Vote to help CCS win $20,000 in KSL contest

Intermountain Catholic

+ Enlarge

Dennis Kelsch (left), program manager for emergency assistance at CCS' St Vincent de Paul Resource Center, helps organize the pantry, which last year provided food to more than 50,000 people. IC photo Laura V. Sausedo

SALT LAKE CITY - Catholic Community Services has been helping people since 1970; now it's looking for a little help itself to win $20,000 from the KSL Cares campaign.

CCS has a history of getting help from those it has helped. More than 10 years ago Dennis Kelsch approached CCS for services; now he is the program manager for emergency assistance at CCS' St Vincent de Paul Resource Center.

His work has presented him with an opportunity for helping people on the road to a better life.

"I was hired to work on a program for elderly people called Ministry with Elderly Adults. At the time there was a Holy Cross Sister that ran the program," said Kelsch.

In 2007, that program was closed due to financial restrictions, but that opened the window for Kelsch to be able to help with two other programs: Gift of the Drummer and Utility Crisis.

Many people are familiar with the Gift of the Drummer program, which at Christmastime collects donations – particularly clothing – for children in need, especially refugees. Last year the program assisted about 1,000 children.

The Utility Crisis program, which runs from January to September, helps people whose utilities have either been shut off or are about to be shut off.

In addition, Kelsch runs the Emergency Assistance Program, which provides basic services to low-income people. He said that working for CCS has been very fulfilling. "I wanted to work helping people; I worked in the Road Home for a year before I came to CCS. It is very important to help people because we all have a stake in these people's lives. Some people are blessed with decent jobs, housing, food, but there are others that are not. Some have health issues, some have lost their jobs. They have real struggles to survive and here at CCS we help them," said Kelsch.

Gift of the Drummer, Utility Crisis and the Emergency Assistance Program are just three of CCS' programs. The organization also runs the Saint Vincent de Paul Dining Hall, which provides hot lunches in Salt Lake County for families in need. The Weigand Center is the only homeless day shelter facility that gives people a safe place to be during the day, and the Refugee Foster Care is the only one in the state. They also operate the largest food bank in northern Utah, among other services.

Last year CCS served 50,000 people; nearly half of those were children. Administrative costs are 7 percent, meaning that 93 percent of all the donations go straight to the people they serve.

"We serve everyone. We're not Catholics serving Catholics, we are a lot of people serving a lot of people," said Katherine Brussard, CCS development and marketing director.

CCS is one of five charities that KSL-TV picked to be a part of the KSL-Cares campaign. The other four charities are The Road Home, United Way of Salt Lake, YWCA Salt Lake City and Primary Children's Medical Center.

Each charity has been profiled by the news station; now it is up to the community to decide which will win $20,000. The four charities that don't win will each receive $1,250. The winner will be announced in early June.

To vote for CCS, go to KSL TV's Facebook page, www.facebook.com/kslcom?ref=ts, or to the KSL web page, www.ksl.com, and cast a ballot. Participants can vote for a charity once per day from now until May 28.

"CCS is all of us coming together as a community, who understand and just want to help those in need," said Brussard. "We all need support; CCS needs people to support it, too."