Catholic Charities Atlanta, the local arm of Catholic Charities USA that provides social services to address the needs of people in North Georgia, has opened a new Northeast Regional Office to assist those in the Gwinnett County area.

The new office is located on the campus of St. John Neumann Church in Lilburn and was established in response to the growing needs of people in that section of metro Atlanta.

“We regularly evaluate client needs across the 69-county area in North Georgia that we serve,” said Joseph Krygiel, chief executive officer for Catholic Charities Atlanta. “There is particularly high demand in the northeast metro area, and we are excited to announce our expansion in that area. In addition to our regional offices in Athens and Chamblee, this new Lilburn office will allow us to further our reach to those most in need.”

“For quite some time, Joe Galvin, Joe Krygiel and other program directors have been taking a look at what’s needed throughout various areas of North Georgia to make sure we have good coverage,” said Catherine Fuss, marketing director of Catholic Charities Atlanta. “We identified that Gwinnett County and that whole northeast region is still very much in need.”

Talks began with Msgr. David Talley, pastor of St. John Neumann Church, who told Catholic Charities that there was an office building available on the campus.

“Msgr. Talley was going through some significant changes and expansion at the St. John Neumann campus, between the church and the school, and had a stand-alone office area that became available for Catholic Charities,” said Fuss.

“As a longtime partner with Catholic Charities Atlanta, we saw that our recent building projects would offer the perfect opportunity to have services directly on site and ready to help the people in this area,” said Msgr. Talley. “We are so pleased about the breadth of services that will be available literally in our backyard.”

Catholic Charities did further research in the area to find out which services would be needed near the office to make sure they would be providing the appropriate aid to the local community.

The new regional office will offer services including outpatient mental health counseling, immigration legal services, crisis pregnancy counseling, disaster preparedness, earned benefits screening and information and referral. Catholic Charities Atlanta will also provide a series of professional workshops and seminars for the surrounding community. All of the office’s services will be available in English and Spanish.

“It’s very important for us to deliver all of the services in both English and Spanish and that the breadth of the services that are going to be offered is very broad,” said Fuss.

As a provider of social services for the Archdiocese of Atlanta, Catholic Charities Atlanta provides professional support for families in crisis, pregnant women, and immigrants and refugees. Since 1953, the organization has aided over 1 million people in reaching wholeness and self-sufficiency from adversity.

Catholic Charities Atlanta recently hosted a community open house on Sunday, Nov. 7, so visitors could tour the new facility. The office is located at the rear of the St. John Neumann Church property at 801 Tom Smith Road, Lilburn, and is open Tuesday through Thursday from

11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Catholic Charities staff there will be Ethel Higgins, who is the agency’s director of disaster preparedness and response, and administrative assistant Estebania Rodriguez-Guerrero.