Society of St Vincent de Paul Conference

          Blessed Sacrament & Star of the Sea

          Parishes, Virginia-Umhlanga Rocks

 

Following on from the Parish survey that was conducted earlier this year, 160 of the respondents indicated that they would like more information about the Society. We have compiled this document which will hopefully clarify what the Society is all about and what we do.

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WHO ARE WE AND WHAT DO WE DO?

The society of St Vincent de Paul is a lay Catholic organisation that aspires to live the Gospel message by serving Christ in the poor with love, respect, justice, hope and joy and by working to shape a more just and compassionate society.

 

The Society was formed in Paris, France on the 23rd April 1833 by a group of young law students lead by Blessed Frederick Ozanam.They realised there was a great need to help the many poor people in Paris and this set the wheels in motion to form an organisation that led to the establishment of the Society which has now grown to an estimated 800 000 members in 140 countries.The Society started in South Africa in 1856 in Cape Town and there are presently about 2 500 members at 283 conferences.

 

The Society operates though “conferences” at individual parish level, up to Central Councils, to National Councils and ultimately to the Global Council which reports to the Holy See. Interestingly, the Society is completely autonomous from the local church, although the two work hand in hand with each other and most parishes have a SSVP Conference. Conferences elect a President, Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer and are obliged to comply with the ‘Rule of the Society’, the details of which are contained in a booklet issued to all members.

 

The Society relies entirely on donations that come mainly from parishioners. We currently receive regular generous donations plus the monthly collection on the first Sunday of each month which enables us to operate the many projects listed.

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There are two types of membership of the Society - Full and Auxiliary. Full members attend the meetings once a month to pray, discuss logistics, projects and participate in the activities of the conference. Auxiliary members do not attend the meetings but participate in the activities of the Conference. It is a matter of choice where members feel most comfortable.

 

Our main duties are:

1) half an hour on the first and last Saturday mornings, 4 members load food for distribution to recipients at Ottawa and two of them travel to the Ottawa to hand out the parcels.

2) about an hour on a Sunday afternoon collecting nearly expired groceries from Woolworths at La Lucia Mall and make parcels for local beneficiaries.

3) The logistics of receiving and redistributing donated clothing and general household goods to people in need.

4) Conducting visits and assessments of the people we are assisting

5) Delivering various items to the recipients as and when needed.

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THE WORK THAT WE DO INCLUDES:

• ‘FOOD PARCELS FOR GOGO HEADED FAMILIES OTTAWA, VERULAM’  

• ‘LOCAL PARISHIONERS IN NEED’ – Woolworths food

• ‘HAND UP CLOTHING PROJECT’ – Parishioners donations

• ‘SISTERS OF CHARITY SHALLCROSS HOME’ - food

• ‘SISTERS AT ESINDISWENI CONVENT SCHOOL, INANDA’- food

• ‘BARBARA DUBE AFTER-CARE FOR CHILDREN, INANDA’ - food

• ‘SISTERS OF CHARITY EKUKHANYENI STEP DOWN FACILITY AND NAPIER CENTRE FOR HEALING’ Woolworths food

• ‘MOUNT EDGECOMBE SSVP CONFERENCE’ - food

• ‘DANNY’S VERULAM FOOD PARCELS’- food

• ‘EDUCATION FUND FOR CHILDREN IN NEED’ subsidise fees

• ‘GINA, VERULAM’

• ‘ST VINCENT’S CHILDRENS HOME AND STREETWIZE HOME MARIANHILL’ – food

• ‘THE SISTERS OF THE PRECIOUS BLOOD, MARIANNHILL’ food

• ‘ROLAND’S PROJECT MANAGEMENT SERVICE’

• ‘COLLABORATION WITH THE LADIES CROCHET GROUP’

• ‘YEAR END / CHRISTMAS PROJECT’

• The Ottawa and Verulam recipients each get a chicken and if donations permit, an addition to their food parcels just before Christmas.

• We provide a year-end party and ‘take home parcels’ for the children at Inanda Convent.

• Care packs are given to the care givers at Ekukhanyeni and Napier Centre for healing.

• Shoe Boxes are filled with goodies and given to the 75 children at St Vincent’s Home.

• Sweets and drinks given to 3 pre-schools for a year end party for the children.

• We contribute to the Open Air School’s year end activities and take home parcels.

• School shoes and uniforms are bought a funds permit.

• ‘Christmas Tree’ presents donated by parishioners are given to a selected children’s home or creche each year.

      ’AD HOC PROJECTS’

• Blankets are handed out every year just before winter.

• Clothing and household goods donated by parishioners are provided to the various abovementioned organisations that we already assist as the need arises for specific items.

• 89 boxes (of 10x1kg packets) of donated Future Life are distributed among most of the abovementioned recipients

• As the need arises we assist people by requesting parishioners to donate various items, e.g. beds, linen, fridges, stoves, books, etc

• Assist with disasters, e.g.  Tongaat Tornado, floods, informal settlement fires.

 

How do we manage to do all this?

We have a group of volunteers that give of their time and talents. The duties mentioned earlier are organised on a roster over a 3 month period, with no one member doing more than5 duties over this period.

 

Fr James supports us in all we do with Gabi and Imelda helping with the receiving of donated goods at the church and Phumlane assisted by Wellington, handles the logistics of fetching and distributing as required.

 

We generally hand out food and goods to people in need, but we also strive to give people a ‘hand up’ wherever possible in the form of helping them acquire skills and material to become self-sufficient.

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HOW CAN YOU ASSIST ?

You can join us….In spite of what it may seem like, you do not need to be an older person to be a member. Many of our members battle with the physical work we do and it would be great to have more younger able bodied people join our ranks.

 

You can assist us financially by making regular or ad hoc deposits into our Standard Bank account or using the Zapper code. People also make provision for a donation in their will.

 

You can continue supporting us with the donation of the many varied items we request from time to time. So much of what we get has much life left in it and we get them to people in need – clothing, linen, furniture, books, food, etc.

 

Donations are most welcome and can be paid directly into this account or use the Zapper code:

 

Society of St. Vincent de Paul

Standard Bank

Branch Code:  001 842

Account number: 371487870

 

The Society is a registered Public Benefit Organization NPO 003-193.Funds donated to the Society are tax deductible. A SARS approved Section 18a receipt is provided on request.

 

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You may have noticed that we have recently purchased a new vehicle. We are extremely fortunate to have received a significant discount on the Foton Truckmate vehicle. It is perfectly suited to our needs and was really needed as our old faithful Colt bakkie has been costing us money of late. This new Foton will keep us mobile for many years to come.

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In closing, we know that when we come to the aid of poor friends or neighbours, we are serving Jesus, their friend and neighbour. This is the core of Vincentian Spirituality - we serve Christ in the poor on behalf of the entire parish community.

 

The contact persons are – John Spiller (President) – 082 402 4004; Norman Adami (Vice President) – 083 414 3115 and Aimee Koch (Secretary) – 076 545 2755

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Matthew 25:37–40

 

Then the righteous will answer him and say, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?

When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?'

And the king will say to them in reply, 'Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.

 

 

South African website : https://ssvp.org.za/

 

Global website : https://www.ssvpglobal.org/en/

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