36th Annual Harvest Dinner fundraiser supports alliance’s mission to provide affordable housing, combat injustice
DETROIT — The Detroit Catholic Pastoral Alliance hosted its 36th annual Harvest Dinner at Eastern Market on Sept. 23 in support of the alliance’s mission to advance social change rooted in Catholic teachings in the city of Detroit.
The annual gala serves as the alliance’s primary fundraiser, raising support for the organization’s affordable housing and community action programs.
“This is our annual fundraiser where we try to celebrate our membership,” Cleophus Bradley, executive director of the Detroit Catholic Pastoral Alliance, told Detroit Catholic. “We try to celebrate the service that we do that we give to clients and the community throughout the year.”
The Detroit Catholic Pastoral Alliance traces its roots to a group of priests who met after the social unrest that gripped Detroit in 1967, a time when the city was struggling with systemic racism and injustice.
In 1990, the pastors formally organized the Detroit Catholic Pastoral Alliance in serving a two-fold mission: working to develop a community plan for safe and affordable housing and developing social programs for youths and seniors to combat inequalities in access to opportunities and resources in society.
“The mission is to create and provide decent and affordable housing and to stand up against all the social and moral ills in the city of Detroit,” Bradley said.
This year’s Harvest Dinner featured a silent auction and 50/50 raffle to raise money for the DCPA’s mission, particularly its affordable housing and community action programs, along with its youth leadership program, senior network program and food and nutrition program.
“This year we are really looking to address food insecurity within our senior population; that’s really been the focus in the last couple of years,” Bradley said. “Of course, we continue to try to develop and provide affordable housing.”
This year the Detroit Catholic Pastoral Alliance recognized Nehemiah Thomas, principal of Covenant High School Detroit East Campus, with the Community Impact Award; Sonya Townsend, principal of Covenant’s Spectrum Campus, with the Youth Leadership Award; and Fr. David Preuss, OFM Cap., former director of the Solanus Casey Center and pastor of St. Charles Borromeo Parish in Detroit, with the Lifetime Ministry Award.
“We're giving our three awards to people who have been doing great service over the years for the Detroit Catholic Pastoral Alliance,” Bradley said. “This is about getting people together, and still believing in our mission over 36 years.”
