During the May 21 Catasauqua Communities That Care meeting, it was reported the Catasauqua churches have come together to financially support the Big Brothers Big Sisters program in Catasauqua Area School District. Brian Riedy, Holy Trinity Memorial Lutheran Church pastor, thanked the other members of the Catasauqua Ministerium for their assistance.

Shelley Keffer, district coordinator of student services, thanked Riedy and the other faith-based organizations for their support and partnership with the district. She noted they are figuring out logistics to take the next steps to move the program forward.

There was discussion about the Hearts of Catasauqua program, organized by Holy Trinity and Catasauqua Main Streets, the borough’s business organization. The painted hearts are to help show support and appreciation for local first responders.

Keffer and Amy Dymond-Jones, CTC coordinator and Catasauqua Middle School counselor, talked about how important that message is and discussed getting some of the hearts to display at the schools.

“We’re supporting the love,” Dymond-Jones said.

She also noted they can use that idea to help the CMS students connect kindly with each other and the community.

There was some discussion about getting a bilingual or multilingual representative for the coalition. It was reported there are more than 100 English Language Learners in the district and having a multilingual person on the coalition can help connect with and provide support to those families. It was suggested checking with the English as a Second Language teachers to see if they have any recommendations. It was also noted Valley Youth House or the Center for Humanistic Change might have someone.

Coalition members discussed using the summer months to work on recruiting new members, particularly from the community.

The next Catasauqua CTC meeting is set for 7:45 a.m. July 23 in the administration board room, 201 N. 14th St.