SERVING OUR
COMMUNITY
Catholic Charities of Milwaukee
Mission
The mission of Catholic Charities is to "provide service to those in need, to advocate for justice, and to call upon others to do the same". Catholic Charities of Milwaukee has been serving those in need since 1920 with locations in Milwaukee, Waukesha, Beaver Dam, Fond du Lac, Kenosha, Racine, Hartford, Sheboygan, and Elkhorn. Catholic Charities of Milwaukee provides adoption services, adult day services, community counseling, hoarding intervention and treatment, in-home support, pregnancy and parenting support, refugee and immigration services, and more. Learn more about Catholic Charities of Milwaukee here.
Volunteer
There are multiple volunteer opportunities with Catholic Charities. To view available areas, click here.
Donate
Catholic Charities accepts donations of baby wipes, disinfectant wipes, hand sanitizer, shampoo, soap, and cleaning supplies. To see full wish list, click here. To learn more about financial contributions, click here.
Christ Child Society
Christ Child Society is a non-profit, all volunteer organization dedicated to expressing the love of the Christ Child through service to children in the Milwaukee area. Christ Child Society donates clothing for newborns, offers parental support, tutors and assists in the library at Blessed Savior South School, assists with vision screenings, and more. Learn more at their website here.
Franciscan Peacemakers
Franciscan Peacemakers connects women survivors of sexual exploitation to safe housing, meaningful work and a healing network of support. We work for an end to human sex trafficking through service and advocacy because we believe that everyone is created to enjoy peace and all good. We provide a pathway to sustainable, healthy, safe, and productive lives for women engaging in prostitution due to trauma, human sex trafficking or drug addiction.
To learn more about how to donate or volunteer, click here.
Hope Center
Hope Center is a non-profit organization that has been serving the basic needs of financial assistance, food, and clothing in Waukesha County for more than thirty years.
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Hope Center reaches out in a caring manner, always trying to help people help themselves; hopefully empowering them to have the best possible quality of life given their limitations. We recognize the dignity of each individual no matter what his or her personal circumstance may be, and we always strive to bring HOPE to those living in despair.
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Hope Center runs on donations, grants, and through the volunteer efforts of caring people in our community. For more information see our website.
House of Peace
Our Mission: Inspired by the gospel of Jesus and the example of Francis of Assisi, the Capuchin friars of the Province of Saint Joseph, together with our partners in ministry, prayerfully build sister-brotherhood in the world. We attend simply and directly to spiritual and other basic human needs, especially those of people experiencing poverty and disenfranchisement, promoting justice for all. Our guests come from all walks of life. Each one of our guests has a story. Those who frequent the House of Peace are often employed, but unable to make ends meet, or are experiencing chronic poverty. When our guests arrive at the House of Peace they find a place where someone cares and where they can get the little extra help they need.
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Capuchin Community Services is a site-specific, volunteer-driven ministry carrying out the works of mercy. Our two sites, the House of Peace and Saint Ben’s Community Meal, have unique yet connected missions: to help families stay together, and to help people struggling with poverty and homelessness. Driving these ministries are our volunteers, people of good will who donate their time on a weekly or monthly basis. If you have a gift, an area of expertise you feel called to share, or want to respond to the most pressing needs, you are welcome. It happens just as often that people who come to serve discover gifts they didn’t know they had.
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We are committed to hosting guests and volunteers in a supportive, joyful, and safe environment. Your volunteer service might bring you in direct contact with our guests, or place behind the scenes supporting the operations, or something in between. Let us discern this together! Sometimes the work is challenging, but you will never be left on your own – that’s our faith-based commitment to everyone who comes to our sites. Apply to volunteer here.
La Sagrada Familia
For the past 40 years, the Archdiocese of Milwaukee in conjunction with the Office for World Mission has been United at the Heart in Faith and Action with La Sagrada Familia Parish in Sabana Yegua, Dominican Republic. Holy Apostles has been a sister parish of La Sagrada Familia for over 10 years, with a special focus on outreach to the Haitian population. Through the years, our parish has assisted in fund raising for many building improvement projects, a large water reservoir project, and supported several additional ministries in the area including elderly outreach and nutrition centers. Our parishioners travel yearly to Sabana Yegua to show our support and build relationships with the many people we serve. Our ministry has been able to offer medical and dental clinics for the community which have been especially well received in areas without access to local healthcare services.
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If you would like to get involved, please contact Lisa Abbott at lisa.abbott@aah.org or 414-303-8450.
MacCanon Brown
Homeless Sanctuary
Mission
We create a daytime sanctuary and multi-resource center for homeless and at-risk individuals with core values of healing, spirituality, recovery, peer empowerment, dignity, nonviolence, advocacy, voice, sustainability and mutual transformation. This sanctuary is a place to be, belong and become within a transformational solidarity community--interfaith, nonpartisan, intercultural, and noncanonical--a racially and economically diverse family of hope. We seek to strengthen Milwaukee’s overwhelmed safety net.
Doorway Ministry
Operating hours for Doorway Ministry services and donations:
Tuesdays from 11:00 am - 1:30 pm, at 2461 West Center Street
Doorway Ministry is a walk-in, first come-first served service. Anyone in need is welcome at Doorway Ministry. We serve households and individuals in the Greater Milwaukee area who are facing scarcity. We address basic human needs and are helping to reverse poverty and homelessness by providing food and other essentials. While we are primarily a walk-in service, MBHS also receives referrals from the Crisis line, and police send people in need from other parts of Milwaukee. Providing guests with a week's worth of food is our primary goal. We also distribute hygiene products, clothing, coats, blankets, household products, bikes, and more. Volunteer nurses are available to meet with guests at DM.
Meal Program
12:00 to 2:00 pm at Hephatha Lutheran Church, 1720 West Locust Street
Hot Meals are part of our Fantastic Fridays at Hephatha Lutheran Church. Guests can eat a hot meal on site. We also have hot meals to go. Because meals are provided by friends and partners of MBHS, food varies week to week.
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Mercy Mats
Every week at Holy Apostles, a group gathers to create "Mercy Mats" for the homeless for MBHS. These mats are made out of strips of plastic bags that are crocheted together. To learn more, contact Kris Kodaski at kkodaski@aol.com. Go to the Holy Apostles Events page here to see upcoming dates.
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Contact
Learn more about MBHS at the website here or call the MBHS Welcome Center at 414-404-0600.
New Berlin Food Pantry
The New Berlin Food Pantry is a non-profit service organization staffed entirely by volunteers. It was started by the original New Berlin Women’s Club in the 1980’s. It moved into its current location at the Community Center (14750 West Cleveland Avenue) in 2007. The pantry receives all its funding from the community including food and cash. We have strong support from area churches, businesses, service clubs, police and fire, scouts and individuals. The pantry serves clients living in New Berlin, Brookfield, and Elm Grove.
We are open every Wednesday to receive donations from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm & serve clients from 12:00 to 5:15 pm. We can always use extra volunteers for food drives - feel free to stop in to inquire or call (262) 789-8040.
St. Bakhita Catholic Worker House
The St. Bakhita Catholic Worker House has two goals. First, we follow the example of Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker movement, teaching and living every day the Beatitudes proclaimed by Jesus in His Sermon on the Mount. Second, in partnership with the Franciscan Peacemakers Clare Community, we help to provide supportive community housing for women who are survivors of sexual exploitation. Women making that transition benefit from the spiritual nourishment and community-building that are part of the Catholic Worker tradition.
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We are open and deeply appreciative to welcome volunteers to help with special projects or on a regular part-time basis. Women who may be interested in a full-time volunteer commitment are encouraged to contact us. Any financial support to the nonprofit mission would also be profoundly appreciated.
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The executive director is Anne Haines, a former student at Holy Apostles, who has been passionate about the Catholic Worker movement for years. They are located in the former Capuchin Franciscan friary located at 3138 N. 2nd Street in Milwaukee. Please check out the website to see how you can get involved to serve.
St. Joseph's Tool Chest
Mission and History
St. Joseph's Tool Chest was founded by Ron Kroll after he went on a mission to the Working Boys Center, Quito, Ecuador in February 2008. Ron, the owner of a tool and die company, quickly realized the need for modern tools at the Center. He started St. Joseph's Tool Chest in Sussex, WI with the aim of getting individuals to donate unwanted tools that could be refurbished. In 2015, the Divestment Club of New Berlin was considering a second monetary donation to SJTC. During an interview, Ron said he was dealing with some health issues and wondered if the Divestment Club would be interested in taking over SJTC. Bill Jonas, now President of SJTC, and Gene Kaczkowski, Secretary, agreed to take over but the operation had to be moved to New Berlin.
Operations in New Berlin began in a barn and adjacent workshop space on Observatory Road donated by HA parishioners Jen and Peter Macakanja. As St. Joseph’s Tool Chest grew, more space was required and was obtained in January 2021 at a second location in the Moorland Industrial Center, 2704 South 163rd Street (163rd and West Cleveland Avenue). Learn more about St. Joseph's Tool Chest at their website here.
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The mission of SJTC is to gather unwanted tools of all kinds, refurbish them to near new condition and redistribute them, free of charge, to people and organizations that can make use of them. The tools we most often gather are the kind you find at Menards and Home Depot. In 2021 SJTC shipped out 5,949 tools!
Volunteer Opportunities
Volunteer duties are based on your talents or interests and may include: participation in an annual tool drive, April Tools Day; going to the donor’s location to pick up tools; testing donated tools for usability; cleaning tools of rust and dirt most often by using powered wire wheels, sanding wheels, or a sandblaster; replacing broken parts; refinishing surfaces; boxing up tools for shipment; and delivering refurbished tools. Currently the workshop is regularly open Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, 9:00 am - 12:00 pm, but other times can be made available. The times for tool pickup and delivery are made to suit our clients.
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Donations
SJTC is certified by the IRS as a charitable organization under section 501 (3) (c) and operates as a not-for-profit. There are currently 26 volunteers involved with SJTC. No one is paid. All tools are given away, free of charge. But we have all the expenses of a going business: rent, utilities, shop supplies, tool parts, office supplies, etc. We would sincerely appreciate any monetary donations.
Contact
Bill Jonas, President: (262) 439-913
Gene Kaczkowski, Secretary: (414) 801-0511
View the website here.
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St. Vincent de Paul Society
The Mission
The St. Vincent de Paul Society mission is to help the needy in countless ways, primarily through one-on- one contact of volunteers with families and the homeless. We respond to calls for help by making a home visit to provide tangible assistance on a person-to-person basis. The assistance can include emergency rent, utilities, food, clothing, household goods and referral services. We work to get people" back on their feet." While the services we provide are important, what stands out is our outreach of friendship through our person-to-person contacts. During a crisis, many simply need to know that someone cares.
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Volunteer
In order to volunteer, you must become a member of our Holy Apostles/Elizabeth Seton conference which meets monthly to discuss the needs presented. If this is something you would be interested in, please contact Bob Nolan at (414) 425-9061 or rknolan987@aol.com. If you wish to make monetary contributions, there are poor boxes located at entrances to the church and in the Welcome Center. We are part of the Waukesha County Council. Check out their website here.
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Meal Program
For over 39 years, the St. Vincent de Paul Meal Program has provided hot nutritious meals to children and adults in Milwaukee County. Due to the evolving Covid-19 crisis, the SVdP Meal Program has modified its services to ensure the safety of guests, volunteers, and staff. All recommended CDC guidelines and social distancing are strictly followed to ensure the safety and health of all involved. SVdP serves “to go” dinner 6 nights per week (Sunday – Friday), 5:00 – 6:00 pm. The dining room is currently not open. Volunteers are welcome between 3:00 – 6:00 pm. Masks & proper PPE is required. Learn more about the St. Vincent de Paul Meal Program here.
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Siena House
Emergency Shelter
Siena House is the emergency shelter located at 1519 Summit Avenue in Waukesha (operated by Hebron House Services) that serves single men. Their mission is to provide warm, safe shelter for those in crisis and bring hope and dignity back to those in need in the community. The Siena House is equipped to serve up to 18 men at any given time, offering a safe and warm place to sleep, shower, and receive meals.
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Volunteering for the Meal Program
Holy Apostles has committed to provide meals eight times a month on Wednesdays and Saturdays at the Siena House. Learn more here or sign up to make a meal here.
Donations
In addition to meals, these shelters also welcome donations of new socks, new underwear, toiletries, towels, laundry supplies, and cleaning supplies (needs may vary month to month).
Contact
Please contact Kelli Owen at kelliowen1@gmail.com or Heather Borchardt at hborchardt812@gmail.com if you have any questions.
Sojourner Family Peace Center
The Sojourner Family Peace Center in Milwaukee provides an array of support to nearly 8,000 clients each year aimed at helping families affected by domestic violence to achieve safety, justice, and well-being. They are currently seeking volunteers, financial donations, and physical donations to assist these families and children who are struggling to obtain their basic needs due to a violent living situation. Learn more at their website here.
Special Needs Ministry
The mission of Holy Apostles’ Special Needs Ministry is to organize community building events with the purpose of providing positive social experiences for adults with special needs (16 years and older) and make them available free of charge. Over the years our ministry has expanded sponsoring dances, craft day, bingo, bowling, carnival, picnic, field day and a Christmas luncheon. These events have the atmosphere of gatherings with good friends. We have volunteer opportunities ranging from pre-event set up/decorating, meeting/greeting/visiting with guests, serving food/prizes, and breakdown/cleaning up post event. If you have any interest in this ministry, please contact Ed Rivard at edivard60@att.net, Beth Enea at eenea812@hotmail.com, or Stephanie Arcuri at steph_arcuri@hotmail.com