Catholic Community Services honors benefactors for helping the hungry

IC Photo/Linda Petersen

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During his remarks at the April 23 Dream Builder’s Breakfast, Bishop Oscar A. Solis thanked CCS’ many benefactors, this year’s honorees and Catholic Community Services staff and board members.

OGDEN — On April 23 Catholic Community Services of Utah celebrated its 15th annual Dream Builder’s Breakfast.

The inaugural event was held at the Ogden Golf and Country Club and 75 people attended, recalled Bob Hunter, this year’s master of ceremonies, comparing it to the more than 400 people who broke bread together at the Ogden Eccles Conference Center that Tuesday morning.

Among its other programs, Catholic Community Services of Northern Utah operates the Joyce Hansen Hall Food Bank, which last year dispensed more than 2.3 million pounds of food to those in need. The organization also gave out 63,796 meals to school-aged children through its childhood hunger program, Bridging the Gap. In addition, CCS provided almost 600 layettes to low-income mothers with newborns.

“This is a testament to the wonderful staff that I have at CCS,” Basic Needs Director Randy Chappell said at the breakfast.

As in years past, there was an auction of a Bundt cake and pie made in honor of Benedictine Sr. Stephanie Mongeon, who for many years ministered in northern Utah. For the breakfast she would contributed Bundt cakes that were auctioned for hundreds of dollars.

During the event, CCS also paid tribute to some of the people and institutions that had helped them over the past year. The awards follow.

Community Partner Award 2024

Petersen Inc., an Ogden manufacturer, was recognized with the Community Partner Award. The company holds backpack and school supply drives, hosts food drives to make pantry packs for local students and last year made CCS the beneficiary of its annual charity golf tournament. Peterson Inc. has a great corporate culture where employees “truly care about the community and consistently look for opportunities to engage and give back,” Chappell said.

Humanitarian Award 2024

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints received this year’s  Humanitarian Award.

“The church’s Humanitarian Services in Northern Utah have been so instrumental to CCS programs over the years,” providing CCS with hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of storehouse grants, Chappell said. The LDS church also has given CCS many Deseret Industries vouchers to provide clothing and coats for children and furniture/household items for individuals and families who are being rehoused on their paths back to self-sufficiency.

Community Advocate Award 2024

Julie Johnson, CEO of United Way of Northern Utah, accepted the Community Advocate Award 2024 on behalf of her organization. United Way is a key partner in the Backpack Bonanza program every year and collects holiday turkey and food donations along with coat donations. They also sponsor food drives, provide a community grant and Giving Campaign donations, line up companies to volunteer, and work to bring awareness to the issue of hunger and poverty in the community.  

“They provide amazing services focused on early childhood development and ongoing educational support, and are definitely a huge part of our community,” Chappell said.

Lifetime of Service Award 2024

CCS had tried to honor longtime volunteer John Leonardi with the Lifetime of Service Award many times, but he always refused, Bridging the Gap Coordinator Durrell Annis said. This year Leonardi, a parishioner of St. James the Just Catholic Church, finally accepted the recognition. In addition to volunteering with the Bridging the Gap program since 2014, Leonardi drives a Grocery Rescue route for CCS each week.

“There are some people who do so much for your organization week after week, year after year, that you don’t know what you would do if they weren’t there; John is that person,” Annis said.

In his remarks at the breakfast, Bishop Oscar A. Solis thanked CCS’ many benefactors, along with the honorees and Catholic Community Services staff and board members.

“I am gratified by your spirit of fellowship, unity and solidarity — of dreaming together for a better world for everyone,” he said. “Our partnership provides more than a glimpse of hope for our polarized society and for the plight of our poor brothers and sisters. Our collective efforts may seem minimal and do not attract much attention. But motivated by compassion and love, it restores the human dignity of our marginalized brothers and sisters who are created like us in the image and likeness of God.”

“My fellow dream builders, may I reiterate my gratitude for your sense of mutual responsibility – of treating one another with love, tenderness and mercy,” the bishop concluded. “You are a beacon of light and a flicker of hope. Remember, God will never be outdone in generosity.”

Proceeds from the Dream Builder’s Breakfast benefit the programs at Catholic Community Services of Utah’s Ogden facility.

Catholic Community Services of Utah started in 1945 and now operates four sites along the Wasatch Front and northern Utah, including the Weigand Resource Center and Saint Vincent de Paul dining hall in Salt Lake City and the Joyce Hansen Hall Food Bank in Ogden. In addition to helping to feed the hungry and aid people who are homeless, they offer refugee foster care, refugee resettlement and immigration services.