Last Updated: Tuesday - 01/04/2011

CSS over the top

Sign of Hope campaign raises $1.52M

EDMONTON — Catholic Social Services has once again gone over the top with its Sign of Hope Campaign - this time by nine per cent.

The agency raised $1.52 million, surpassing the original campaign goal of $1.4 million by $120,000.

"I'm tremendously pleased and very thankful to the generosity of people," said campaign chair Jerry Manegre. "I think this demonstrates the confidence that people have in the work of Catholic Social Services."

Parishes in the Edmonton Archdiocese raised more than $300,000 of the total, with St. Thomas More Parish in Edmonton being the top parish contributor at $40,000.

Capital City Savings and Credit Union was again the campaign's top corporate donor, with a total of $42,000.

This is CSS' 17th annual campaign and by far the most successful in terms of the number of dollars raised over the original goal. The second closest was in 1997, when it raised $105,000 over the goal.

"This says Edmontonians and the Catholic community, especially those in the parishes, believe that the services we offer are good services, needed services and they believe they get high value for making a donation to the Sign of Hope," commented CSS spokesperson Marc Barylo.

"It also says the economy is improving and people are willing to dig a little deeper for us."

While each of the 120 programs operated by Catholic Social Services receives financial support from Sign of Hope, some have been targeted for extra dollars this year because of the limited outside funding they receive.

One of these is First Step program, a pilot prevention program initiated by Catholic Social Services in November 1999 to address the issue of fetal alcohol syndrome, an irreversible but preventable birth defect that causes neurological disability.

The program, which costs more than $200,000 annually to operate, helps women who are most at risk of giving birth to a child with fetal alcohol syndrome.

It's estimated that about one per cent of all children born in Alberta are affected by this disease and that more than 30 per cent of the 12,000 in care and more than 35 per cent of the youth and adults involved in the provincial and federal justice systems have fetal alcohol syndrome.

Other programs that will receive extra dollars from Sign of Hope this year are individual and family counselling services, the Elder Adult Resource/Support Service for the elderly who are abused, Safe House for street youth and Kairos I and II for persons with AIDS/HIV.

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