 3-4. The children targeted do not qualify for Head Start but parents' income is too low for them to afford to send the child to preschool. The goal is to serve 25 children in 2015-2016. Last year, 83 children (31 percent) entering kindergarten did not have preschool experience.

• Habitat for Humanity of Sangamon county — Pope Francis House: will assist in building a Habitat home to honor Pope Francis. The organization defines poverty housing as that which is unsafe, unhealthy, overcrowded or where the low-income family is spending more than 30 percent of their household income on housing. The project will provide an opportunity for Catholic and non-Catholic volunteers to work towards a common goal.

• Med Assist Program of Carlinville Catholic Charities: will serve the counties of Macoupin, Greene and Montgomery. It currently includes 175 clients; 17 percent of the population in these counties is over 65 with 36 percent receiving Social Security within each county. The percentage of people living below poverty level is 13 percent. There is great need to provide prescription medicines at a reduced cost.

• Diocesan Immigrant Council: grant is diocesan-wide and serves undocumented and/or non-citizen immigrants living in the Springfield diocese. An attorney will conduct seminars to assist immigrants in gaining legal status. The grant will be used to assist participants with their legal fees. Participants will pay a matching fee or charged according to a sliding scale.

• Highland Area Christian Service Ministry: provides food, rent/utilities and assistance to those who need documents so they can receive government subsidies. In 2014, 1,456 were served at the food pantry which included 792 households. The local churches provide volunteers and donations.

• Fulfill Your Destiny: A Ministry of Encouragement, Springfield: "Grounds of Grace" works for justice to overcome abuse, violence and human trafficking. Program serves to encourage, strengthen and build up each of these clients by providing encouragement through life coaching, mentoring, life skills.

• Camp Care-A-Lot, Springfield diocese: will provide for the quarterly LEADERS program and serve approximately 50-60 LEADERS who come from low-income families. This program was developed 24 former low-income camp members and their adult role models.

• Elizabeth Ann Seton Program, Springfield diocese: will expand "Breaking the Cycle" program which is offered to 60 low-income women to assist them in developing goals and in making an action plan to better their lives. Funds will be used to purchase items for the incentive portion of the program which encourages participation.

• St. Agnes Parish, Hillsboro: will provide healthy snack food on weekends to children on the free/reduced lunch program to children in the Hillsboro and Litchfield school districts. The program reaches approximately 70 children and aim to continue to provide food during the summer.

• St. Joseph Church Food Pantry and Clothes Closet, Ramsey: will help feed the 1,872 clients living in Fayette county at St. Joseph Church. They also make referrals to other agencies, when necessary.

• Congolese Fraternity of Central Illinois, Inc.: brings support to the African immigrant families who struggle for assimilation into their American community. Headquartered within St. Alexius Parish in Beardstown, it has 135 memberships.

• St. Clare Center Food Pantry, Litchfield deanery: grant will serve individuals in need of food assistance who reside within the St. Francis Hospital's service area of Montgomery and Macoupin counties. Approximately 16,740 individuals served per month.

• Ladies of Charity of Quincy: grant will offer classes on proper food selection, preparation and cooking skills to low-income persons. The target population is parents of young families. They have formed partnerships with Quincy Medical Group, La Bella Vita Personal Chef and Dining Service and have volunteers from St. Rose of Lima Parish.

• St. Pat's Community Mission Center, Pana: provides poor people with food in Pana and surrounding area. They also provide assistance to homeless by referring to shelters and assisting with transportation. They provide a place to sleep overnight until other arrangements can be made. They hope to expand to assist homeless with apartments to stay in.

Before the presentation, Bishop Paprocki paid tribute to Sister Jane Boos, SSND, who retired in May, for her many years of dedicated service as director for the Office for Social Concerns and Respect for Life. Mary Kay Durbin, associate director of the Highland Area Christian Service Ministry, and one of the grant recipients, was the speaker.