Hess feels called to serve as director of Catholic Charities Tell City

By John Shaughnessy

More than once, Joan Hess has talked to God, telling him, “I don’t know what you have planned for me.”

After she recently became the director of Catholic Charities Tell City, Hess knew she had been given her answer when a young man came to her far southern Indiana office and made a desperate plea for his family.

The young man had just moved to Tell City with his wife and their two small children, ages 2 and 3. His wife had started a job, but she wasn’t getting her first paycheck for another week. He had been approved for disability, but the payments hadn’t started. He told Hess he needed help to feed his family for a week.

“I told him we could help him with a small amount of groceries,” she recalled. “I also gave him the names of other agencies to contact. As he left, he was thrilled. He said, ‘You saved my day. Thank you so much for taking the time to sit down with me and give me information.’ He said when his back payments for disability come through, he wants to come back and pay Catholic Charities.”

That experience is a small example of the good that Catholic Charities can do, Hess said. The potential for those moments is also why she took the job as director of Catholic Charities Tell City on April 24.

“It was a good feeling,” she said. “It was one small instance, but it shows if we work together we can affect a lot of lives. I’ve already gotten tremendous support from the Church community and the community at large. They’re ready to move forward to make this an agency that can make a difference.”

That enthusiasm is one of the reasons Hess was chosen to lead Catholic Charities Tell City.

“Joan is a great choice because of her long history in the area, her connections and her dedication to the community and the deanery,” said Stefanie Anderson, communications and marketing coordinator for Catholic Charities in the archdiocese. “We want the agency to be recognized as a fixture in the community and a resource for anyone in need.”

Hess hopes to expand upon the main services that the agency already provides in the Tell City area: a food pantry, crisis pregnancy assistance and program that offers assistance to families to strengthen relationships between parents and children.

“We’re looking at several other things, but I’m not ready to talk about them yet,” Hess said. “My first goal is to get out the word that Catholic Charities exists here. We help financially in small ways—with people needing help with utilities, with paying for prescriptions for people or helping with transportation because there’s no public transportation here. I really think people think that’s all we do. Our mission is to help the poor and vulnerable in our community.”

It’s a mission that Hess embraces at this point in her life.

“I had been searching for what I wanted to do,” said Hess, 51, a member of St. Paul Parish in Tell City. “I’ve asked God so many times, ‘I don’t know what you have planned for me.’ I think he finally decided to tell me. I’ve always been involved civically and religiously. This is the perfect blend to do something good.” †