Good Works!

Guadalupe Social Services

Soup Kitchen

Often the only meal of their day, several hundred hungry members of the community come to our Church for lunch - Mondays through Fridays.  The dining room seats maybe 50 people, but lunches are served every half hour, beginning at 10:30 AM.  Five to six lunch sittings is normal on a given day.  

The staff, some paid but most volunteers, are caring, friendly, and efficient.  Above are several of the kitchen staff, finished with their preparations and ready to serve the meal.

Often, the patrons are field workers who were unable to find work that day picking tomatoes or oranges.  Many of the patrons are also the elderly, and mothers and their young, not yet school age children.

The food served each day varies, often depending on what was donated by other Church communities, and moneys available. 

Clothing Bin and Public Showers

Another line forms each morning for clothing. The clothing is free, though usually a donation of a dollar is requested to take a large bag of clothing.  In the picture above, the temperature dipped in Immokalee and many were frantic for warm clothing for themselves and their children.

Work in the fields is very hard on clothing. Men often need  replacement jeans, and long sleeve shirts - and so donations of men's clothing disappear quickly.

The pictures above and below show the public showers available on the Church property during the day.  Those who do not have decent bathrooms in their homes and trailers can come and recieve a towel, bar of soap and a warm shower, and the use of the other amenities in a simple, but clean bathroom.

Coalition of Immokalee Workers

Since its inception, our Church and the Catholic Diocese of Venice has partnered with the efforts of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers - an organization which fights for the basic human rights of the field workers in Immokalee, in Florida, and with other organizations, for workers in the rest of the United States.

Much of their energies are devoted to assisting immigrants, and in particular those without proper legal status; who are so-often taken advantage of by farmers, contractors, and large multinational corporations who ignore their poverty and need, but use their labor for their own financial benefit.  At times the Coalition has assisted State and Federal authorities to help discover and break up slave rings in Southern Florida.

Members of the Coalition stand in front of a sign which tells the workers in the town that they will have a march in front of the national headquarters of Burger King, demanding fair wages for tomato field workers.  The Coalition has already reached agreements with McDonalds and Taco Bell, to pay workers a penny more per pound of tomatoes picked.  This would almost double the present salary of the poor in Immokalee. So far, Burger King refuses to increase salaries of tomato pickers, and has begun a reactionary campaign to diffuse the efforts of the Coalition.

For more information on the Coalition, you can find their website by clicking on the following link:

http://www.ciw-online.org/

Catholic Charities Office

The Diocese has established a Catholic Charities office on the property of our Church.  This has proved to be a tremendous blessing for the community of Immokalee.

Food Pantry

Early each morning a line forms outside of the Catholic Charities office, and when the office opens, the people are ready to receive a limited number of bags of groceries which are handed out each day. 

Various Churches and volunteers help to bring and stock food for the soup kitchen and food pantry.  This help is a blessing upon the community of Immokalee, and the volunteers always seem happy serving the Lord in this capacity.

Counseling Services

 The Counselors at the Catholic Charities office face a difficult task every day - assessing the needs of the people to try to meet the greatest needs in a community with seemingly limitless need. 

Sick children in need of expensive  medicine, a months rent or the family is put out on the street, helping with a bill for electricity in the middle of summer so a household can have air conditioning - or at least a fan running - in the oppressive heat, sharing food, or talking to the innumerable people who simply come to find help with family problems, violence, depression, mental illness - with limited counselors, and  limited resources - the good you do is so often overshadowed by the good you are unable to do.

 Fortunately, the counselors place their trust in God, and in faith they know that with the little they are able to do - God will do great things to build his Kingdom.

Carnaval!!!!!!

The five day Carnaval is the primary annual fundraiser of the Church.  Strangely, the proceeds come largely from the parishioners to meet some of the needs of the same parishioners.  More than this, the Carnaval is a festival of great importance to the community.  It is a time of celebration of culture - Latin and Haitian.  There are not only rides and games, but traditional foods, and dancing. 

Click on the picture below to visit our Carnaval!!

Visit the Carnaval!!! Click on the picture above!!

In Immokalee there is no movie theater, no bowling alley, no arcade, no mall.  Most people do not own TVs or computers.  Besides the very popular football games at the local High School, there are no other diversions for the people.  So the Carnaval is huge - not just for the members of the Church, but for the whole town.  People celebrate at the Carnaval like at no other time of the year.  People put aside money all year long for the Carnaval - so their children can have tickets for the rides.  And all year long people talk about how much fun the Carnaval was, and how much they are looking forward to its return the following year.

Above, Fr. Patrick welcomes some of the parishioners to the Carnaval.

Knights of Columbus

The Knights are an important arm of the Church community.  Aside from cooking dinners, and running fundraisers, the Knights are leaders in the community, teaching through example the importance of Volunteerism, and faithful service of God and neighbor.  At Our Lady of Guadalupe, we love our Knights of Columbus - and they love the people!!! 

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