VENTURA : Catholic Charities to Get a New Building

The Ventura branch of Catholic Charities will move early this winter from its storefront on Thompson Boulevard and Ash Street to a building nearly four times the size on Ventura Avenue.

The nonprofit, social services agency has rented its facilities for years. But in January, St. Mary Magdalen Church in Camarillo gave the organization an 8,100-square-foot building a few blocks north of Main Street, said Diane Martell, Catholic Charities’ regional director.

Martell said she and her co-workers are thrilled at the New Year’s gift.

“It is very, very crowded here,” she said of the 2,100-square-foot office into which Catholic Charities now squeezes its storefront, county headquarters, a computer room, a food pantry, a kitchenette and two bathrooms.

Martell said the money the organization saves in rent will go toward the poor people it serves.

Catholic Charities will have to wait awhile before moving into the building. The structure needs some work, and construction crews from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles will not be available until November.

After that, work on the project will take six to eight weeks, Martell said.

“Hopefully, it will be ready for Christmas,” she said.

Catholic Charities provides food, clothing, and money to low-income residents, as well as counseling services, an after-school program for children, and various programs for the elderly and the disabled.