About the St. Vincent de Paul Society

The Society of St. Vincent de Paul is a worldwide Catholic lay organization through which men and women grow spiritually by offering person-to-person service to the needy and suffering.  It was established in 1833 by Frederic Ozanam and named for our patron, St. Vincent de Paul, the patron of all works of charity.  The people that we in the St. Jude Conference serve do not need to be parishioners or Catholics to request assistance, they just need to live within or near our parish boundaries.  The vision of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul is to embrace the world in a network of charity.
 
Our conference has been present at St. Jude Parish since 2016.  The central and most basic activity of conferences is the visitation of the needy in their homes.  This is the clearest symbol of our Vincentian charism, which dictates the highest respect for the people we serve.  Vincentians always visit in pairs, emphasizing our status as a community.  We go as neighbors to listen, offering prayer, hope and support.  Sometimes we provide advice, sometimes we help them utilize community or parish resources, sometimes we provide rides, sometimes we provide assistance with bills, but we always offer hope and prayer.  Since formed, our Parish Conference has helped hundreds of neighbors in need. 
 
Our conference meets twice monthly, on the second and fourth Thursdays.  We typically help our neighbors with small financial assistance but also provide food from our pantry and often link people with other charitable groups who can team with us to provide further help.  Most of our members contribute a few hours each month to our conference. 
 
If you would like to join us in our work, we welcome you!  We have a Board that meets twice a month and Associates who help us with projects as needed.  Some of our projects include:

• Twice a year, we arrange for a Green Drop truck to visit the parish for donations of clothing and/or housewares.
• Providing Thanksgiving meals for some of our neighbors in need.
• Helping to fill Christmas wish-list requests for the people we serve.
• Assisting the Aid for Friends committee in our Parish to make meals for the isolated homebound.  The meals go to local folks and to neighboring areas where they are needed.

Our Board members include Erica Bradley-Maywood, Jim Burkholder, Joanne Charpentier, Tom Conboy, Mary Grace DeSantis, Kelly Horst, Maureen Kleinschmidt, Francesca Miller, Sue Minnick, John Mulroney, Gerri Scott, Donna Selya, Linda Siegfried, Andy Soloski, Diane Soloski, Bill Tavani, Kevin Thornton, and Terry Thornton.  Feel free to talk with any of them about our conference. 

We are supported through the generosity of St. Jude Church parishioners through individual donations and funds received from the poor boxes.  Thank you for your generosity on behalf of those that we serve!  Additionally, we periodically have fundraisers from which the profits help support the work of our conference.

• During the 2019 Lenten season, we held a Capt’n Chucky’s Seafood Sale fundraiser.
• In the Fall of 2019, we will be holding a Stock’s Pound Cake Sale fundraiser.

If you know someone who needs assistance, please call 267-903-4884.  The call will go directly to voicemail.  All calls are normally returned within 48 hours.
Our e-mail address is:  svdp.saintjude@gmail.com

Other local resources for those experiencing difficulties:
Bucks County Opportunity Council (BCOC)
https://www.bcoc.org/
BCOC’s mission is to reduce poverty and partner with the community to promote economic self-sufficiency.  They provide help with rent, food, utility bills, heat and filing taxes.  They can be reached by calling 215.345.3295.

Bucks County Resource Directory
https://www.bucksiu.org/data/StreamFile.aspx?loc=secureFiles&file=Res-Dir-Summer-2018.pdf
Bucks County Intermediate Unit provides a wealth of information in this document for various human services issues.  The Table of Contents is located on page 3.