Emma Beltowski wants to say “thank you” to all who have donated to the Diocese of Lansing’s Diocesan Services Appeal which allows Emma, and her food pantry team at Catholic Social Services of Washtenaw County, to serve more people in need. Thank you indeed. God bless you.

“We’ve been very fortunate to have the support of caring individuals and organizations across our community,” says Emma to FAITH Magazine, the official publication of the Diocese of Lansing.

Emma, who is coordinator of the Ann Arbor-based food pantry, says Diocesan Service Appeal dollars are proving particularly useful in helping them cope with the continued fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We are still much busier than we were before the pandemic,” says Emma. “We’re open on Tuesdays and Thursdays for curbside grocery pickup, and we see between 60 and 70 families come through each day. It’s a lot.”

It’s also a situation that’s unlikely to improve soon with many federal pandemic relief benefits for families expiring this year.

“Our organization and its food bank are here to help people regardless of the situations that bring them to us,” Emma says. “Sometimes the need is just situational and limited, where a person is having a hard time for a short period, while other folks have long-term needs requiring more. We are here to leverage all of it.”

The Diocesan Services Appeal or DSA is an annual appeal which is used to sustain the ongoing, day-to-day work of the Church across the Diocese of Lansing. Contributions are put to work, right away, in a multitude of ministries and activities that offer direct assistance to individuals and families and to our parishes, schools, and affiliated Catholic organizations.

The theme of this year’s DSA is “Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving”. The text, taken from the Book of Psalms, is aimed at reminding each of us of how we are to respond to the many gifts we have been given by God, including that great gift of His Son, truly present in the Holy Eucharist.

• Additional Material from “The Greater Work”, FAITH Magazine, April Edition. To read the article in full go to: https://faithmag.com/greater-work

• To find out more about Catholic Social Services of Washtenaw County and the food pantry go to: https://csswashtenaw.org/family-children/cssw-food-pantry/

• To find out more or to donate go to: https://www.dioceseoflansing.org/DSA