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June 19, 2009

Catholic Charities Makes Father's Day a Fund-Raising Celebration

It’s not yet Father’s Day, but Catholic Charities has raised nearly $10,000 and counting from hundreds of people who are downloading its new electronic Father’s Day cards from the charity’s Web site and making online donations to the organization.

Officials expect the cards to raise significantly more over the weekend as donors take advantage of the cards to send Father’s Day greetings.

Many charities have long been sending online greeting cards, but the Father’s Day cards are new to Catholic Charities, which is offering them for the first time this year, says Patricia Hvidston, senior director of development at the organization, which provides social services to the needy.

The Catholic Charities cards, which tell recipients that the donor has made a gift to the organization in their honor, come in 12 versions with differing graphics and messages, including two in Spanish.

Ms. Hvidston says she and her colleagues at Catholic Charities were stumped for what they could do for a spring solicitation and decided to try the cards to draw attention to the organization’s efforts to promote responsible fatherhood among single and absent fathers.

The cards, according to the charity’s Web site, “mark Father’s Day as a time to renew our nation’s commitment to finding more way to help low-income fathers, strengthen all families, and reduce many of the challenges that cause children to fall into poverty.”

— Holly Hall

Friday June 19, 2009 | Permalink

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