Catholic Community Services of Northern Utah to host annual Dream Builder's Breakfast

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OGDEN – Catholic Community Services of Northern Utah will celebrate people who are making a difference in the lives of those most in need at the 2022 Dream Builder’s Breakfast, scheduled for May 3.

This year, three awards will be given. They were originally scheduled to be presented at the 2020 event, but it was cancelled because of the pandemic, and the breakfast was not held last year, also due to the pandemic.

“We are obviously very excited to finally be able to hold the event in person again after two years and see all of our friends and supporters in the community. It’s always such an amazing atmosphere,” CCS Development Director Maresha Bosgieter said. “We chose to honor the same individuals we were going to honor in 2020 because we never got a chance to publicly recognize the amazing contributions they made, and continue to make, to CCS and those we serve.”

Father Charles Cummins, administrator of the Weber State University Newman Center, will receive the Humanitarian Award; the McKay-Dee Hospital will be honored with the Community Partner Award; and St. Joseph parishioners Tony and Diana Hanebrink will be recognized with the Community Advocate Award.

Fr. Cummins “has been an amazing part of our community in northern Utah for nearly 50 years. There is no one, of any faith, who doesn’t know and love him,” Bosgieter said.

In addition to his priestly ministry, Fr. Cummins helps organize the annual Thanksgiving Day Run at Ogden Regional Medical Center every year, “which raises thousands of dollars and pounds of food to help the hungry in our community,” she said. He also serves as an unofficial minster to the students at St. Joseph Catholic Schools.

“He has such a spirit about him, and he truly teaches everyone in our community about humility and service to others. He’s also amazingly approachable, and he has a way of touching everyone he comes into contact with in some way,” Bosgieter said.

 McKay-Dee Hospital “is a great partner, both to CCS and our entire community. There doesn’t seem to be an event in the area they aren’t involved in supporting,” she said.

Hospital personnel volunteer at CCS’ Bridging the Gap program, “helping us feed elementary students for the weekend, and during the government shutdown in January 2019, they actually pledged to give us a check each week to purchase meat, milk, eggs and other perishable items to keep our pantry afloat,” she said. “One of their employees even picks up fresh produce from her friends and neighbors every week during the summer to bring in for our clients.”

Currently the hospital is part of the Alliance for the Determinants of Health project, with SelectHealth putting $3 million into both the Ogden and St. George communities “to help address the needs and improve the health of the Medicaid population in those areas. They have community health workers that are meeting with people to address all of their needs, including food insecurity,” Bosgieter said.

The recipients of the Community Advocate Award, Tony and Diana Hanebrink, have been involved with CCS of Northern Utah for nine years, Bosgieter said. In addition to running their parish’s RCIA program, they “serve donuts and coffee between services to raise money to assemble Pantry Packs every quarter for CCS to feed low-income students over the weekend, and head up all the donation drives for food, backpacks and school supplies, etc.,” she said.

In addition, the Hanebrinks drive to the Hill Air Force Base Commissary a couple of times each month to pick up food donations for CCS, and “they organize a volunteer group every year to help us at the Mt. Ogden Post Office for the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive,” Bosgieter said.

She added that when she told the Hanebrinks they were to be award recipients, “they kept putting me off and saying, ‘But there are so many others who do more.’ I can’t say I possibly agree with that statement any less.”

Those who attend the Dream Builder’s Breakfast will have the opportunity to learn about CCS’ mission, the people they serve and how anybody can be part of a success story.

The breakfast is CCS Northern Utah’s only fundraising event, “but because of the generosity and support of our community it provides almost 10 percent of our operating budget for the year,” Bosgieter said.