May 12th, 2022 brought a destructive storm that did damage across eastern South Dakota. At least 28 counties have reported damage.
CSS is involved in Disaster Relief for western South Dakota and is a member of South Dakota VOAD (National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster).
You can see our Disaster Relief services here.
Read more to see videos of the storm.
The Uplifting Parents program is excited to announce that it will graduate 15 participants from the program this spring. The participants will have obtained degrees from the following schools, including Bay Mills Community College, Black Hills State University, Oglala Lakota College, South Dakota State University, Western Dakota Tech, and University of South Dakota.
“Starting Palm Sunday, the church is telling us that these are the eight days that changed your life. Your life was redeemed by Jesus Christ and transformed,” said Dr. Tim Gray, guest speaker at the Palm Sunday Brunch sponsored by Catholic Social Services...
Keynote speaker Dr. Tim Gray, one time employee of the Diocese of Rapid City and now President of the Augustine Institute, is a well known Catholic speaker and author...
As we enter into the season of Lent, we are invited to fast, pray and give alms. Through these actions we set ourselves aside for the sake of God and others...
Miss Clevia was having a very bad week. Her and her family of 4 were homeless. They secured a rental space that soon became uninhabitable due to an accident that left her with $10,000 in damages and holding an eviction notice...
With your assistance Margaretha received a car from CSS this summer and the impact is immeasurable...
Diana Redden is an Uplifting Parents participant who emigrated from Ghana 10 years ago. She hadn’t been back to Ghana since moving to America, but returned this summer to care for her ailing mother. Her family in Ghana will meet her 8-year-old son, Denzel, for the first time...
Congratulations to Kendallyn Wounded Face, an Uplifting Parent participant who earned her Licensed Practical Nursing degree from Western Dakota Tech in December 2020!
Whenever flannel goes on sale at a local fabric store, Catholic Social Services can expect more beautiful baby blankets to come in the door...
Memorial gifts for Sr. Marmion Howe, OSB, one of the first executive directors of Catholic Social Services who died Nov. 26, 2020 at the age of 100, will benefit Catholic Social Services.
A $50,000 grant from the Medica Foundation will help CSS expand and improve telehealth counseling and behavioral health services across western South Dakota in 2021 and beyond...
Adoption is always a family affair, but for Matt and Carrie Bunkowske it has become a family tradition, too.
Online Zoom Training: December 11, 2020 | 9:30am – 11:00am
When Tyresha Riquelmy-Yankton was first accepted into the Uplifting Parents Program (UP) in 2019, she was hesitant about the mentoring that she would be asked to do twice each month with an UP mentor.
People unable to pay their bills. Grandparents suddenly asked to provide childcare for grandchildren. Parents wondering how they would pay this month’s rent. Families struggling to put food on the table.
They all found a little help and hope amid the Covid-19 pandemic at Catholic Social Services from the CSS Covid-19 Response Fund, which provides up to $250 per household for emergency needs.
Per·se·ver·ance: noun Persistence in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success. Tenacity. Determination. Resolve. Resolution. Dedication. Endurance. Commitment.
You could add Anna Castillo’s name to that dictionary definition.
UPLIFTING PARENTS helps single parents succeed: Applications close March 14
Determination. Hard work. And the support of her Uplifting Parents mentor.
Kaitlyn, the single mother of a 3-year-old toddler, credits those three ingredients with helping her earn a psychology degree from Black Hills State University in December 2019.
I grew up in a big family with three siblings and over twenty cousins. I was very blessed to have two parents who loved each other and each of their children. They were positive role models that I wanted to be like for my own children one day.
Monae Johnson has been parenting children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder for the past 16 years, but the FASD Parenting 101 class at Catholic Social Services she attended recently was still a great reminder that there’s always something new to learn, or relearn, about FASD and its many challenges.
Shortly before she graduated from college this spring, Anna Haydock got the chance to paint an inspirational sign as a gift for her 2-year-old daughter.
Its message reads: Beautiful Girl, You were made to do HARD things, so BELIEVE in yourself
Earning a college degree as a single parent is hard work, so the Uplifting Parents Program likes to add some fun to the process with fantastic family activities planned and led by the program’s Peer UP Advisory Council.
Lakota Circles of Hope prevention curriculum is now being offered to students in Rapid City middle schools thanks to a partnership between Catholic Social Services (CSS) and Rural America Initiatives (RAI). Ateyape Wicozani, a RAI program, staff received training in December and have begun offering LCH to students in the Rapid City Middle Schools, grades 6-8 in their after school program.
Dani will graduate with a surgical technology degree from Western Dakota Technology in May, about 20 years after she first enrolled as a college student. Her second college experience came in 2011, following a stint as a U.S. Army medic, when she earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology, a degree that didn’t translate into a well-paying job with which to support her family.
Staff and volunteers of CSS were able to attend a national disaster response conference due to a recent grant from Catholic Charities USA. The Applied Institute for Disaster Excellence (AIDE) conference is a “by the network, for the network” training that strengthens local disaster response capacity. Attendees come away with best practices and new relationships that serve as a critical asset at a time of a disaster event. In addition to the core training, peer-to-peer networking opportunities and daily liturgy, attendees had the opportunity to go the sites of previous disasters and witness the impact as well as recovery measures made post-disaster.
The weather cooperated with sunshine and 60-degree temperatures on Nov. 20 and Dec. 11 as a teams of Catholic Social Services volunteers repaired Wilma Blacksmith’s mobile home and several others that were damaged in a Pine Ridge Reservation hailstorm last summer.
The weather cooperated with sunshine and 60-degree temperatures on Nov. 20 as a team of Catholic Social Services volunteers repaired Wilma Blacksmith’s mobile home and two others that were damaged in a Pine Ridge Reservation hailstorm last summer.
Chloe Crossland was born in China with a cleft palate birth defect. Abandoned at birth, she spent the first nine years of her life in orphanages.
In 1971 a 28-year old man became the youngest mayor of Rapid City. His two terms were pressure packed times of natural disaster and civil unrest. Catholic Social Services chose to award former Mayor Don Barnett with the Msgr. William O’Connell Founder’s Award for his work following the 1972 flood and the 1973 American Indian Movement demonstrations on Main St.
The Prosperity Initiative is helping students at the Career Learning Center of the Black Hills achieve amazing educational outcomes, according to the South Dakota Association for Lifelong Learning.
Carol Snyder has marked 20 years of painful milestones since the death of her son, Charlie, in 1998 by suicide.
Two years ago, Hollee Hook was facing a mid-life career change while grieving the death of her longtime partner and raising her 13-year old son, Ethan, by herself.
Imagine coming home to discover that your child, perhaps a 12-year-old daughter or a 16-year-old son, has taken their own life. I can’t imagine such an experience. But too many parents in communities across South Dakota have experienced this tragedy. Many priests and ministers serving in our communities agonize over the number of funerals resulting from suicide.
The South Dakota Legislature has a new mandate regarding suicide prevention efforts (SB 129) for all SD School Districts. Effective July 1, 2017, all teachers, administrators and other educational professionals must have suicide prevention training. This training must be a minimum of one hour of suicide awareness and prevention.
