BOSTON -- Catholic Charities Boston raised over $1.5 million at its annual Spring Celebration, held on May 28 at the Fairmount Copley Plaza in Boston.

The $1.5 million fundraising total, an increase from last year, comes at a time when the Trump administration is withholding federal funding for Catholic Charities' ministries.

"Failure is simply not an option," said Catholic Charities Boston President and CEO Kelley Tuthill in her remarks at the gala. "Our mission hasn't changed. We do not set government policies, but we're here to respond to the challenges they may create with compassion. And we look forward to meeting the needs no matter what comes our way."

Catholic Charities' refugee resettlement program has been on hold since January.

"It was heartbreaking to see refugees, people trying to flee horrible danger, who had spent years meeting strict requirements and then be told they could not complete their journey to freedom and safety," Tuthill said.

She said that Catholic Charities had been working with refugees waiting anxiously to reunite with their families in the U.S., including a father who had worked with U.S. Special Forces in Afghanistan and had not seen his seven-year-old son since 2021.

"Lately, we spend our days urgently tracking what programs are at risk," Tuthill said. "We made plans, we talked plans, we revised plans. Each day, we are inspired by the resilience we learn from the clients we serve. Amid uncertainty, we pushed ahead with a strategic plan that keeps us focused on how best to alleviate suffering and empower individuals and families."

She said that Catholic Charities has to make "difficult choices" with its finances. It may no longer be able to stock its food pantries in Brockton, Lowell, Lynn, and Dorchester due to federal funding cuts affecting the Greater Boston Food Bank. Due to rising inflation, more and more families have relied on the pantries to stay fed.

"We now await both state and federal budgets to truly understand how the people we serve will be affected by the upcoming cuts," she said.

She said that many donors have increased or even doubled their support of Catholic Charities to offset the funding cuts. One of those donors was Kevin Phelan, co-chair of Colliers Boston, who received Catholic Charities' annual John and Virginia Kaneb Justice and Compassion Award at the celebration.

"Kevin, like our beloved Jack Connors, helped to provide some accelerant to our fundraising to ensure Catholic Charities can continue to meet the soaring needs in our communities," Tuthill said. "So thank you, Kevin, for your kindness, your compassion and for being a connector in a world that too often feels very divided."

The John and Virginia Kaneb Award goes to those who "embody the values of charity, compassion, and service to those in need," Catholic Charities Board of Trustees Chair Mark Kerwin explained before presenting Phelan with the award. It is named after the late John Kaneb and his wife Virginia, who Kerwin called "longtime champions of Catholic Charities who set the example for real faith."

Phelan was joined at the ceremony by his daughters Carrie Leto and Lauren Lipscomb, and three of his nine grandchildren.

"Our father does not wait for doors to open," Leto said in her remarks. "He works to unlock them. Dad came from a humble background and was lucky to be raised in a loving and happy family. His parents taught him the value of a strong work ethic and the positive impact of education."

Leto said that her dad gets to his desk at Colliers before 6 a.m. each day, while also "working tirelessly to bring awareness and change to social, civic, and political challenges in this city."

"When our father chooses to get involved in a particular cause, he's truly looking to make a difference," she said. "He's not just showing up for the annual meeting. He jumps in with both feet and is the first person to get his hands dirty."

She said Phelan is always asking how civic leaders can do more, especially when it comes to children in need.

"For so many organizations in this city, our dad has been a fundraiser and, more importantly, a friend raiser," she said. "While many of us are aware of his rolling capital campaigns, it is the small, quiet acts of kindness that truly define him and mean so much to those he helps."

In his remarks upon receiving the award, Phelan agreed with his daughter that he had been lucky in his life. Upon seeing his childhood home in Connecticut, a friend of his remarked, "That's a small house."

"Yeah, but it's a big home," he said he replied.

Phelan gave an overview of his life and his relationships with his parents, his school and business colleagues, his late wife Ann, and his daughters.

"There's always a person, persons, who help guide your life," he said.

He recalled teaching tennis, mowing lawns, and carrying mail to pay for his studies at Boston College's MBA program. While out for drinks with his dad, he met a local banker who got him a job as a teller at State Street Bank.

"I don't think a whole lot of you all started at third base," he said. "We all started as tellers. And I started as a teller, and life has been blessed and good to me."

He encouraged the donors to extend the same entry-level opportunities that he once received.

"It might be at Jordan Marsh stocking shelves," he said. "It might be at Roche Brothers cleaning shelves. Anything. People need a break. The job is what gets you started. I was a teller. You start at the bottom."

Phelan thanked Cardinal Seán P. O'Malley for allowing him to serve on the Archdiocese of Boston Finance Committee, and Archbishop Richard G. Henning, who once served alongside Phelan on the board of Providence College. Both the cardinal and the archbishop attended the celebration, which was Archbishop Henning's first as Archbishop of Boston.

Before delivering the invocation, Archbishop Henning spoke about his recent trip to the Azores to celebrate the feast of Santo Cristo. The feast is celebrated with a grand procession in which a large image of the suffering Christ is taken to local hospitals and nursing homes. Archbishop Henning said that Catholic Charities' work is like the feast, which reveals "the face of a suffering, compassionate God" and shows the Lord "to people who need his grace and his mercy."

The evening concluded with a paddle auction and a tribute to the late Jack Connors, a longtime supporter of Catholic Charities who emceed the 2024 Spring Celebration shortly before his death from cancer at age 80.

"Jack said you could never have too many friends, can never do too much for other people, and you can never say 'thank you' too many times," said Father John Unni, pastor of St. Cecilia Parish in Boston and co-emcee of the gala with WBZ's Paula Ebben. "You can never too often call lonely people and say 'I just called to say hello,' and you can never hold too many people's hands. I think, in effect, that's what you do. That's what all of you do, and that's what Catholic Charities does."