Lesle Knop is the executive director of the archdiocesan office of stewardship and development. You can email her at: lesleknop@archkck.org
by Lesle Knop
During recent disastrous hurricanes in our country, I couldn’t help but notice that social media, national media and even the local television stations were eagerly promoting a major charity for hurricane relief — while the disaster was still occurring.
What an accomplishment for this marketing giant. With these juggernaut fundraising expenditures, I wondered what percentage of a person’s gift to this organization would actually reach the people they intended to help.
Meanwhile, Catholic Relief Services, which does not feature celebrity spokespersons and telethons in every media market, sends more than 94 percent of each dollar raised for humanitarian relief to more than 120 million people in more than 100 countries throughout the world.
In our Catholic schools, dedicated teachers, staff and administrators quietly make sacrifices every day based on the needs of their students and produce excellent results. They do this without a state-mandated taxpayer subsidy, but with the sacrificial gifts of parishioners, fees and tuition paid by their students’ families, and other charitable gifts made to scholarship funds.
I am amazed by our archdiocese’s Catholic Charities organization, which serves the poor, feeds the hungry, clothes the naked and ministers to the infirm and elderly every day.
I am impressed by our Catholic colleges that educate diverse populations and first-generation immigrants. I admire the ministries of our archdiocese and the many ways that they help to lead souls to Christ throughout our 21 counties and 106 parishes.
That’s why I. Give. Catholic.
We are blessed. We tend and nurture our gifts. And we give back. There is an element of sacrifice found in everything we choose to do as Christian stewards and disciples of Jesus Christ. St. Paul challenged people of his day to think about the sacrifices they would need to make in order to help others.
This year, on “Giving Tuesday,” the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, I hope that you will join me in participating in the first crowdfunding Catholic effort called #iGiveCatholic,” sponsored in our Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas.
The program has been made possible by a gift from the Catholic Foundation of Northeast Kansas which is organizing the effort.
If your parish or Catholic organization would like to participate, please contact Kathryn Robards at the foundation by calling (913) 647-3060 or email her at: krobards@archkck.org.
Be watching on Giving Tuesday for #iGiveCatholic promotions in northeast Kansas.
The program began two years ago in one diocese. Like a prairie fire, it has been adopted this year by the International Catholic Stewardship Council and is spreading across the country.
Together, our collective giving could show America, without costing a fortune to implement, that there are many, many people like you who give Catholic, too.
