Catholic Charities gets $2.4M grant to help feed people in need

Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada has won a $2.4 million grant to expand programs that provide food to people in need.

Catholic Charities plans to add kitchen space for its Meals on Wheels program, which it anticipates will allow it to serve more than 2,600 people. It also plans to expand its Hands of Hope Community Food Pantry, which will allow it to serve 1,000 people a week. That would be a 33 percent increase in service, according to the organization.

The funding comes from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Community Development Block Grant program. It’s one of HUD’s longest running programs.

“HUD determines the amount of each grant by using a formula comprised of several measures of community need, including the extent of poverty, population, housing overcrowding, age of housing, and population growth lag in relationship to other metropolitan areas,” according to HUD’s website.

“As Catholic Charities celebrates 75 years of providing hope and help to Southern Nevadans, we are honored to be the recipients of such a generous grant,” said Deacon Tom Roberts, president and CEO of Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada in a statement. “The expansion of the Hands of Hope Community Food Pantry and Meals on Wheels programs will benefit thousands of our most vulnerable community members.”

Contact Bethany Barnes at bbarnes@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3861. Find @betsbarnes on Twitter.