Oakland, California’s St. Columba Catholic Church is home to a vibrant St. Vincent de Paul Conference rooted in African-American traditions. In honor of Black History Month, please enjoy this history of the Conference at St. Columba, written by President Jo Ann Evans.

A Brief History of the St. Vincent de Paul Conference at St. Columba Catholic Church

Long before there was a Conference at St. Columba, members used to assemble grocery bags to be given to those who came by and asked for food. According to oral history, the groceries were distributed from the rectory next door to the church. Sometimes the bags held sandwiches. Other times, they contained staples that could be added to the pantries of those who came looking for food.

Spending time discussing the genesis of St Vincent de Paul Conference at St, Columba Church was like viewing into the windows of history as the SVdP Conference was formed in late 1998, early 1999. At the prompting of Mrs. Maud Green whose husband, Bill, was one of the founding members, I called Mrs. Bea Morgan to fill in the pages of an extraordinary story of caring people. They were approached by their pastor at the time, Fr. Tony Herrera, who suggested that their gestures of kindness and generosity could become formalized to establish an organization such as St. Vincent de Paul Society, and to begin a Conference at St. Columba. With very little prodding, Al Morgan, prominently known for his generosity and enthusiasm in helping the less fortunate and for having a big heart, called on a few of his friends to begin St. Columba’s SVdP Conference.

With five members donating $100 each as their starting “kitty”, Al Morgan, Al Muldrow, Bill Green, Hilton Hill, and Robert LaSalle opened up and began serving anyone who came to them for food, a stay at a motel, furniture, and sometimes vouchers for food at McDonald’s. No one was turned away.

Home Visits were common, and some regulars even had Al’s telephone number and called him when they were in need. On many occasions Bill and Bea went out to help someone who called them for help. One such call was for furniture to furnish an entire apartment with everything from napkins and silverware to bed, sofa, kitchen table with chairs, towels, sheets, EVERYTHING. And the caller wasn’t even Catholic, but attended a church not far from her newly furnished apartment! She had heard that Catholics were generous, and indeed, we are.

Fast forward through many years of service to 2016, when our Conference supported stable hands and migrant workers at Golden Gate Fields, college students, members of communes, and our guests. Anything left over was often taken to Guerneville by one of our volunteers (a Christian Brother) who knew of the needs of a community of migrant workers and travelers (unhoused population).

Our Vincentian volunteers became proficient at sorting through produce and food given to our conference through a grocery rescue program. The display of fruits and vegetables, bread, pastries, and miscellaneous items were comparable to a grocery store’s display, neatly arranged.

March of 2020 changed that. Just as we were preparing for St Patrick’s Day with decorations and candy for our guests, the pandemic paid all of us a visit and has refused to leave. After the shock of learning what SIP (shelter in place) meant, our routine for service and operation had to be reimagined.

Now, instead of grocery bags filled with food, we collaborate with a caterer and two other organizations weekly to offer salads, entrees, desserts in take-out containers in an outdoor setting. Due to the ages of our volunteers, many are unable to help with the weekly take-out meals, but other parishioners have stepped in to make sure that our program continues.  At Thanksgiving, instead of the turkeys and all the trimmings that we customarily provide, we offered gift cards for our families to shop for themselves, and at Christmas, our benefactors helped us to bless the families with gift cards, boxes of food and Christmas presents.

From serving sandwiches from the rectory in the early days to formally becoming a St Vincent de Paul Conference to dealing with the restrictions of a pandemic, our conference continues our work and mission to help those in need and to share the blessings that we have received. By the Grace of our Creator, we will continue for many more years to serve to the best of our ability.

Learn More

To learn more about St. Columba Conference, or other St. Vincent de Paul Conferences in the Western region, please contact:

Wallita Sykes-Bush
Western Region Representative
National Multicultural Diversity Committee
African American Task Force

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Does your Council or Conference have a story to share? Email us at mystory@svdpusa.org.

One pervasive challenge across the communities served by the Society of St. Vincent de Paul is poor health management, often exacerbated by lack of access to prescription medications. Some local Vincentian Conferences and Councils are meeting that challenge by creating community pharmacies to dispense medication to low-income, uninsured patients at little or no charge.

Our newest location, the SVdP Georgia Community Pharmacy opened Monday, February 1. It’s a fully licensed charitable pharmacy whose mission is to provide prescription medications and wellness education for low-income individuals by providing prescribed maintenance medications to neighbors in need.

Providing services to the entire state of Georgia, the SVdP Georgia Community Pharmacy supports Georgia residents who quality for services and cannot afford maintenance medications for conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular, asthma, COPD, and mental health.

Who’s Eligible?

Once a patient is referred to the community pharmacy, volunteer screeners will check their eligibility, based on income and expenses. The pharmacy will serve eligible patients with an income no greater than 200% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) and uninsured individuals 18+ living within the State of Georgia; as well as individuals with a valid prescription(s) for the medication needed.

Georgia residents who may qualify can submit an eligibility form here.

Your Donations Can Help

The SVdP Georgia Community Pharmacy will be crucial to a strong network of healthcare agencies, social service non-profits, churches, and public agencies that work together closely to serve needy patients throughout the state.

The pharmacy is currently accepting both financial and in-kind donations. For every $1 donated, the pharmacy is able to dispense $12 worth of medications.

Additional Pharmacy Information

The Society of St. Vincent de Paul’s community-based charitable pharmacies employ three strategies proven to have a positive impact on health outcomes:

1. Carrying essential medication via a smart, therapeutically effective formulary, targeted to manage primary-care health conditions.
2. Dispensing the volume of medication needed to serve all patients.
3. Providing that medication in a consistent supply, day after day, year after year, for patients who maintain health through medication therapies.

Located in diverse communities across the country, our charitable pharmacies dispense low-cost or free medication to our most vulnerable populations, helping them to lead healthier, more productive lives.

The Society of St. Vincent de Paul is pleased to announce a new partnership with Kindli, a “social unity” app that puts the focus squarely on kindness and positivity.

Cofounded by Martin Diamond and athletes Tim Tebow, Kerri Walsh Jennings, and Titus O’Neil, Kindli’s mission is the creation of a social media platform that creates a sustainable movement to affect positive change.

Kindli aims to change the divisiveness of traditional social media platforms have enabled by unifying and motivating users through expertly curated daily kindness videos. In addition, it celebrates and shares the kind acts of real people by giving a home to the “Pay It Forward” movement through its innovative Kindli Cards™ and Kindli street team.

Kindli aims to generate and track over one billion acts of kindness around the world while raising one billion dollars for charities, including the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. Kindli makes kindness easy, providing a online safe community that automatically eliminates fake accounts and silences users with malicious intent, and enforces strict content guidelines that don’t allow for politics, hate speech, violence, racism, or bullying.

Kindli’s smartphone app is available for download from the App Store and Google Play.