Catholic Charities of West Tennessee

Catholic Charities of West Tennessee (CCWTN) has served our community's most vulnerable regardless of their religious beliefs, socio-economic status or ethnic background, for over the past 50 years. Our staff and over 1,000 volunteers collaborate with community partners in supporting clients to achieve financial stability and self-sufficiency.

We provided services to 24,500+ unduplicated clients this fiscal year. . Since the start of the pandemic, CCWTN has seen a staggering spike in services needed. CCWTN offers a wide range of needed services to the community, and in two of those programs, we are specifically focusing on building relationships in order to better serve our neighbors and community. Serve Love, Build Community goes a step beyond distributing needed items and gets to know our neighbors in their journey. 

For the Midtown Outreach Center component, we will sustain the pandemic-induced expansion, due to continued need. This includes three staff positions, distribution of 2,800 daily nutrition bags a month, and enrollment of at least 100 individuals annually.

For the Tiny Blessings component, our pilot year reached 141 Unduplicated Households consisting of 417 individuals. Three cooking classes took place. The goal for the two-year expansion will be 175 households annually, six cooking classes a year, and at least one peer-led activity annually.

Serve Love, Build Community focuses resources on these relational components that are at the core of what it means to build community—moving beyond food and clothing and into the realm of trust and support on the path to self-sufficiency.  Our programs provide for basic needs and relational support as a piece of a client's self-sufficiency journey. Through partner resources, the support of over 1,000 volunteers, and the clients themselves, the path out of poverty is one on which the community travels together.