Building on Current Momentum after a Retirement
“As a parish we've always done outreach for the poor, for people who need some food assistance and the person who organized those [outreach programs] was Sister Carmen Baca,” Rev. Bob Chorey, pastor of Our Lady of The Snows parish, said. “But when she retired in June, I wanted to take this [outreach program] and see how we can expand it and incorporate Catholic Charities. So this [food service] is part of this movement to help get our parish community better connected to the community around us and to take more action in serving.”
The third food distribution event, now known as Our Lady Snows Outreach, was held earlier this week. The service is operated in conjunction with Catholic Charities, a working relationship Chorey hopes will continue to expand as the outreach program grows.
“[Catholic Charities] can offer way more services,” Chorey said. “So my hope is to evolve our client list and also have Catholic Charities here on a regular basis to provide some of those services. Especially if people can't get down to Fourth Street, [Catholic Charities] can do some of their services here on-site for some of the people that come here.”
There have been lots of changes to volunteer and church meals in recent months, in the wake of evolving services for homeless services in the community and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Healthy food was being donated as part of the most recent outreach afternoon. There are no prerequisites or qualifications to receive food, as this outreach program is meant to help address anyone suffering in any way during the COVID-19 pandemic.
A Team of Volunteers Helping Our Community
“Basically, people just come in and my volunteers here pass out food,” Chorey said. “It doesn’t have to just be the homeless [being served] and nobody has to prove anything. It’s just about food insecurity given these times and knowing we're in this together because with the economic situation, there's now a lot of families in a food crisis.”
Our Lady of Snows is not the only parish that is running a food insecurity outreach program, as St. Peter’s in Sun Valley and St. Francis of Assissi in Incline Village have their own programs as well. According to Chorey, it’s all a part of these parishes working together to support their communities.
“We're all a part of the same umbrella of the Roman Catholic Diocese in Reno, so it's really working together to use our resources,” Chorey said. “In our own parish we have barrels where we collect food and we'll take it down to Catholic Charities and they bring up a bunch of other food here to distribute. So it's all of us working together really to help provide for the greater Northern Nevada community.”
Masked parishioners serving as volunteers participate in the program, as well as members of the Knights of Columbus who help carry boxes of foodstuffs for those that are unable to do it themselves.
A Plan to Expand Services
Moving forward, Chorey hopes to continue working with Catholic Charities to expand what’s offered to include social services like connecting people with immigration support and financial assistance to help clients pay their bills.
In the meantime, Our Lady of Snows Outreach will continue to be held on the first and third Tuesday of every month from 3:00-4:30 p.m., while Chorey looks to garner additional support from his parishioners.
“This is a wealthy parish and I want these people to see that they're blessed,” Chorey said. “Most of them really understand that they're blessed and are willing to share in this, but I want them to see at an even deeper level the impact they can do and that we’re part of this greater community. We're here to help. I want people to know who we are and to come on down and be served.”