Throughout the stay-at-home orders, Catholic Charities of St. Louis has continued serving people in need. The agencies’
COVID-19 relief efforts will benefit from a concert hosted at the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis. Meanwhile, after a temporary closure for deep cleaning, St. Patrick Center’s main building is reopening.
Saint Louis Cathedral Concerts, an independent nonprofit that brings internationally renowned musicians to St. Louis, will host an online concert to benefit Catholic Charities of St. Louis’ COVID-19 relief efforts.
The concert will feature tenor Scott Kennebeck, organist John Powell Walsh and John Korak on the trumpet. The free event will take place without an audience at the cathedral basilica at 7 p.m. Friday, May 1. Donations will be accepted during the concert directly on Catholic Charities’ website: www.CCSTL.org.
“I am excited to not only perform some beautiful sacred music with my friends that people can enjoy during this uncertain time, but also provide assistance for people in need,” said Kennebeck, who also is executive director of Saint Louis Cathedral Concerts.
Catholic Charities of St. Louis serves 11 counties. The organization helps people who are homeless, abused, struggling with addiction, or needing counseling, among other issues.
“We’re so grateful to Cathedral Concerts for shining this spotlight on our COVID-19 relief efforts,” said Theresa Ruzicka, president of Catholic Charities of St. Louis. “In addition to ministering to those already in our care — which includes residential clients at six of our eight agencies — we are responding to requests from people who have never before needed our help. Last year, our services impacted the lives of more than 107,000 people. As our community faces this new challenge, we expect the need for our assistance to grow dramatically.”
The concert will be streamed live on the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis website
(www.cathedralstl.org/live) and its YouTube and Facebook pages
(@cathedralstlmo). It will also be shown live on the Saint Louis Cathedral Concerts Facebook and YouTube pages
(@StLouisCathedralConcerts) as well as Catholic Charities’
(@ccstl). Donations can be made at www.ccstl.org during the concert.
St. Patrick Center services
St. Patrick Center, a Catholic Charities agency, has resumed in-person programs after a
COVID-19 exposure at its building on Tucker Boulevard and the suspension of some operations to alllow for a deep cleaning.
During the two weeks, the center continued to provide programs and services at other sites and remotely.
The Shamrock Club and Welcome Center once again are providing services to clients and the casserole and sack lunch program are helping feed clients daily.
St. Patrick Center, which assists people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, accepts food donations at its dock from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays. It also requests hand-sewn masks from anyone sewing/volunteering at home. St. Patrick Center is not accepting donations of clothing.
The Women’s Night Program clients and staff moved to the former Little Sisters of the Poor campus on North Florissant Avenue. It operates in collaboration with the City of St. Louis and partner agencies.
Kelly Peach, senior director of communications at St. Patrick Center, said the center continues social distancing, including use of cloth masks and staggering of staff, use of hand sanitizer and soap and more. Two staff members who were infected with
COVID-19 have recovered, Peach said.
For information on making donations of food, contact Katie Joseph at
[email protected] or (314) 802-1976. Monetary donations may be made online at stpatrickcenter.org/donate or to St. Patrick Center, 800 N. Tucker Boulevard, St. Louis, MO 63101.