Social Justice Committee
WHAT WE DO
The Social Justice Committee facilitates parishioners participating in charity and justice outreach and advocacy, by educating parishioners and helping them to volunteer to help the poor and needy, and to be conscious of the sanctity of human life. Our Catholic social teachings are based on the sacredness of human life and the dignity of each human person.
You do not have to be on the Committee to participate in any of our outreach programs. If you’d like to volunteer in any way, please contact us!
SOCIAL COMMITTEE MEMBERS
Rachel Garcia (Chair)
Pat Bortle (Handicapables)
Jerry Crowley (Habit for Humanity)
Bill Kroenung (Sacred Heart Community Services)
Katherine Lambert
Jeannine Leichner
Roberta Witte (Farmworkers)
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES
Please check the Parish Pulse (e-Bulletin) or email Rachel Garcia for details about volunteering for these events.
On-Going Activities
Second Collection
Each quarter a second collection is taken at the end of Mass and divided between Sacred Heart Community Services and West Valley Community Services. It is taken the first Sundays of March, June, September and December to help with their outreach to those in need.
Park-it Market
Park-It-Market is a mobile food truck operated by West Valley Community Services. It offers free food to West Valley clients with barriers to transportation. Clients are allowed to select their own food items and do their own shopping. Sacred Heart parishioners volunteer the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of each month from 10:15am to noon, assisting at a senior low-income apartment complex.
Volunteering
Parishioners also volunteer regularly at West Valley Community Services, Sacred Heart Community Services and Martha’s Kitchen.
February
Rotating Safe Car Park (RSCP)
The RSCP’s mission is to create safe and welcoming spaces where guests who are living in their cars can sleep, stabilize, recover, and gain access to social services. During February, up to 20 vehicles park behind the Parish Center and the guests living in them are welcomed by parishioners and provided with food, beverages, and warmth.
March/April
Operation Rice Bowl (ORB)
Each Lent parishes in the Diocese of San Jose raise funds for Catholic Relief Services by making cardboard “rice bowls” available to parishioners. Parishioners are encouraged to make sacrifices such as having meatless meals, skipping movies or treats, and cutting back on optional spending. Money saved by their sacrifices is put into the “rice bowl”. “Rice bowls” are collected on Palm Sunday.
May
Food Collection Barrels
Barrels are placed in front of the church and on the Parish Center porch to collect non-perishable food such as canned meats, beans, rice and cereals for those with food insecurities. The donated items are given to Sacred Heart Community Services and West Valley Community Services.
July
Pack-a-Back
Donations of backpacks and school supplies are collected at the entrance to the church for the West Valley Community Services Pack-a-Back program, providing disadvantaged children with their school needs. WVCS also asks for volunteers to help set-up the backpacks.
June – October
Through the local harvesting season there are many migrant farmworkers in both Santa Clara and Monterey counties. This ministry is starting to work with Farmworkers Caravan to identify ways that Sacred Heart Parish can assist those who are working the local fields to gather the food we put on our own tables.
November
Turkey Collection
On the Monday before Thanksgiving parishioners bring turkeys to the Parish Center and a volunteer delivers them to Sacred Heart Community Services.
December
Christmas con Cariño
The Sacred Heart Women’s Club’s Advent project is to sew 100 Christmas stockings for needy children. And, of course, they also fill the stocking with toys, socks, hats, books, and candy. This is part of Christmas Con Cariño which collects and distributes over 6,000 stockings each year.
Food Collection Barrels
Barrels are placed in front of the church and on the Parish Center porch to collect non-perishable food such as canned meats, beans, rice and cereals. The donated items are given to Sacred Heart Community Services and West Valley Community Services.
Advent Giving Tree
Throughout Advent a Christmas tree is displayed in the church vestibule decorated with gold stars. Each star has a gift request from a member of a need family. It could be a request for a soccer ball, a toy for girl age 6-8, or a Safeway gift card for Mom. Parishioners select the item(s) they want to shop for and return the item the following Sunday. All these gifts are donated to Sacred Heart Community Services for parents to select and wrap for their families.
