Outreach Coordinator Doris Mullins and Support Thy Neighbor Sunday

About seven years ago, when Doris Mullins heard that St. Vincent de Paul was hiring an Outreach Coordinator, she knew without a doubt that the role would be a great match for her background and interests. At the time, Doris had spent over a decade working in community relations and charitable giving with Southwest Airlines. Also, Doris’ roots at St. Vincent de Paul run deep — her family have been parishioners here since 1980. As Outreach Coordinator for our parish, Doris is thankful for the opportunity to blend her faith life with her passion for serving those in need.

“I love being able to have these personal relationships with our community partners,” Doris says. “We’ve made some great friendships and partnerships, and it’s great community teamwork. And I love having the faith community of our parish, as well.”

In her role as Outreach Coordinator, Doris helps our parish partner with many non-profit organizations in the Arlington area to meet the needs of individuals and families in the community. When the person in need is a parishioner, Doris will often work directly with him or her. In other cases, she works to match clients with the local agencies that are best equipped to help. The needs to be addressed can be anything ranging from rent or utility assistance to more unique situations, like a graduating student whose family may not be able to afford the graduation regalia and invitations. Thanks to the generosity of our parishioners, St. Vincent de Paul can successfully serve countless members of our faith family and area residents.

As soon as the pandemic hit last spring, parishioners began contacting Doris and asking her what they could do to continue helping those in need — a phenomenon that, as Doris notes, “speaks volumes” about how charitable our parish is. While many ministries continued operating remotely, restrictions on in-person activities called for a creative new way to serve the community.

To help us continue serving in a more hands on approach, on Sunday, Sept. 27, the feast of St. Vincent de Paul, we launched our Support Thy Neighbor program which allows our parish to continue providing for the vunerable in the time of COVID-19. Every third Sunday of the month, parishioners can participate in a drivethru drop-off of items to be donated to local non-profit service agencies. Non-perishable food items, baby essentials, and toiletry essentials are collected every month, in addition to a “special” item that reflects each month’s current needs — for example, cold weather essentials in December.

Thanks to the generosity of our parishioners, St. Vincent de Paul is typically able to provide donated items to up to eight different local organizations, including the Salvation Army, the Arlington Life Shelter, Safe Haven, St. Anthony’s Food Pantry, Mission Arlington, and many more.

“It’s really neat just to see the smiling faces — or maybe I should say the twinkles in the eyes with the masks!” says Doris of those who come with donations on Support Thy Neighbor Sunday. “It’s been a safe way to come together in some fellowship and to really connect and give to others, which is not something foreign to our parishioners at all. They are great, and we’re very blessed.”

As a stewardship parish, all of our ministries work on outreach in various ways, making an impact on countless individuals and families both in our faith family and the broader community. Doris is thankful for the many ways she continues to witness the love of Christ at work throughout our parish of St. Vincent de Paul.

“Having that extension of the Church’s Catholic faith and being there to care for those in need as disciples of Jesus is just ingrained in us,” she says. “The parishioners are the hands and feet of Jesus throughout Arlington — it extends out in all these different ways and all these different groups. It’s a really big blessing and humbling to be a part of the outreach here at St. Vincent de Paul.”

Are you interested in helping with Support Thy Neighbor Sunday? Donated items can be brought to the drive-through drop-off at the church every third Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Non-perishable food items, baby essentials and toiletry essentials are always welcome — check our website, Facebook page and weekly bulletins for special items of the month. Many thanks to our Men’s Club for all of their help unloading and loading donations on these Sundays!

Members of our Men’s Club helping to load and unload donated items at Support Thy Neighbor Sunday

Donations collected for local agencies during a recent Support Thy Neighbor Sunday

Donations collected for local agencies during a recent Support Thy Neighbor Sunday

Doris Mullins, Outreach Coordinator at St. Vincent de Paul