SSVP

The Society of Saint Vincent de Paul is an international Catholic lay organization founded in 1833 by Frederic Ozanam in response to a taunt for Catholics to “Walk the talk”. The society is named after Vincent de Paul, a Catholic priest dedicated to serving the poor who was canonized in 1737 and became patron of works of charity. The first SVDP Conference in Canada was formed in 1846. The primary mission of the society is to serve the poor and less fortunate of our community regardless of faith or culture.

What do we do?

The main service provided by Holy Name’s SVDP society is the provision of emergency food hampers to families, within the boundaries of our parish community, who are in need. This is made possible through the generous cash donations of our parishioners as well as through occasional food drives. Extensive support for our Christmas hamper program is received from St. Gregory, St. Andrew, St. Thomas Aquinas and Holy Name Schools.

Volunteer opportunities

There are four principle ways to offer your time to the St. Vincent de Paul Society:

  1. Callers: Callers retrieve messages left by clients requesting hampers and return phone calls to these clients to collect relevant details. This information is passed on to the deliverers. Callers may also offer advice about other community resources available. Shifts are typically one week long but can be split, and generally occur every 5-6 weeks. Messages are retrieved and returned from home at the caller’s convenience. Guidelines and resources are provided to our callers to assist them in their role.
  2. Deliverers: Deliverers take the information provided by the callers and pack the food hampers according to the guidelines provided for family size. Deliverers usually work in groups of two and deliver hampers and food vouchers to the family’s home. The delivery shift is also one week long but can either by split or deliverers can specify to the callers which days/evenings of the week they are available. These shifts occur about once every 5-6 weeks.
  3. Black “Bag” Ushers: On a monthly basis, at each of our three masses, an extra collection takes place directly following the regular collection.
  4. Christmas hamper program: extra volunteers are needed in the weeks leading up
    to Christmas for gift sorting and wrapping, sorting of food and packing of food hampers and the delivery of Christmas hampers. Announcements of dates for these volunteer opportunities will be posted in the bulletin through November and December

If you are interested in volunteering with us we would love your help! The more volunteers we have the less frequent the volunteers’ shifts will occur. Please contact Marlene in the parish office or call the church and leave a message on the St. Vincent de Paul voice mail. Notices of our meetings, which are generally held on the second Wednesday of the month, are posted in the bulletin. Anyone is welcome to attend.

Donations

Monetary contributions to Holy Name Parish St. Vincent de Paul Society can be placed in a separate envelope marked ‘St. Vincent De Paul’ and deposited into the collection basket at any time. Cheques should be made payable to Holy Name Church and earmarked St. Vincent de Paul. Donation amounts are tax deductible and are included in your Holy Name tax receipt.

“Black Bag” Collection – on a monthly basis a separate collection will follow the regular collection. Parishioners may choose to either ‘take’ from the black bag (a slip of paper indicating one of the food items on our wish list required for hampers) OR ‘give’ to the black bag (deposit a donation that will be used to purchase groceries for the food hampers).

Donations of grocery items are welcomed on an ongoing basis. Non-perishable food items may be left in the SVDP bin located in the back right corner beside the main doors as you enter the church. The following are food items which are staples in our hampers:

Bread is donated by Co-op.

Other items such as pancake mix and syrup, coffee/tea/hot chocolate, baby food, snack items or toiletries are appreciated. Items which would be considered staples rather than specialty food items are most needed. Unfortunately we are unable to accept any homemade (baked or canned) food items, perishable food items or items which have been opened (unless the items inside are prepackaged i.e. individual hot cereal pouches)

By everybody giving a little bit we are able to provide for many.

We would like to extend a warm thank you to all of our parishioners who give generously to the St. Vincent de Paul Society so that we may carry on this important mission.

Thank you and God Bless!