Catholic Community Services

OGDEN — A special “stand down” for homeless veterans will be held today at Catholic Community Services office in Ogden, 2504 F Ave.

The stand down will be from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. It is an effort by the Veterans Administration to reach out to homeless vets who need help with benefits, employment, housing, mental health and substance abuse counseling, or any other issue.

There will be a distribution of supplies from community agencies and help applying for benefits. For more information, call 801-803-1183.

OGDEN -- The Boy Scouts of America will hold their 26th annual Scouting for Food drive on Saturday.

The drive will help stock the Catholic Community Services' Joyce Hansen Hall Food Bank.

OGDEN — “Shopping” for groceries at the Catholic Community Services Joyce Hansen Hall Food Bank will be more pleasant for low-income clients after shelving is installed by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Officials recently announced approval from Smith’s Food and Drug Community Affairs to provide the shelving and a promise from members of the LDS Ogden, Utah, stake to provide the labor to install it.

“I told (CCS of Northern Utah Director Marcy Valdez) if there were any costs involved, we would love to pay for that,” said Scott Handy, chairman of the Ogden stake special projects committee. “We will go down and set up the shopping experience.”

OGDEN -- Adam and Lavina Hoskins had been looking for an affordable coat that fits their 8-year-old daughter for a month and a half, with no luck.

RIVERDALE -- The efforts of members, employees and visitors at America First Credit Unions mean hungry Utahns are less at risk today.

On Thursday, America First donated about 400 turkeys and a similar supply of donated nonperishable food to the Utah Food Bank, which will redistribute the items to the 154 partner agencies it serves.

A friend on Facebook read last Sunday's column about Shelly Roche getting help from my readers to set up a day care business (thanks!) and said, "This shows we don't need government to help each other."

Quite the opposite. We need government, or something like it, to dole out charity more than ever. Shelly's case is the very rare exception.

OGDEN -- Catholic Community Services of Northern Utah is competing to win $5,000 from the Pepsi Refresh Project.

"If we win, we'll be able to purchase a full supply of hygiene items for clients in need," states a news release from Catholic Community Services of Northern Utah and the Joyce Hansen Hall Food Bank.