Catholic Charities Diocese of Tyler held a blessing and open house for its new holy family center at 305 W Rusk St. on Thursday afternoon.

Catholic Charities staff and supporters gathered outside under a tent to perform the blessing. Tyler Mayor Don Warren, Christus staff and the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth were present. Afterwards, guests were able to tour the new building, donated by Christus and formerly a pediatric clinic, and celebrate with staff.

The building has been revamped and has more space than before due to tearing down rooms.

“When it was the clinic, it was just a lot of little bitty [rooms]. It was like a maze,” said Kathy Shieldes Harry, Catholic Charities Diocese of Tyler Executive Director.

The move took years but only recently became closer to reality. Christus donated the building to the Diocese of Tyler in 2022 and they in turn donated it to Catholic Charities.

Catholic Charities staff look forward to serving more people and having more space. The organization covers 33 counties in East Texas from Texarkana to Paris.

“It’s a great opportunity for us to grow,” Harry said. “Because the need is huge all throughout East Texas. This will allow us the opportunity to be able to serve them.”

They are located near downtown. For Catholic Charities, having the location near downtown and close to their Catholic campus makes them more accessible to those in need.

Catholic Charities Administrative Assistant Pam Mings has been at the organization since 2010. She felt Catholic Charities deserved a bigger place. They would often have boxes stacked upon each other and it was difficult to walk around.

“For us to end up with all this room… It’s just beautiful. We are so excited. We couldn’t be more happy,” Mings said.

One of the programs she is passionate about is their rental assistance and utilities program which was started two years ago. Catholic Charities and PATH (People Attempting to Help) are the only two nonprofits offering this help locally.

“All it takes is to get sick, just a few days,” Mings said. “And that’s it … that’s a snowball effect that they can’t get out from under. It’s gonna take more, it’s gonna take a lot of compassion and everybody, employers, just a lot of compassion, to help people get that leg up.”

Catholic Charities Paralegal Michael Mink likes the new facility. Their parking will be better than their previous location where they shared parking with the food bank and a nearby church. The clients will also have more space. They now have a nice kitchen.

Through his work in Catholic Charities, Mink helps clients with citizenship applications and DACA kids.

“These are kids that were brought here, to no fault of their own,” Mink said. “They were brought here as babies, children, maybe the latest teenagers, they didn’t know anything. They just followed their parents. When they get older in high school they start finding out they can’t do too much.”

The support from the community was evident on Thursday. One nurse drove from Longview to support them. Patty Brittain helped organize the event with Harry. She is grateful for the support they have received from local community members, Christus, the Sisters of Nazareth and families they knew from when they worked at St. Gregory’s.

In the future, they hope to expand their programs and help more people. They already have some things in the works like their nurses helping teach classes. They also plan to have classes on healthy eating and cooking, Brittain said.

Catholic Charities was founded in 2005 by Bishop Alvaro Corrada del Rio in response to Hurricane Katrina. They provide immigration services, a parish nurse program, disaster relief for natural disasters, rental and utility assistance, and homeless prevention. They also provide free car seats and cribs for moms, emergency meals and sponsor food pantries.

“The community has been wonderful,” Harry said. “I want to make sure everyone knows we serve all people, no matter what their faith is. We are here to serve all the East Texas community and we invite those that are in need to come and see us and we’ll see if we can help.”

For more information on Catholic Charities, visit https://ccetx.org/. If you have a health issue, you can call their parish nurse hotline at (903) 258-9492 ext. 104. For any immigration questions, call their immigration helpline at (903) 258-9492 ext. 107. They are now open at 305 W Rusk St. Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.