These are programs that provide meals for the Delores House Battered and Homeless Women’s Shelter and snack for the “street” kids enrolled in the Colfax Community Network (CCN) after-school program.  Volunteers prepare various dishes for the Delores House residents and bring in fresh fruits and healthy snacks for the kids at CCN several times a month.

“When I was hungry, you gave me something to each, and when I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink.”  Matthew 25 from the Final Judgment.  Volunteers from St. Pius X are responsible for serving the meal at the St. Francis Soup Kitchen on the second Friday of the month.  Volunteers gather at the Rectory at 2:00pm, carpool to the St. Francis Center, serve the meal and help clean up following the meal.  Volunteers are back at St. Pius X by 5:30pm.

A group of our volunteers goes on Wednesdays and Fridays to the Food Bank of the Rockies to help repackage food for local non-profit charities.  Three hours of service at the food bank will purchase twenty pounds of food for the Aurora Catholic Charities Food Bank.  Each year, our donated service hours provides anywhere from 5-10 percent of the available food at the Aurora Catholic Charities.

Our Parish has a long-standing partnership with Aurora Catholic Charities.   Our Parish works hard to provide Aurora Catholic Charities with a monthly stipend and with weekly food donations.  It is the largest they receive from any of the other area Parishes.  We also provide them with regular volunteers and ongoing food donations.  Catholic Charities, in turn, provides aid to many of the struggling families in the Aurora area, helping them with food, rental assistance, and other services.

For the past two years (2013-14) our St. Vincent volunteers have cooperated with Food Bank of the Rockies to provide 4-60 free lunches daily for any neighborhood kid who is under the age of 18. Our hours of operation have been 11:15 – 12:45 PM, M-F from 1st week of June to the end of July. We also utilize a number of volunteers from the parish to help serve food, supervise the kids and play games and do crafts with them. This year’s Summer Lunch Program starts on June 8th and runs until July 31st.  LUNCH IS FREE FOR ALL KIDS 18 AND UNDER!!!

St. Vincent de Paul Society: Our parish has a SVDP Conference that annually provides some $19,000 in Emergency Assistance. We help local families when they are short on their rent and utility bills as well as help folks buy needed food and medicines. Volunteers help meet and take emergency assistance calls from needy families. 

Our SVDP Conference is also very involved in the parish Christmas Basket Project. We also collect School supplies for three of the local neighborhood schools each August and collect Summer Survival Supplies for Aurora’s homeless the Aurora Warms the Night (AWTN) homelessness prevention program.  Our St. Vincent DP Society also runs the Summer Lunch Program for Neighborhood Kids each year.

The Respect Life Group at St. Pius works directly in supporting the efforts of local respect life programs like the Aurora Gabriel House and the Women’s Lighthouse Pregnancy Support Center aiding them by hosting occasional collections or fundraisers. They are active in their political efforts around Respect-life issues and regularly attend the Masses and Rosaries held outside of the Planned Parenthood Center in the 38th and Quebec area. Our Respect Life members also meet on Sunday mornings in church to pray the Rosary for the victims of abortion and for conversion of hearts.

Our Respect Life sponsors educational events in January around the Anniversary of Roe v. Wade, in June during the annual Fortnight for Religious Liberty Campaign and in May during the month dedicated to our Lady.  These educational campaigns will feature special Adoration times to pray for a change of heart around Respect Life issues.   

 

Christmas Basket Project:   Each year our community fills approximately 60-65 Christmas baskets for families in need.  St. Pius X parishioners donate food and gifts for each basket recipient.  Our program begins at the Thanksgiving Mass with a collection of non-perishable foods.  In reality, the term "basket" is a misnomer in that each recipient family will receive a large sackful of gifts and at least 3-4 large boxes of food.  Our families come to us by referral from other agencies or schools that work with low-income families.  As part of this Program, we have a Giving Tree that goes up on the 1st Sunday of Advent where parishioners can pick an ornament with a gift request.  These are the gifts that will make up the toy portion of the Christmas Basket Project.

This program requires volunteer help in several areas:

  1) Each year, we need help with wrapping the many presents that go in the "baskets."  This December, our wrapping day will fall on Sunday, December 13th from 3:00 pm - 6:00 pm in the Church Basement.

  2) On Thursday, December 17th we need volunteers from 3:00 pm - 6:00 pm to help us sort non-perishables food.

  3)  On Friday, December 18th, we need individuals and families to come and help us make up the "baskets" and actually distribute them to the families in their homes.

Adopt-A-Family Project:  Some families also choose to "Adopt a Family" for Christmas.  They decide to sponsor an individual family themselves.  They receive the name of the family in need from the Parish Office and with a description of the make-up of that family.  The sponsoring family agrees to provide a gift or two for each of the family members and provide that family with enough food for at least one week.

Fleece Navidad Sweatsuit Program: For many years, our parishioners have participated in the Fleece Navidad Program whereby our parishioners each Christmas buy new sweatsuits for local nursing home residents who are identified as not having friends or family who visit them. Parishioners call the parish and receive the name(s) of residents and their size(s). Parishioners are given the option of either delivering the sweatsuits themselves or having the parish deliver them.