ST. CLOUD (WJON News) -- A local nonprofit has kicked off its annual end-of-the-year appeal. Catholic Charities' "Make God's Love Visible" campaign will continue through the end of the year.

They offer over 20 programs serving 16 counties in central Minnesota. They are probably most well known for their food shelf. Last year they distributed more than two million pounds of food and they are on track to surpass that this year.

Organizational Advancement Director Chad Johnson says senior dining is another flagship program.

Almost 400,000 meals were served to seniors age 60 and older last year, and we'll be doing that again this year.  Other programs we have are affordable transitional housing programs and programs for single mothers with children.

Other Catholic Charities programs include financial housing counseling and two mental health programs.

Johnson says the nonprofit is funded in part by grants and services fees, but they need donations from the community to help cover the funding gap. He says their annual appeal typically raises between $200,000 and $300,000.

We really are like every nonprofit in the area, we're feeling it this year with the rising costs, it's not just the for-profit world that's getting hit with rising costs.  So we need to reach out to the community and get as much support as we possibly can because the last thing we want to do is have to scale back any of our program offerings.

Catholic Charities has an annual budget of $18 million. They have over 300 employees. They also have over 1,500 volunteers that provide more than 165,000 hours of volunteer time.

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Catholic Charities is separate from the Diocese of St. Cloud but they service the same geographical area.

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