The invitation to love

We’re human, and with our humanity comes assumptions and judgements that we must constantly attempt to overcome and pray to be better.”

Audrey Ickes

I wasn’t there, but I can feel her racing heartbeat — feel her hands shake as she turned off the ignition, letting the hum of the engine die and the radio cease, leaving only the thump, thump, thump rushing through her ears.

I wasn’t there, but I can feel the deep breath she took, filling her lungs with air and her being with courage as she stepped out of the car, walked across the parking lot, and opened the dark glass door.

I can see her, before the front desk, her mouth opening and closing, trying to hurdle the ball in her throat and wrangle stubborn tears back to their watery wells.

I wasn’t there, but I felt like I was after a staff member told me about an encounter with a new neighbor one evening in our Food Pantry.

When I began working at Catholic Charities of Central and Northern Missouri (CCCNMO), someone asked me about the people we serve.

“Is it, you know…” she paused, her eyebrows raising, attempting to relay with her eyes what she wished her mouth not to say.

“Junkies, criminals,” she whispered.

Growing up in mid-Missouri, I realize we live in a place of proud, hardworking people — a region where the word “charity” often equates to “handout,” and thus sets off alarms.

We’re human, and with our humanity comes assumptions and judgements that we must constantly attempt to overcome and pray to be better.

Yet, thoughts linger.

I wasn’t there when the woman, anxious and ashamed, came to our Food Pantry, but I felt as though I was when emotion still wracked the voice of our staff member after her encounter, not with a “junkie” or “criminal” but with a nurse, working full-time as a single mother.

“I have fed my kids the same thing the last six days in a row,” the nurse confessed to our staff member through both of their tears. “And I can’t do that again tonight.”

Poverty, vulnerability, has no single face, history, or situation.

Families, with both parents working full-time, can’t always make ends meet.

College students, even while working multiple jobs, often come up short for basics like food and clothing when tuition and housing consume nearly every dollar.

Seniors who saved carefully years ago find they can’t stretch their fixed income to cover today’s cost of living.

People come to Catholic Charities from all walks of life, yet they have one thing in common — they need help.

No one should feel ashamed to ask for help.

Just as God shows us, his children, endless mercy, so too are we called to show our brothers and sisters that same mercy and love.

Love and mercy become real when we listen and respond to the needs of the vulnerable.

What do you see in our community?

What do you hear?

What services in our 38-county diocese lie out of reach?

Who needs extra support?

How can we help? 

These are not just questions for Catholic Charities — they are questions for all of us as a Church.

That is why we’re asking for your voice in our 2025 Community Needs Assessment.

No matter how you come to us, whether in need or offering support, your perspective matters.

I often find people have the simple life-desire to “help others.”

You might not be at the stage in life where you have the time or ability to volunteer or the means to donate, but you can still help — right here, right now — by scanning the QR code below to take our short Community Needs Assessment and share it with friends, family, and colleagues.

We especially need to hear from our Spanish-speaking neighbors.

Families who live, work, and worship alongside us often face barriers to services or simply don’t know where to turn.

Their voices must be part of this picture if we want to respond as the Body of Christ.

The nurse who came into our Food Pantry carried the weight of presumptions with her.

Now, when she needs to return, she comes back lighter, freer, knowing we are here to help — to show Christ’s love and mercy to all who walk through our doors.

Vulnerability invites love.

How will you respond?

2025 Community Needs Assessment

Insights you share in this short, anonymous assessment, directly impacts CCCNMO’s three-year strategic plan to intentionally build programs that don’t duplicate existing services but instead fill critical gaps, helping neighbors from dependency to self-sufficiency.

At the end of the assessment, you may choose to enter your email address if you’d like to be included in a random drawing for one of forty $25 gift cards — your responses will remain anonymous and won’t be linked to your email.

Visit cccnmo.diojeffcity.org  to take part today.