FATHERS OF ST EDMUND SOUTHERN MISSIONS INC
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Mission Statement
As a Catholic organization, rooted in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we provide food, clothing and shelter to poor and marginalized children and families, young adults and seniors of all faith traditions to meet their immediate needs while addressing the long term issues of systemic poverty in the Deep South.
About This Cause
Edmundite Missions (Fathers of St. Edmund Southern Missions, Inc. ) is a registered 501(c)3 charity that has been fighting poverty in Selma, Alabama and surrounding rural areas for 80 years. An icon of the civil rights movement and the fight for equality, Selma is now the poorest city in the poorest county in one of the poorest states in the nation, with education, income and health indicators that are worse than the nation and worse than Alabama overall. Among those who the Missions serves, annual incomes hover around $9,000 and a high school education is rare. Unemployment rates are multiples of the national average. Life expectancy in Selma is lower than that in many developing countries, impeded by widespread diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and violence. In surrounding rural areas the situation is even more dire, with unemployment approaching 80%. The irony is real. On this battlefield of civil rights, this hallowed ground of the fight for equality and opportunity, the deepest levels of poverty in the nation continue to hold back this and future generations. Yet, there is great pride in Selma, in its history and its accomplishment. There is great determination to regain the hope of a prosperous future, great determination turn the tide of poverty and re-establish a city whose history of economic and social accomplishment earned it the moniker, Queen City of the Blackbelt. In response, the Missions combines 80 years of service to the poorest of the poor to enable basic human needs with new investments in community solutions which lift education and create jobs. Edmundite Missions is the largest – and often the only – provider of poverty support and the most trusted social agency in Selma and the surrounding area. Programs Nutrition and Social Services Food security is the heart of services. The Missions food program, operating out of its Bosco Nutrition Center, provides more than 1000 meals per day in its congregate dining center and delivers another 300 meals per day to the isolated homebound. Another 1000 people each month are provided with food in rural centers. Each week the Nutrition Center provides 1500 weekend breakfast bags to three elementary schools. Nearly all of the children in Selma’s public schools qualify for Federal breakfast and lunch programs; without school on the weekend, there is no food. The breakfast program ensures that 750 elementary school children have weekend breakfasts. Social services include wrap-around counseling and crisis intervention to respond to eviction and health crises. Led by a social services professional with the highest licensure in the State of Alabama, CSM both provides financial resources and provides personal counseling to the poor to prevent and solve the underlying problems that lead to service requests. CSM counsels an average of 121 people per week. In Selma and surrounding rural areas there is no public transportation. Social isolation is common, especially for the impoverished elderly. The Missions operates programs for the elderly in Selma and at rural sites, tied together by video to enable efficiency of program delivery, that emphasize fellowship, nutrition, health, and exercise. Youth For five generations, poverty has characterized the lives of many families. Young people have no alternative models. In Selma, the Missions youth program services focus on academic enhancement, leadership, and experiences that young people would not otherwise have. In the summer, the youth program allows young people to visit history museums, learn to play tennis and golf, and engage in art and music programs. The program employs high school mentors to provide elementary and middle school students with role models. In rural areas, afterschool homework and tutoring programs are the only such academic supplementation programs available to young people of any age. Employment Bridges at the Missions is an apprenticeship program that embeds recently unemployed individuals in three areas of Missions operations: social services, food services, and building and grounds. These apprentices spend 6-9 months building their experience, improving their resumes, and attending job-enhancement classes in such areas as interviewing, workplace behavior, and time management. The Missions then assists apprentices in matriculating out of the program and finding stable employment. Bridges now has its third class of apprentices moving through the program. Bridges graduates are employed at Vaughn Hospital, a local nursing home, and the fire department and/or have returned to finish their 2-year degrees. Enterprise Edmundite Missions Enterprises is a social enterprise embedded within the Missions dedicated to amplifying the core objective of Edmundite Missions to serve the poor by creating jobs increasing skills demanded in the market place, lifting visibility, and generating net revenues to be reinvested in the charity. The first business within Enterprises is Kitchens in Selma, a food-based business operated out of the Bosco Nutrition Center and producing a line of branded products for sale in Selma and nationally as well as offering a catering service. 100% of net revenue is reinvested in the Missions poverty programs. Launched at the end of November 2017, Kitchens in Selma has generated net revenue that has funded the feeding program, generated part time employment, allowed part-time employees to become full time with full benefits for their families, and shipped product to 32 states in turn lifting awareness about the importance of poverty in the Deep South. Other enterprises focused on youth, education, and skilled jobs are currently in design. Resources Edmundite Missions is funded completed by private resources. Contributions from individuals, and program grants from foundations and corporations, are the fundamental to its sustainability. Leadership Edmundite Missions is guided by President & C.E.O. Chad McEachern, a nationally respected leader with a storied career of visionary leadership in fund and program development and poverty alleviation. Under his guidance, the Missions staff has been transformed into a professional organizational with first in class staff members guiding all levels of the organization. The Missions added a professionally trained chef to lead all nutritional services and the food-based aspects of the social enterprise (Chef Harry Dominick), a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker to over Catholic Social Ministries (Heidi Hock), hired a nationally recognized economist to serve as Chief Innovations Officer (Susan Raymond, Ph.D), and many more.