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Catholic Charities closing Prairie du Chien branch

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Catholic Charities local office will close by Jan. 23.

By Correne Martin

Catholic Charities will permanently close its branch office at 104 E. Blackhawk Ave. in Prairie du Chien on Jan. 23, according to a news release issued this week by the organization.

While this office was an outreach location for all Catholic Charities programs, it employed one full-time and two part-time employees, the release said. Local services were provided for domestic abuse, representative payee, adoption, post-adoption resources, birth parent support, immigration and St. Lawrence Community services such as financial education and assistance with basic human needs. 

While this office has served the southern tip of the Diocese of La Crosse since 1999, over the last few years the majority of the clients from the Prairie du Chien office were served through telephone and online technology. 

“Probably 60 to 65 percent of our services were done online,” said Karen Becker, director of marketing. “It wasn’t an easy decision. We struggle financially as well and if we’re paying a lot of our money for overhead, we have less of it to give to the community. Even though the office is closing, we are not leaving the community. ”

All agency services will continue to be available to this region through other Catholic Charities offices located in La Crosse, Eau Claire and Wausau. 

There are a couple exceptions: the domestic abuse program and the community lending library.

 Becker said the Prairie du Chien branch was actually the only office that dealt with domestic abuse and that Catholic Charities feels there are other organizations better suited to run it.

“We are still working with the state and other non-profits to determine who will oversee the domestic abuse program in Crawford County,” Becker noted.

The Prairie du Chien Memorial Library has stepped forward to begin operating the community lending library that Catholic Charities just took on a few months ago from Crossing Rivers’ Family Resource Center. Becker explained that the majority of the toys and at least one of each of the larger baby equipment pieces will be available for rental moving forward.

“There will be a time of transition, but we are hopeful this program will be up and running again in a month,” she said.

Library Director Nancy Ashmore said her staff needs to catalogue the items before they can be checked out to the public; however, they have a large project that is taking precedence first before that can be done. More details will be shared once the lending library is up and running in its new space.

Catholic Charities is in the initial stages of this closure. With any additional questions, the public can contact Catholic Charities Executive Director Roberto Partarrieu at (608) 519-8001 or Karen Becker, director of marketing, at (608) 519-8002.

Anyone seeking Catholic Charities services from here forward may request assistance by calling 888-212-HELP (4357) or visiting corg.

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