Catholic Charities with the Diocese of Trenton is hosting The Guardian Angel Benefit of Hope Livestream on September 9, 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
For over 30 years, the event has been raising money for humanitarian programs Mercer, Burlington, Monmouth, and Ocean County. The event also aims to honor the partners within those communities that make the charity’s goals possible.
“So we’ve been doing the event for a long time,” explained Victoria Cranga, the development, and marketing manager. “I want to say, 30, plus years and it’s our signature fundraiser every year. Usually, attended by three to 400 people, as I said, it’s our main signature fundraiser, so it’s the biggest event that we do.”
Once the COVID-19 pandemic emerged, the event transferred to a completely online platform last year to accommodate the audience. “We opted to do a virtual event, and it was the first time we had done a virtual event… We have a company that we work with that does our videos and our events, and they had done one virtual event, and they said yeah, we’d do it, so we got really lucky,” Cranga said. “And then this year, we decided we should do it again, virtually, based on the fact that just, you know, just to keep everybody safe.”
The organization’s theme this year is a spin-off of mission impossible: Mission Possible. “It’s all about how, for the past year and a half, throughout COVID. Our programs, our staff, we didn’t miss a beat. We stayed open throughout everything and helped people, whether it was life or through telehealth that Catholic Charities was there for the community,” Cranga said.
Catholic Charities have a wide variety of programs within the Trenton Community, ranging from mental health services to abuse protection services. “We feed people. We clothe people. We help the homeless, so we help people that need rental assistance. I mean, you name it,” Cranga said.
This year’s event MC will be Marlene Laó-Collins, executive director, and the event will host a raffle, silent auction, and a song by Howell High School’s Choir. The event is free and open to the public. More information can be found at this link.
