By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
Representatives with the Kansas Department of Commerce made a stop in Hays on Monday at the new Catholic Charities location during its Community Impact Tour.
The stop was part of a weeklong tour of community projects across the state.
The tour also made stops in Ellis, Plainville, Colby and St. Francis on Monday.
The group toured the new Catholic Charities of Northern Kansas office and thrift store in Hays. The agency completed its move to the new location at 1011 Centennial Blvd. in December, relocating from its previous location on 12th Street. The thrift store celebrated its ribbon cutting in February.
The building was donated to Catholic Charities in late 2022.
Catholic Charities was awarded $150,000 in tax credits for the $1.2 million renovation of the new location. Those tax credits were leveraged to secure a $300,000 matching grant from the Patterson Family Foundation, said Megan Robl, executive director of Catholic Charities of Northern Kansas.
Catholic Charities assists families in poverty with food, hygiene products, diapers, clothes, prescriptions, and emergency rental and utility assistance.
The services are available to all who need them. You don't need to be Catholic to receive assistance.
Cameras and new locks were installed in the new building to enhance security, Robl said.
The new building features offices that offer privacy for consultations with clients. The region's pregnancy support and adoption program is also housed in the new building.
A van based in Hays also provides mobile assistance to rural communities in Kansas. The mobile unit offers both food boxes and hygiene kits.
Catholic Charities just announced it will be providing mobile services in Colby.
However, Robl said she would like to see a small office in Colby eventually.
"That's how we establish relationships with those families, so when they have other needs, they'll call us," Robl said.
Colby is the 11th stop on the mobile unit's monthly route. The Colby services will start in May.
The Hays office has a new freezer, so Catholic Charities has launched a campaign for donations of chicken, pork or beef that can be added to food boxes.
Shannon Werth is the director of the newly opened thrift store.
"Since we opened, we have had some of the kindest, most thoughtful donations," she said.
The store requests gently used clothing so clients can maintain their dignity. Those items that don't meet the thrift store's standards are baled to be sent to Catholic missions overseas.
If clients qualify based on income, they can receive two pairs of pants and two shirts every other month, free of charge. They can also request shoes.
If they are hired for a job, clients can request assistance with work clothes. If the store receives donations of steel-toed boots, they keep those for clients. During the winter, clients and their children can receive coats.
Catholic Charities also works with Oxford Houses, which are cooperative living homes for people in recovery from substance abuse.
"A lot of those clients come in with just the clothes on their backs," Werth said. "We like to start them off with five pairs of socks, five pairs of underwear, jeans and shirts so they can get out in the workforce."
Oxford House residents are required to pay rent and a portion of the expenses for the houses in which they live.
Two bikes donated to Catholic Charities are being given to Oxford Houses to help residents get to work.
The thrift store is open to the public from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Thursday, and from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Friday. Donations of gently used clothing, household items and small appliances are accepted 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday. Those with questions about donations may contact Werth at 785-625-2644.
For more information about the thrift store or other services provided by Catholic Charities of Northern Kansas, visit www.ccnks.org/thrift-store-hays or contact us at www.ccnks.org/contact or 785-825-0208.
The Commerce group also visited the Ellis restroom, bathhouse and accessible playground at the Ellis Lakeside Campground; Letha's venue in Plainville; Nesting, a baby boutique in Colby; and 202 on Washington, a venue in St. Francis.