The Lebanese American Country Club on Monday presented a gift of  $619,216 to Catholic Charities of Louisville for our capital campaign and to support the work of Immigration Legal Services.

LACC Board member Ackie George said the country club’s members decided to make the gift to Catholic Charities because the agency’s work with immigrants reminds them of their own heritage. “Our grandparents were immigrants,” she said. “And in Louisville, they were discriminated against.” Catholic Charities’ work to help immigrants and refugees resettle and thrive in Louisville “reflects our heritage,” George said. “We want to support that.”

The money comes from LACC’s recent sale of its property, which members bought in the 1950s when they were not allowed to join other country clubs in Louisville. “They bought the property and established their own country club with a pool,” George recounted. “Some of the best days of my life are days spent there with families from Lebanon and Syria, everyone cooking and eating and laughing.”

LACC and Catholic Charities have agreed to allocate the gift as follows:

• $250,000 to Catholic Charities capital campaign to build a new headquarters, Catholic Charities Center
• $100,000 to establish an endowment for the agency’s Immigration Legal Services program
• $269,000 to operating expenses for Immigration Legal Services

Immigration Legal Services provides lower-cost and no-cost legal counsel and representation to approximately 2,650 immigrants and refugees a year. No client is ever turned away due to inability to pay, although often services are delayed until funding is available. The endowment provided by LACC is expected to alleviate this delay.