e-Gazette

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Friends of the Poor Grant Awardees — April 2023
Friends of the Poor Grant Awardees — April 2023 150 150 SVDP USA

We received 57 grant applications totaling $285,000. Grant awards for this round total $75,000.

Through simple application process, SVdP Conferences and District Councils can apply for up to $5,000 from the National Council’s Friends of the Poor® Fund. The Friends of the Poor® funds available to grant is normally limited to the amount raised and/or approved by the National Council budget process. Individual grant award amounts may vary from the application amount but will not exceed $5,000.

Grants are targeted to specific areas of need, above and beyond available Conference resources: assistance for rent/housing, utilities, food, clothing, medical, transportation, and baby/children needs. No systemic change projects.

 

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Local and National Stores Committee Team Up With Great Results in Richmond
Local and National Stores Committee Team Up With Great Results in Richmond 320 240 SVDP USA

Written by: Ed Markiewicz — Eastern Region, Council of Greensburg

The Council of Richmond initiated a new endeavor to support the mission and invigorate efforts to serve those in need.

When faced with the question of how to meet the increasing need for help, the Richmond Council discussed the idea of opening a SVdP Thrift Store and Donation Center and decided to form a committee to explore the idea.

Initial steps included:  finding funding sources, locating a suitable building and location, identifying donation sources, leasing & legal requirements, operational set-up and management details.

Realizing guidance was available through the National SVdP; the Council knew where to turn for help.

Members Dan Kearns-Executive Director and Deacon Andy Cirmo-Spiritual Advisor, traveled to the National Assembly in Baltimore, MD to attend the National Stores Thrift Store Committee meeting to gather more information and assistance.  They met with the Stores Committee Members and learned what resources and expert help was available on the National Stores website www.svdpusa-thriftstore.org.

Dan & Deacon Andy returned home with new enthusiasm and continued determination to make the first SVdP Thrift Store and Donation Center in the Richmond Diocese a reality.

Both Dan & Deacon Andy recognized the importance of the project, so Dan then visited the SVdP National Training Store in Phoenix, AZ to view the operations and procedures implemented in a successful store.

Dan met with Jeff Beamguard-National Stores Director, as well as other members of the Stores Committee who shared ideas and information that would help make the Richmond Store’s planning and opening as smooth as possible.  Using the advice and guidance available, along with the resources on the website, the process began to move forward.

Deacon Andy’s extensive retail experience provided hands-on expertise with the layout of the site, utilizing every feature to create an effective presentation with an unobstructed views of all the goods, as well as a Boutique area, furniture displays and a children’s area, all creating a welcoming atmosphere.

On the right of the entrance, a small area was dedicated to advertising what the Society of St Vincent de Paul does, with informational flyers and an invitation to support and join.

After much planning and effective implementation, the opening day was set for Saturday April 15, 2023.  A Dedication Blessing, sanctioned by the Bishop, took place on March 28, 2023, attended by the many volunteers and supporters.

Now open, the store can become just what was needed, not only to financially support the needs of the Council, but to create a visible presence for the Society.  The store will become the face of St. Vincent de Paul in the Diocese of Richmond.

The opening day results and the days that followed proved to be astounding.

Congratulations to the Richmond Council on your first SVdP Thrift Store!

If you are considering opening a store in your region or are interested in ideas to improve your store’s operations, please consider attending the National Assembly Stores Meeting on September 6, 2023 in St. Louis, MO.

Please encourage your store personnel to subscribe to the to the e-Gazette, by emailing mboyer@svdpusa.org

If you have a topic that you would like addressed in a future Stores Corner article, please e-mail Jeff Beamguard,  Director of Stores Support at jbeamguard@svdpusa.org.

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04-20-2023 A Letter From Our Servant Leaders
04-20-2023 A Letter From Our Servant Leaders 1080 1080 SVDP USA

Dear Vincentian Friends,

This Sunday we celebrate the 210th birthday of our principal founder, Blessed Frederic Ozanam. We continue to hope and pray that he may be recognized by the Church as a saint. Those of us who know him have no doubt that he is in heaven and worthy of being known as Saint Frederic Ozanam.

What Frederic Ozanam means for me — or what any saint means to those of us still on earth walking what our Rule describes as a “journey into holiness” — is best described by Ozanam himself when he writes about our patron St. Vincent de Paul. Blessed Frederic tells us, “… he is a model one must strive to imitate, as he himself imitated the model of Jesus Christ. He is a life to be carried on, a heart in which one’s own heart is enkindled, an intelligence from which light should be sought; he is a model on earth and a protector in heaven. A twofold devotion is owed him, imitation and invocation.”

If a saint is to be a model on earth, Frederic Ozanam is such a person for laypeople. St. John Paul II wrote in his encyclical “Christifidelis Laici,” “There cannot be two parallel lives in your existence as lay men and women: on the one hand, the so-called spiritual life, … on the other, the so-called secular life.” The integrated life of holiness is the one Ozanam led as a professor, lawyer, husband, father, journalist, and friend of the poor. He himself wrote, “We are not blessed with two separate lives — one for seeking the truth and the other for putting it into practice.”

We are very fortunate to have so many ways to know this man so that we may better follow his example. Many of those resources are available thanks to the dedication of his widow, Amelie, who preserved his letters and worked with early biographers. (I encourage you to read the newly published biography, “Amelie Ozanam: A Heart with Much Love to Give,” which is available from our national office.) We are currently working on a multiyear project to have all of the known letters of Frederic Ozanam translated into English. The first volume, covering his early years, will be released by the end of the year.

Reading Ozanam’s letters and articles shows us a man who struggled with the challenges of a culture that frequently did not value religion or faith. The founding of the Society was one identifiable way that Frederic responded to these challenges. Reading his letters, we see the struggle woven through his life in choices about his career, in decisions regarding his marriage and family, and in the way he responded to his physical suffering.

In his last testimony Frederic leaves us this profound final challenge, “I die in the Holy, Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman Church. I have known the difficulties of belief of the present age. … If I set any value on my studies, it is that it gives me the right to entreat all whom I love to remain faithful to the religion in which I found light and peace.”

In his message to the Holy Father on the cause for canonization of Frederic Ozanam, Cardinal Pironio described Frederic as “really the man of the Church in the heart of the world and the man of the world in the heart of the Church.” I hope that through the imitation and invocation of Frederic Ozanam, much the same can be said about all of us members of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.

Serviens in spe,
Ralph Middlecamp
National Council President

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