History

1943

Established by Bishop C.H. Winkelmann as Catholic Charities Bureau. Primary focuses included caring for children at St. Joseph’s Home, securing adoption placements, and providing limited family counseling. Led by a priest-director, Rev. Thomas P. Ryan, and a part-time assistant. 

1951

Officially incorporated as a non-profit and formed its first board of directors.

1954

Organization’s name changed to Catholic Social Service, Inc.

1975

Opened Downtown Center for Older Adults (later to become Adult Day Services) with 18 clients at 437 N. Topeka. 

1977

The Claver Community Center, a second location for adult services, opened at 1205 N. Indiana with 26 clients.

1980

Mount St. Mary’s Learning Lab began helping the growing refugee population with English as a second language and with adjusting to American culture. By 1985, the program added migrant education, GED, and citizenship courses. Computers were added to increase technology literacy. The Learning Lab eventually merged with with the Midtown Learning Center in 2001.

1981

Adopted the Foster Grandparent program that matched special needs children with low-income seniors. 

1987

Catholic Social Services (our name at the time) expanded into Southeast Kansas, offering counseling services in conjunction with the Diocese of Wichita in the Southeast Kansas Pastoral Center in Parsons, KS. The Southeast Kansas office later relocated to Pittsburg in 1990.

1987

Adult Day Services expanded to include clients with physical disabilities and people living with Alzheimer’s. 

1988

Anthony Family Shelter opened in response to a growing number of families in need of shelter and homeless services. Families experiencing homelessness began to replace the homeless stereotype of the older, single man. 

1989

Established the Harvest House program to keep retired members of the Diocese of Wichita parishes active in the community and church. Although no longer a Catholic Charities program, it now has thousands of members and numerous sites throughout the Diocese. 

1989

Began the St. Dismas Missioners prison ministry through the leadership of Sr. Therese Wette to provide Mass and spiritual support to incarcerated individuals. It has been operated by the Diocese of Wichita as the St. Dimas Ministry to the Incarcerated since 2004 and its significant growth continues today.

1991

Adult Day Services expanded again to meet the needs of clients with mental challenges and developmental disabilities.

1992

Harbor House Domestic Violence Shelter opened to serve survivors of domestic abuse as a safe, confidential shelter able to support residents through crisis and trauma. 

1993

Hosted the first-ever Cruise Night Gala in support of Harbor House. Decades later, Cruise Night remained one of Wichita’s premier galas, supporting both Harbor House and St. Anthony Family Shelter.

1993

Offices relocated from the main building office building at 425 N. Topeka.

1996

Rebranded to Catholic Charities, Inc. to better align with the national governing organization, Catholic Charities USA. 

1997-1998

Adult Day Services expanded to serve individuals living with severe and persistent mental illness.  The program also moved into larger facilities on West Central and welcomed new clients from the closure of the Via Christi Day Program. 

1998

Started its first official volunteer program with the help of an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer. The program provided people with positive, rewarding volunteer experiences while educating them about the social issues affecting Wichita. Within a year, the program was actively recruiting others to help the agency fulfill its mission to reach those in need.

1999

Opened the Midtown Learning Center, a second education program to meet the growing need for adult education opportunities, offering English as a Second Language, GED and citizenship exam preparation, and basic literacy. 

1999

Added Hispanic Social Services to connect the Hispanic community with resources available to them, breaking down language and cultural barriers. These services combined with Immigration Services in 2006.

2001

The Interpreter Services Program began providing trained, qualified interpreters to assist businesses and organizations on-site.

2001

Midtown Learning Center and Mount St. Mary’s Learning Lab merged to become the Adult Education Center. 

2003

Catholic Charities celebrated its 60th anniversary and launched a capital campaign, Shelter the Heart, to build new facilities for Anthony Family Shelter and Harbor House.

2004

Restructuring placed Harvest House andSt. Dimas under the Diocese of Wichita’s oversight, reorganized Adoption Services, and closed the Adult Education Center. Adult Education participants were referred to other community resources.

2005

Construction of a new Harbor House increased capacity by 80 percent and added outreach services available to families in need. 

2006

Demolished the Anthony Family Shelter in its original location and began construction of a new shelter to be known as St. Anthony Family Shelter. 

2006

Created the annual Stewardship in Action: Filling the Cup of Need fund to communicate ongoing opportunities to give throughout the year. 

2006

Hired a full-time director to oversee Emergency Services, including the food pantry, unity assistance, and Hispanic Social Services. 

2006

Received a five-year grant to launch the Marriage for Keeps Project to provide marriage education and enrichment activities for low-income married couples. 

2007

New St. Anthony Family Shelter opened, allowing the program to serve more and larger families. The location was officially dedicated on October 25, 2007, as St. Anthony Family Shelter—The Bob and Maura Geist Building. 

2008

Created a four-year initiative called Start Strong: Building Healthy Teen Relationships through seed money from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Alongside local partners, the Wichita Building Healthy Teen Relationships project aimed to educate local teens on the importance of forming healthy relationships and ending intimate partner violence. 

2009

Harbor House services expanded its existing violence prevention education through the Domestic Violence Prevention Enhancements and Leadership through Alliances (DELTA) program to reach school staff, parents, and students in Wichita. 

2009

Officially established the Catholic Charities Food Pantry, which had been housed under many Catholic Charities programs since the 1990s. 

2010

Served 24,575 men, women, and children across broad programming in 2010.

2011

Marriage for Keeps renewed, offering a new phase and additional support to married couples and single people interested in marriage.

2011

Start Strongreached more than 8,000 middle and high school students, parents, teachers, and coaches with effective knowledge in preventing domestic violence in the community. 

2012

Catholic Charities Food Pantry moved to its location on Hillside and renamed Our Daily Bread Food Pantry.

2012

SAFE Project launched with state grant funding to help survivors overcome barriers and build a bridge to a new life through Safety, Advocacy, Financial Literacy, and Education (SAFE).

2013

Administrative offices moved to the newly renovated St. Joseph Pastoral Center, providing easier collaboration with diocesan offices and ministries. 

2013

Large increase in patrons served through Our Daily Bread Food Pantry, up to 400 individuals per month, opening opportunities to address specific patron and family nutritional needs like no- and low-sugar, gluten-free, and low-sodium products. 

2015

Opened the Mount at Catholic Charities—Extended Stay Shelter and Family Enrichment Complex to serve as transitional housing for clients coming out of St. Anthony Family Shelter and Harbor House and provide extra time to prepare financial resources to maintain permanent housing. The Mount remained open for two years. 

2017

Launched the first Queen Bee Peer-to-Peer fundraising campaign in conjunction with Bags to Riches with five Queen Bee ladies.

2018

Celebrated 75 years of Catholic Charities by focusing on strategic planning and stability. With a newly adopted mission and vision, the pillars of the multi-year plan included focusing on faith, family, and community engagement. 

2018

Participated in #GivingTuesday for the first time, raising over $16,000 from more than 75 donors in one day. 

2019

Launched the Blessing Families, Enriching Lives capital campaign to purchase and renovate a new campus for Adult Day Services at the former Michener Elementary School in north Wichita. The campaign surpassed its goal of raising $5.2 million in early 2020.  

2019

Introduced the Faithful Servant Fund to focus ongoing efforts to raise funds to support the work of the many programs within Catholic Charities. The fund provides flexibility to address the organization’s and the Diocese of Wichita’s most urgent needs.

2020

Pivoted from the annual Bags to Riches campaign to a newBeaches and Blessings virtual fundraiser during the COVID-19 pandemic to continue raising funds for the work of Catholic Charities.  

2020

Launched Seeds for Success, a new employment initiative, thanks to a generous estate gift. This program provided clients with educational growth opportunities, job training, financial literacy, and funding for paperwork and work-related materials, resulting in stable employment and sustainable housing. 

2020

Weathered the COVID-19 pandemic with multiple safety precautions to keep our services and shelters open to serve clients. To keep patrons and volunteers safe, Our Daily Bread Food Pantry adopted a drive-thru model and served a record number of community members. 

2021

Adult Day Services opened in its newly renovated building on the feast day of the chosen patron saint for ADS, St. Margaret of Castello. 

2022

An accessible outdoor recreation area was added to the Adult Day Services facility that included swings, percussion and tactile installations, covered seating areas, multipurpose surface areas, and wide concrete paths. 

2022

Debuted Night of Joy, a Gratitude Gala by Catholic Charities to replace the long-standing Cruise Night that was docked during the pandemic.