St. Maria Goretti

“We should not serve the poor like they were Jesus.
We should serve the poor because they are Jesus.”
– St. Teresa of Calcutta

The HELP Committee’s mission is to reach out to those in need right here in Hamilton County.
We do this in a variety of ways, whether it be through assisting families who have experienced a personal crisis, providing means for an education, or supplying meals and gifts during Thanksgiving and Christmas.

There are a number of ways you can help in our mission to serve those in our community.

Be a Caller:  We need help contacting those we are serving (“Clients”) to verify personal information (i.e. clothing sizes, ages, gift ideas, etc.). This is done each October and can be done from home.

Cut /Tie Angel Tags:  Simply cut rectangles (we provide the paper) that will be used as the Angel Tags (i.e. gift tags) and attach strings to each tag so the Angel Trees can be hung on the Angel Trees. This can be done throughout the year anytime and can be done at home.

Angel Tag Writing:  This is done each year to prepare for our gift drive as volunteers help transfer information from the Client sheets to the Angel Tags.  No need to register, just show up! Dates can be found in our bulletin.

Deliveries:  Deliver food and gifts to the Clients as an individual or with your whole family. Simply pull up in your vehicle in front of the Parish Hall and items will be placed in your trunk. You will be given a map with the address and name and number for the Client – all you need to do is deliver! No need to register, just grab a Commitment Card when they are passed out at Mass in advance of the deliveries, then show up! If you didn’t pick up a Commitment Card, you can show up anyway. Check the bulletin for Thanksgiving and Christmas delivery dates and times.

Present Sorting:  Come to the present rooms and assist us with sorting presents for each of the families we are sponsoring. Sorting will happen throughout the month of December. Look for announcements in the bulletin as well as on Facebook for specific days and times.

Purchase Gifts on Angel Tags:  Angel Tags are placed on Angel Trees in advance of Christmas. Parishioners are asked to pick tags from the trees in the Church Narthex, purchase the item on the tags, wrap the gifts, and place wrapped gifts back under the tree at least a week before our delivery weekend.

Shoppers:  During the final week, we need volunteers to run out to local stores and purchase gifts on our behalf. These are Angel Tags not taken from the Angel Tree, tags that were taken but never brought back, etc. We will notify via Facebook and the bulletin days/times needed for shoppers as we get closer to the date.

Final Check:  This is a HUGE effort, and we need many volunteers to assist! During the final 2-3 days before delivery, we need volunteers to do final tallying for each of our 150 families. Volunteers will use our tally sheets to ensure each member of each family received all necessary gifts. Once we confirm everything is there, we place all gifts in large black trash bags, zip tie the top, label the bags, and break down the white collection boxes. The maintenance crew takes care of transporting the white boxes back to the attic for us. Days/times for the final check will also be placed in the bulletin as well as on Facebook.

If you’re interested in joining our efforts in spreading God’s love through acts of mercy and have more questions, just fill out the form below: