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Community Corner

Caring Circle Puts Church Principles into Action

Milton volunteers provide confidential assistance to those in need.

Patricia Kelleher is a founding member of the Caring Circle, a charitable project launched by the Milton Catholic Collaborative in January. With a confidential hotline, a core team of eight and more than 120 active volunteers, the Caring Circle helps those in need in the Milton/Quincy area, regardless of religious affiliation. Kelleher talked to columnist Julie Fay about the group's mission, as well as the challenges and rewards of actively reaching out to help. 

What are some ways the Caring Circle has helped people?

One recent example is that a family moved to Milton from another country. The mother contacted us, requesting clothing for her daughter and herself. We sent out an email to our volunteers, asking for donations. Volunteers from the three Catholic parishes dropped off the clothes, and we delivered them to the family. 

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We also provide meals to people staying in Hospitality Homes in town. [Hospitality Homes (www.hosp.org) arranges temporary housing accommodations for those visiting Boston for medical treatment. Patients and families stay in volunteer host homes.] We find out the foods they like, and prepare and deliver nutritious meals to them. 

What is the process?

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People needing assistance call our confidential hotline (617-337-3225). Someone from the core team returns the call within twelve hours, and we go from there. 

What is the demand?

We receive approximately fifteen calls a month. It’s not a high volume, and we’re trying to get the information out to people that we are available, and to call us if there’s a need. 

Have you gotten calls from people you couldn’t help?

We’ve had many calls for transportation, but we don’t want to replicate services provided by the or The Ride. We were also looking into liability issues, and it took us a while to get everything into place, to determine if this is something we want to pursue. It’s a real need, but we have to work out the insurance issues.   

We sometimes get calls for financial assistance. We cannot provide funds, but we have a resource manual and often refer people to other agencies that might be able to help. 

What was the motivation behind starting the Caring Circle?

The Catholic parishes in the Archdiocese of Boston (including , and in Milton) participated in a small-group faith sharing program, the main theme of which was social justice. The whole emphasis was that we have to be caring individuals and spread God’s good news by helping those in need. 

I started thinking about forming an outreach group at St. Mary’s. I felt that other [Christian] denominations have had programs like this in place for years. I don’t know why, but that hasn’t been something ingrained in Catholics. We need to be more concerned than just saying “I’ll pray for you.” We need to be getting in there to help and make a difference. 

Jim Burke had a similar idea over at St. Agatha’s. I spoke to Mary Gallagher [pastoral associate at St. Agatha's] and she pulled it together, because she knew Jim was thinking the same thing. I contacted the Rev. Parisa Parsa at , which has had a program like this in place for years. I also spoke with the Rev. Dr. Jeffrey Johnson, from . Both of them were so helpful and enthusiastically supportive. 

What keeps you going in this work?

I feel called to it. It’s love of God through love of neighbor. 

It helps people not to feel isolated, to realize that we care about each other. We don’t want anyone to feel alone and overwhelmed in a situation. We’re part of a community living in the town, and we want to help. 

Learn more about the Caring Circle and sign up to be a volunteer at www.miltoncatholic.org. For assistance, call the Caring Circle hotline at 617-337-3225. 

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