SVdP Is More Than Home Visits

By TIM GEISLER

When you hear “Society of St. Vincent de Paul,” your first thought might be of thrift stores or home visits. While these are common, these are not the primary mission of the Society.

Founded by Blessed Frederic Ozanam in 1833, SVdP is “a network of friends, inspired by Gospel values, who strive to grow in holiness through personal relationship with each other and through service to people in need.” These three pillars of friendship, spirituality and service are the basis of the Society.

First and foremost, Vincentians gather in friendship with like-minded men and women to deepen their faith. Conference members meet twice each month to foster and maintain their spirit of friendship. The meetings are less about conducting business than to celebrate and deepen the unity of its members for essentially spiritual reasons. Each conference has a spiritual advisor whose role is to ensure spirituality and friendship are the focus of every element of the meeting. Opening and closing prayers, along with a specific time for spiritual reflection, heighten the awareness of the Holy Spirit’s presence during the meeting.

Once members have grown spiritually, they better understand their response to the call of Christ, to provide service to others. The Society’s mission is clear: our ministry is a means for acquiring holiness so we can imitate Christ in serving those in need.

For a variety of reasons, the SVdP conferences in the Diocese of Winona-Rochester do not operate thrift stores. Instead, the main focus of service is the home visit. Visiting those in need in their homes is the distinctive characteristic of the Society. The primary purpose of this person-to-person interaction is to provide an opportunity to show the love of Christ and to provide assistance while maintaining the dignity of those who are served.

In the past six years, the members from the 10 conferences within the diocese have made 17,600 in-person or virtual home visits and provided 128,000 hours of service to those in need. Because of the generosity of our parishioners and benefactors, conferences have also provided more than $3 million in direct financial assistance to those we serve. The majority of this financial assistance is to pay for housing and utilities, but it also includes funds for transportation (gas cards, car repairs, bus passes, etc.), household goods and furnishings, medical supplies, clothing, personal care items, groceries, etc. No form of charity is foreign to the Society, and help is provided without regard to any factor other than the need and the resources available to the conference.

To give you an idea of what we do and who we serve, here are just three examples of how conferences have been able to help:

• CY has struggled her entire life. She moved to Rochester several years ago with nothing, and Saint Vincent de Paul helped her get established. She continued to have setbacks and make unwise decisions for a few years, but, with guidance from us, she turned things around. She found a job which she has kept for three years, that offers her health care, time off and even a retirement plan. All was good until late summer when she was struck by a car while riding her bicycle. She was unable to work for six months. She attempted to get by with her savings, but, as they were running out, she stopped paying her rent and got more than $3,500 behind. Partnering with a county agency who paid $2,500, we were able to satisfy the rest, and eviction was avoided. She has now returned to work and is still struggling a bit to catch up but making progress.

• SM is a 75-year-old woman who lives in a trailer home with her spouse. They have a fixed income and often struggle financially. She is a breast and colon cancer survivor, still under medical care. Their daughter passed away recently, and their son started on dialysis. As a result, they got behind in their utility bills. We helped and paid $188.90 to MN Energy and $264 to Rochester Public Utilities. She was very grateful we were able to help them.

• LS is a 24-year-old single woman currently living with her mother (age 46) and brother (age 16). The lease is in her name. LS has worked at Target for over a year. Her income was disrupted due to getting COVID followed by laryngitis. She also learned that she has a tear in one of her main arteries from coughing so much, which puts her at risk of a stroke. She went to the ER twice in three days. The artery issue requires a three-month recovery period. She has worked with Target to put her on light duty during this period, and she planned to return to full-time work in another month. She was behind $1,050 in rent. Her mother could contribute $300, so we paid the additional $750. She would have another paycheck before rent was due again. She is now back to work and doing well medically and financially.

While the focus is on home visits, individual conferences also perform other works of charity. The Owatonna conference has a program called “Furnishing Hope.” This program provides furnishings and basic household items for people moving into a new apartment or home. Owatonna and Fairmont conferences participate in community meal programs, working with other churches to provide weekly meals. These partnerships allow conferences to provide services they could not do on their own. Resurrection conference has a program called “Helping Hands” which provides vouchers for local grocery stores. Some conferences have community resource rooms where individuals and families can get basic household supplies. The value of these in-kind goods and services have totaled $168,000 over the past six years.

The District Council has a loan program that provides low-interest loans to those in need. Since its inception seven years ago, this program has provided 50 loans totaling $94,000. The program not only provides funds for those who do not have other options but also helps to establish a credit history to help with future banking needs. These loans have paid for costs related to transportation needs (vehicle purchase or repairs), outstanding medical bills, payoff of other high-interest loans or garnishments, and home repairs.

The work of the Society is endless, for, as Christ stated “the poor will always be with you.” More members are always welcome to join existing conferences, and parishes are encouraged to look into starting a new conference. There are many resources available, and a team of Vincentians will eagerly visit with pastors and parishioners to share their experiences and to help recruit members. If you are interested in learning more about the Society, please feel free to contact the conference president in your parish or the District Council president, Tim Geisler, at dcpresident@svdp-rochmn.org . You can also visit our website at svdp-rochmn.org/

Tim Geisler is the District Council president for the St. Vincent de Paul Society in the Diocese of Winona-Rochester.