CONWAY — The Advisory Council of the Pee Dee office of Catholic Charities met for the first time Aug. 27 at Conway High School.
“We found that Catholic Charities had basically gone as far as it could on its own,” said Diane Bullard, director of the Pee Dee office. “We needed to get services to the Pee Dee parishes more effectively and more efficiently. And also, we wanted input from parishes on how we could do that. We want to get parishes more involved in the work of Catholic Charities. So we thought that by getting a representative from all of these parishes on the advisory council, we could get input from the entire deanery.”
A core group began meeting a year ago, and developed a mission statement for the group and a plan on how to form the council’s executive committee.
Members of the council were appointed by church pastors, and signed up for various committees, including an information committee, a fund raising committee and an executive committee.
“It was a good turnout, and people seemed to get motivated to go back to their parishes,” said Daryl Kangarloo, client advocate for the Pee Dee office of Catholic Charities.
“We have been planning and talking about the need for this committee for years and years, and we are really excited that it has come to fruition,” Bullard said.
Dick Carr, a member of St. James Church, is on the executive committee. “It looks like we’re progressing right along,” he said. “We feel good about what’s going to come about.”
Juanita Gerald of St. Ann Church in Florence said the meeting was very productive, and Dennis Diamond of St. Louis Church in Dillon said he had learned a lot. The group plans to meet about four times a year with committees meeting more often. Anyone interested in getting involved can contact the Pee Dee office at (843) 488-2112.