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Some days it feels like the world is upside down. Conflicting information, opposing trends and biased news accounts make it difficult to get a fair reading on what life looks like for everyday Americans. All I know for certain is that the Society of St. Vincent de Paul’s members are part of every American community, and often are called upon to help when things get rough.

Here are just a few data points that make me scratch my head in confusion:

• Inflation is at historic levels, stated at 9.1 percent, yet regular expenses such as food (12.2%), new vehicles (11.4%) and airfares (34.1%) are measured even higher.
• Gasoline (up 59.9%) and other household energy costs (21.9%) are up over 12 months but again, perceived by many as even higher, usually referenced by the cost to fill their vehicle’s gas tank.
• Jobs appear more plentiful than ever! And wages have risen, especially for lower-wage jobs. Yet almost 95 million – 30 percent – of Americans are now on Medicaid, and more than 41 million receive federal food stamps averaging $228/month.
• Rent costs are rising quickly after many months of abatements and other COVID-related freezes. Meanwhile, housing sales were red-hot until just a few weeks ago. Homelessness in any case appears economy-proof and just as prevalent.
• Energy costs and supply chain issues dominate the blame game for rising costs, yet corporate profits still look good! Why then is the stock market down so low? Americans worry about both today’s finances and their retirement funds – if they have them

What’s a Vincentian to do? Fortunately, we are a hardy bunch, and we focus on the individual and family. We do not judge those we serve; however, we should be informed and prepared. What do the stats above and other changing, often contradictory economic stories suggest about how our Conference should respond to help our neighbors?

First, it has always been part of our Society’s work and obligation to those we serve to advocate. Our Voice of the Poor groups and our Conferences know the real-life stories of our communities, and these are powerful advocacy perspectives to share with elected officials and others who create and manage policies. If nothing else, we should explain how almost any policy might create unintended, unanticipated consequences for the poor.

Second, all this dynamic change underscores the importance of the Home Visit. That’s right, our help still begins with a relationship and assessment of needs. Yes, we serve anyone who comes to us asking for a food box. A Home Visit, however, can lead that family to additional resources we can provide for other needs.

It also may lead to more sustainable solutions to reduce the need to return to us later. Thus third, we can advance our systemic change tools of employment assistance, job training, and education, predatory lending alternatives, financial literacy, and other local supports.

Absent forethought and planning, a Conference can continue to give food and gas cards, and pay rent and utility checks for people all day, every day. This won’t change anyone’s life for the better by putting a financial Band-Aid on the problem. We can’t spend our way out of this problem. (By the way, this might be a good lesson for others as we advocate!) We can, however, spend our precious time and dollars wisely toward lasting change.

The world may be topsy-turvy. The Society can as always be both a faith-driven voice of reason and a force for good, navigating the crazy with steady, thoughtful approaches that help one family at a time, over time. We must realize that yesterday’s tools may or may not work, or work sustainably, for today’s problems. Just as we pivoted and adapted to the pandemic, now we must do the same for the economic and political realities of today.

Let’s meet soon as a Conference with a sole special-agenda intention of stepping back to discern the community’s present needs. Let’s then re-design as needed our resources and responses in line with our Society’s mission, our faith, and our best hopes and dreams for our neighbors in need. The rest of the country may be bonkers right now. As Vincentian friends and the face of Christ for those we serve, we can rise above it all to help families make better sense of their situations and to give them our greatest gift -hope – for their futures.

Yours in Christ,
Dave Barringer
CEO

As we wrap up the calendar year, Vincentians are focused on the usual food pantries, plus food and gift distributions over the holiday period. I imagine that half a million turkeys alone will be distributed by our members this month. No, we won’t capture this data in the annual reports!

While some of the charity mechanics remain as they have in the past, we have several pandemic-required innovations in place that differ according to your state, county, or city. These make us pause and think as well of how different almost everything was in 2021, and ask what next year will hold for us as Americans, Catholics, and Vincentians.

When we evaluate, most of us think first of all the negatives. We lost family and friends to COVID. The resulting economy is uncertain right now. The Church has its own crises. Religious freedoms, and some of the Catholic causes we care so much about, are under attack in both the legislative and public forums. That’s not the entire list, and you probably have a few items to add from your own experiences.

In our work for the nation’s families in need, we feel the pain when the prices of automobile gasoline, home heating, and food rise due to inflation, supply chain issues, and other rationales. Most of us see the costs of our grocery bill rise, complain a bit and then go on with our day. For someone in poverty, that increase is a sharper pain that affects their sustainability. A dollar more a gallon for gas over the past year is an unstated, regressive tax on the poor. General inflation hurts everyone’s ability to get ahead, but it hurts poor families more severely.

All of this points us as Vincentians back to the long term promise of systemic change. We can pay rent bills just as we hand out turkeys for Christmas. The rent is due again next month, and the family will be hungry again when the last bowl of turkey soup is eaten. The poverty not-so-merry-go-round continues, and it takes extra effort to get off – for the poor and for us servants to them, too.

Many of our Society Conferences and Councils had a good financial year in 2021. This gives us a stronger opportunity to re-think our activities and strategies for the year ahead. If we develop financial literacy education, trade skills job training and placement, alternatives to predatory lending, and our other systemic change tools, the people we serve won’t need to be dependent next year on holiday handouts. They will be better able to provide for themselves, creating a better holiday for all of us. Really, wouldn’t that be the best possible Thanksgiving and Christmas, to know that more families don’t need the Society of St. Vincent de Paul or the local government to provide for them?

In January we start new diets, new exercise programs, and other new annual goals for ourselves. Let’s take time in our first Conference meetings to take just as hard a look at ourselves as Vincentians, our programs, finances, and most importantly our goals for the people we served this holiday season. Yes, the outside world will have its challenges as it does in every year. What can we do differently to make life better than it is right now for those we just served over the holidays? More of the same, or perhaps some completely different actions?

Holiday charity is good and Vincentian. Reducing the need for it is so Vincentian too, isn’t it?

May you have a blessed Christmas Season and an inspired New Year!

Yours in Christ,
Dave Barringer
CEO