Catholic Charities Secures New Site for Helping Hands of St. Louis
TOLEDO, OH— Catholic Charities Diocese of Toledo is excited to announce the acquisition of the future site of Helping Hands food and clothing center with the purchase of property from Toledo Public Schools (TPS)—the former East Toledo Jr. High School site.
For more than 40 years, Monday through Friday, Helping Hands has been providing meals, food, clothing, and support services to men, women, and families at the former St. Louis Catholic Church & School, located at 443 Sixth Street in Toledo, OH, one mile away from the new location.
“We are very excited at the opportunity to better serve our community in a new location with expanded facilities,” says Rodney Schuster, Executive Director of Catholic Charities Diocese of Toledo. “This project has been years in the making and we are grateful to being another step closer to having it become a reality.”
The impetus of this purchase is that the St. Louis Church and School were built in 1871 and are no longer able to meet the growing needs of the community. Maintenance and repairs have become cost prohibitive and the building limitations have made it more challenging to properly serve people with dignity and respect. The current Helping Hands of St. Louis buildings will continue to be used until the new facility is completed and ready for occupancy.
Catholic Charities is in the beginning stages of the design process and is under contract with the Design-Build team of Rudolph Libbe/The Collaborative to help design the new facility.
Through the Diocese of Toledo Living Christ Campaign and Catholic Charities fundraising efforts more than $4 million already have been secured for this project. Additional funds will be needed to complete this project. To add your support for this project, which will help thousands of men, women and children annually, please visit catholiccharitiesnwo.org/donate or email Rodney Schuster at rschuster@toledodiocese.org.
Posted March 10, 2026 at 1:36 pm