Providing help and creating hope in Maine
One of five finalists for the 2023 Catholic Charities USA (CCUSA) Volunteer of the Year
Dan Ross, a Catholic Charities Maine (CCM) volunteer for Refugee & Immigration Services, was one of five finalists for the 2023 Catholic Charities USA (CCUSA) Volunteer of the Year. This award, given annually since 1998, is granted to an individual who embodies the mission of CCUSA to provide critical services to those in need and advocate for justice in social structures. Catholic Charities agencies across the U.S. nominate candidates for the award from nearly 300,000 volunteers.
Ross volunteers for CCM’s Immigration Legal Services program in Portland. While not a lawyer himself, he gained accreditation from the U.S. Department of Justice to provide legal services to refugees, asylees, and other immigrants. Since 2018, Ross has filed more than 250 applications for naturalization, green cards, and family unity. He has played a critical role in tripling the size of CCM's small legal services program, and he mentors new legal volunteers and staff members.
Previously the CEO of a New York City marketing agency, Ross now lives in Saco, Maine and draws on a lifetime of business, writing, and client service experience to reach positive outcomes for the immigrants he serves. “I try to treat every immigrant client with the same dignity and professionalism I did for my business clients,” he explains.
Before his marketing career, Ross was a journalist and the published author of Acts of Faith: A Journey to the Fringes of Jewish Identity. “Welcoming the stranger is a universal human value found in the Old and New Testaments alike,” he remarked.
His proudest moments have been reuniting refugees and asylees with spouses and young children they were forced to leave behind. “I believe immigration is a core value of American life,” he said. “My clients represent the future of our country, just as my own grandparents did when they came here a hundred years ago.”
© 2024 Catholic Charities Maine
