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New way of giving to help those in need

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As the Archdiocese prepares to celebrate Catholic Charities Month in September, parishioners are being reminded of a new way they can give and make a difference to the lives of those in need in the community.

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To simplify the giving process, Catholic Charities will soon be featured on the Archdiocese’s successful Find a Mass app. Through the ‘Giving’ page on the app, people will be able to make donations using a debit or credit card.

Manager Annie O’Neill said the additional online capability would make it even easier for people to assist the works of the Hutt St Centre, SA Catholic Deaf Association, Aboriginal Catholic Ministry, Centacare Catholic Family Services and Our Lady of La Vang and St Patrick’s Special schools, which are the six agencies supported by Catholic Charities.

“There is definitely a greater focus on online giving today,” Ms O’Neill said.

“Since we launched our online facility back in 2013 there has been a four-fold increase in donations made online. It cuts down on sending money via the post and is a quick and secure way for our donors to give and receive a tax deductible receipt straight away by return email.

“By adding the capability to donate through the Find a Mass app our generous supporters will be able contribute via the ‘Giving’ page and make either one-off or recurring donations.”

Ms O’Neill has been manager of Catholic Charities since 2012, having previously worked in the marketing department of the St Vincent de Paul Society. Born and raised a Catholic in Belfast, she worked in London for a range of high profile publishing companies for many years, before emigrating to Australia and moving to Adelaide in 2003.

Like many other charities, Ms O’Neill said Catholic Charities had been impacted by COVID, but she was confident things were returning to “normal”.

“With no Masses being celebrated there were no worshippers there to support our appeal in Catholic Charities Month last year. We’ve also noticed some fatigue in the community and the uncertainty for the future over jobs has had an impact on our appeals,” she said.

“However, we are looking forward to a good response from the parishes in September and we have a number of schools who are committed to a range of fundraising activities and events.

“Since Catholic Charities was started in 1941 we have raised millions of dollars for our agencies and we encourage everyone in a position to do so to once again dig deep and heed the call of St Mary MacKillop to ‘never see a need without doing something about it’.”

Catholic Charities runs four appeals throughout the year, with schools involved through the me4u campaign that was established in 2015.

“Through the me4u campaign schools play a crucial role in fundraising for Catholic Charities and over the years students have come up with very creative ways to support those in need in our community,” Ms O’Neill said.

“The me4u website has resources available including posters, stickers, badges and information on the agencies we support and schools can contact me for any of these resources or order them online.”

For more information go to www.adelaide.catholic.org.au/charity-and-giving/catholic-charities and www.me4u.org.au

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