Catholic Charities of Louisville operates one of the largest refugee resettlement programs in Kentucky, along with substantial food assistance, immigration legal services, and mental health counseling. Its services are among the most actively used in the city. This page explains how to support that work with money or time, and how to reach the organization if you need help.
Louisville has taken in refugees from Somalia, Burma, Congo, Bhutan, Iraq, and other countries over many years, and Catholic Charities manages the legal, housing, employment, and integration support for a large share of those families. Resettlement is slow, detailed work: leases, job placements, school enrollment, and immigration paperwork, stretched over a family's first years in the country. A single family's file can stay active for years, which is why the organization's caseload keeps growing even when new arrivals slow down.
The organization does not work alone. Kentucky Refugee Ministries and Metro United Way serve the same population, and how well those groups coordinate shapes how quickly newly arrived families find their footing. Donors who care about refugee outcomes in Louisville are effectively supporting that whole ecosystem.
Beyond resettlement, Catholic Charities of Louisville runs a substantial food assistance program, immigration legal services, and mental health counseling. Louisville's immigrant community is large enough that demand for these programs stays consistently high.
Everything is open to people of any faith or none. If you need groceries, legal advice on an immigration matter, or counseling, start at cclou.org to find the right program and its contact information.
Financial gifts go through the donation page at cclou.org. Money is the most flexible thing you can give a resettlement agency, since needs range from bus passes to rent deposits and rarely match what shows up in donation bins. If your employer matches charitable gifts, register the donation; matching programs routinely double a gift with five minutes of paperwork. Recurring monthly gifts are the easiest for the organization to plan around, especially in food assistance, where demand is steady but funding often is not.
Volunteers help with food pantry shifts, English tutoring, and family services support. No faith affiliation is required. English tutoring is the highest-contact role and pairs you directly with newly arrived families; check the official site for current openings and scheduling. Expect a short application and a scheduling conversation before your first shift, and plan on a consistent weekly time slot for ongoing roles like tutoring.
Before donating, confirm the organization's 501(c)(3) status through the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search at apps.irs.gov and review its Charity Navigator profile. Keep the written receipt for any gift of $250 or more.
Sources: Catholic Charities of Louisville official site (cclou.org); our Kentucky charity guide research. Retrieved July 2026. We are not affiliated with Catholic Charities of Louisville and receive no compensation for this listing. Spotted an error? [email protected]
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