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Home > Ministries > Social Ministries > St. Vincent de Paul Society
St. Vincent de Paul Society
 Members of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul (or "Vincentians") are men and women who strive to grow spiritually by offering person-to-person service to individuals in
need. We are young and old. Our members come in every shade of skin color. Some of us are wealthy, some are financially poor, but all of us are blessed
with an awareness that our blessings are to be shared with our brothers and sisters in need.
We know that we are not alone. We are part of an international society of friends united by a spirit of poverty, humility, and sharing, which is nourished by prayer
and reflection, mutually supportive gatherings, and adherence to a basic Rule.
Energized by the awareness that service to our brother or sister in need is in fact an encounter with our Lord Jesus Christ, members of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul
are keenly aware that poverty, suffering and loneliness are present for millions in our communities. For that reason, we collaborate with all who seek to relieve need
and address its causes.
The Society offers tangible assistance to those in need on a person-to-person basis. It is this personalized involvement that makes the work of the Society unique.
This aid may take the form of intervention, consultation, or often through direct dollar or in-kind service. An essential precept of the Society's work is to
provide help while conscientiously maintaining the confidentiality and dignity of those who are served. The Society recognizes that it must assume, also, a role of
advocacy for those who are defenseless or voiceless. Some 12 million persons are helped annually by Vincentians in the United States.
To learn more about the St. Vincent de Paul Society in the United States, please click here
for an FAQ.
Betty's Back to School Project
This program provides a new backpack and a $15 shoe voucher for over 200 children at Our Lady of Grace Food Pantry. We buy during the
winter sales in order to save money. Backpacks are given out at the August Food Pantry.
Coat and Accessory Drive
The 2009 St. Vincent de Paul Society coat
distribution gave 566 coats to 198 families on
November 14. In addition to the coats, each
person received two winter accessories such as hat
and gloves, scarf and gloves. This is a St.
Vincent de Paul Greensburg District project
including Our Lady of Grace, St. Paul, St. Bruno,
St. Edward and Blessed Sacrament Cathedral parishes.
In addition, Westmoreland Athletic Club, and the
Greensburg Central Catholic Interact Group donate
coats. We are also recipients of coats from
the National Warm Coats program through Burlington
Coat Factory and a Girl Scout troop in Monroeville.
Over 50 volunteers clocked 565 hours to make this
program happen. We collected over 1,172 coats
and 2,000 winter accessories. These were
sorted, sized and organized. This year we also
gave coats to Welcome Home (homeless shelter in
Greensburg for women and families), homeless in
Pittsburgh and to the needy in the Apollo/New
Kensington/Vandergrift area. Coats are shared
with SVdP stores and Christian Laymen. We make
sure that the coats are put to use.
We are the only program that provides coats to
adults in the Greensburg area. Each year we
still have to purchase coats to meet the larger
sizes. This year we purchased 422 coats from
XL to 6X at an average cost of $13.34 per coat.
We really shop the sales and keep the coats for next
year. As you are doing your post holiday
shopping, please keep our program in mind. We
distribute coats throughout the winter as needs
develop. We really need men and women size XL
to 6X. A good bargain in this range is a
winter coat that is under $20. Coats can be
dropped off at the Parish Office. Thank you
for all of your support and donations. Once
again, this is your parish social ministry donations
at work to help our neighbors in need.
Home Visits/Client Assistance
Home Visits/Client Assistance is the help we provide to individuals each month. We help with basic needs such as utilities, food, clothing and durable medical equipment.
The needs vary based on each circumstance.
Magi Ministry
Profound thanks to the countless volunteers who
donated so generously and worked so tirelessly to
assist the needy this year in providing food and
gifts for Christmas. To all who donated gifts,
money, grocery store and Wal-Mart gift certificates;
to all who shopped, packaged, wrapped, and
delivered; to all who baked, served, and decorated;
to those who set up and cleaned up; to organizers
and office helpers, runners and greeters, to young
and old alike who gave of their time, talent and
treasure as a gift to Christ, present in our sisters
and brothers in need: a heartfelt thank you!
Thank you also to St. Sylvester Parish and Church of
St. Paul, to our school partners: Aquinas Academy,
Greensburg Central Catholic High School and St.
Vincent College; to Westmoreland Athletic Club and
our business partners and group partners.
Thanks to Libby Bevilacqua and the Cathedral Youth
Group for coordinating and working with the Pack-a
Bag project. Thanks to Carol Whalen and the
GCCHS Interact group for their very special
contribution to the Welcome Home Shelter families.
Thank you to the West Virginia University Newman
Club who traveled to the Cathedral to assist with
Magi Ministry. Thanks to Katie McDonald and
Greg Kerestan for the gift of their talent and a
very special thank you to Debbie McDonald, Magi
program director, for her many years and countless
hours of work in coordinating the annual Magi
Ministry project.
This year, to date, we have helped 365 families.
It takes many hands and many hours to prepare for
and successfully complete such a large outreach
endeavor, but the humbling encounters with those who
are needy in our community are truly encounters with
Christ.
Please click
here for more pictures from this year's Magi
Ministry activities.
Operation Fresh Express
The St. Vincent de Paul Society sponsors a food
distribution called Operation Fresh Express that
takes place in the parking lot of St.
Paul Parish on Carbon Road, Greensburg. It is
an outdoor distribution in conjunction with the
Westmoreland County Food Bank. Operation Fresh
Express is sponsored by the St. Vincent de Paul
Society Conferences at Blessed Sacrament Cathedral,
Our Lady of Grace and St. Paul Parishes. Our
donation of $350 provides fresh dairy, produce and
household food items to members of our own community
who might otherwise not have enough to eat.
The Cathedral conference pays $150 of this donation
from our $1,000 monthly income from the Parish
Social Ministry collection.
In January we served 151 households comprised of 106
children, 204 adults, and 31 senior citizens.
We distributed 18,589 pounds of food that would have
cost $27,698 had it been purchased in a grocery
store.
The last weekend of each month the St. Vincent de
Paul Society collects paper products for the poor in
our community. Paper products cannot be
purchased with food stamps. Many of the people
we serve have few dollars beyond their food stamps
each month. Therefore, what we give them
really helps.
In 2009, our parishioners donated 5,205 rolls of
toilet paper, 1,088 rolls of paper towels, 186
packages of napkins, 637 boxes of Kleenex, and 57
packages of diapers or Depends. Sound like a
lot? We have an average of 300 families per
month at the St. Vincent de Paul Society Food Pantry
located at Our Lady of Grace Parish. Based on
parish donations alone this allows each family two
items a month (two rolls of toilet paper or two
packages of paper towel). Think about how much
paper you use in your home each month.
Parishioner donations have been low; therefore, the
Blessed Sacrament Cathedral conference supplements
this by purchasing $275 worth of toilet paper each
month. This money comes from the $1,000 each
month that we receive from the Parish Social
Ministry donations. This leaves us $725 per
month to do other things to help our neighbors in
need. In a month when donations are high, we
can give each family four rolls of toilet paper and
one other paper item such as paper towel, Kleenex or
napkins. Still not much for a family, but it
really helps when your income is low.
We appreciate all the paper products that you are
able to give the last weekend of each month.
Thank you for your continual support of the St.
Vincent de Paul Society and our Greensburg neighbors
in need.
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