When Alfred Williams began working for Catholic Social Services (CSS) in 1974, he said he did not foresee being employed there 50 years later.
However, 2024 marks Williams’ 50th year of employment with the agency, which helps poor and vulnerable seniors and families in central and southern Ohio to reach their potential and live with dignity, hope and purpose.
CSS was formed by the Diocese of Columbus in 1945 as the Catholic Welfare Bureau under then-Bishop Michael Ready. It was renamed in 1966.
Williams, who is a Vietnam veteran, earned a degree in social work from Ohio Dominican University after his service. He said he was placed at CSS while a college student. After he graduated, he accepted a position there.
“It was that mission of helping the most vulnerable and the poor – that’s always been my personal mission that matches with what their mission is,” he said.
Williams said he knew he wanted to serve others, and he wanted to be part of an agency that treated their clients well and upheld values.
“I probably couldn’t work anywhere (else) or in most places given my needs and my values,” he said. “It’s a fit.”
CSS is guided by core values of impact, compassion, courage and excellence, which Williams admired. He was also drawn to CSS by the way it treated clients with “dignity,” he said.
“There’s a consistency with the Church in terms of taking that role and being their advocate and their supporter and their voice,” he said.
“The motivation of the Church is not necessarily to get their vote, but it’s really to help them. There’s no real ulterior motive other than that: to help the poor.”
Williams has held a variety of roles at CSS, including director of the Family Services Program, division director for Direct Family Assistance and outreach social worker. He currently serves as a supportive services social worker.
Williams works to connect seniors with resources that enable them to remain independent and stay in their home for as long as possible, which many seniors want to do, he said. He assists seniors with housing, including those who live in subsidized housing, face eviction or have trouble finding housing.
Williams has dedicated more than 100,000 hours of service at CSS. More than half of those hours were spent directly serving clients in order to meet their needs and help them reach their potential.
“I look at it as what I’m supposed to do,” he said. “I don’t think of it as something extraordinary.”
Since he began with CSS in 1974, it’s estimated that he has impacted more than 7,000 lives. But Williams said he wishes more people could be served and he remains focused on how to increase those numbers.
“What it communicates to me is that you can help people make that change, so when we don’t, it’s like, ‘OK, what could we have done differently?’” he said.
“I’ll look at those people and I’ll go, ‘Why couldn’t we help? Why didn’t it work with them?’ I usually … focus on that.”
CSS president and CEO Kelley Henderson said, “Alfred’s commitment to service is inspiring. His 50 years of dedication to our organization and the community has left an indelible mark, and we are so proud to have him as part of our team.”
Williams said his dedication to serving others was largely inspired by his mother.
“She taught me about the value of helping other people in need no matter who they were or what they did … their circumstances,” he said.
Williams recalled memories of his mother writing letters to the imprisoned, helping a widow whose husband was killed in the Vietnam War and serving people whose family members had died.
“That was always a big influence, just watching her do those kinds of things out of the kindness of her heart,” he said.
“She didn’t have much money, but … I remember doing her bills later on here in her life, and she had made small donations to all these charities. It might have been 10 bucks or five bucks. It’s amazing that she had donated to civil rights groups and hospitals.”
Just as his mother influenced him, Williams influenced others. Several former clients’ children became social workers after Williams served their family.
“That taught me you never know who’s listening and who you might influence,” he said. “You don’t know the impact that you have. Sometimes it’s not immediate, and sometimes I think I’m a total failure, and then, I guess I plant the seed.”
While Williams has impacted thousands of lives during his years with CSS, the agency also made an impact on him. He said he had a good relationship with the agency’s leadership.
“They were always very personable to me, very available – a lot of organizations you can’t do that,” he said. “It’s very comforting.
“They personally talk to me, or if they’ve got a question or if they are concerned about something with me, just directly, ‘Hey Alfred, come here.’ If I’ve got a question, that door’s always been open, so I’ve always enjoyed that. I’m sure they give that same attention to everybody, but I always felt special that way.”
CSS supported Williams attending graduate school to earn a master’s degree in social work. He drove to the Ohio University Lancaster campus several nights a week for classes. He said CSS worked with him and was supportive, which made it “easy” to earn a second degree while working.
In the 1990s, Williams converted and became Catholic. He said working at CSS confirmed his decision to enter the Catholic Church.
“I got to see the inside workings of things more than from the outside, more than a parishioner,” he said. “When you meet the bishops and maybe some of the cardinals, you get to know more about the Church.
“I’d always respected their charity work, dedication. We had a nun – several nuns – that worked here during my time, and then, the community … when I came here, how well thought of they were.”
As he celebrates 50 years of making an impact, Williams said he hopes the people he served remember the support they received from CSS rather than from him personally.
“I’m a representative of a way of doing things and a mission and some values,” he said. “I am not ‘it.’ I am more the vessel. So, I would think they remember that Church-sponsored agency – Catholic Social Services – provided this to them.
“People forget names and all that, and you move on, but you want them to remember what was done by that organization. We’re representative of an organization and their values.”