COVID-19

  • No Comments
  • No Likes

SVdP Director of Formation Published in Vincentian Heritage Journal
SVdP Director of Formation Published in Vincentian Heritage Journal 1200 628 SVDP USA

National Director of Formation Tim Williams is a featured author in the latest e-book edition of Vincentian Heritage.

Titled “2020 and Beyond: DePaul University’s Community Responds to Crises,” the edition focuses on the watershed issues faced by the United States in 2020, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the murder of George Floyd, and a highly divisive presidential campaign.

The issue features 14 perspectives on the Vincentian response to the crises that enveloped us in 2020, whose effects can still be felt today. Tim’s piece, titled “Learning Not to Despair of Our Own Age”: The Society of Saint Vincent de Paul in This Time of Pandemic”, tells of how the Society used 2020 as a time of reflection and re-imagination, looking back on the Society’s past to inspire its future.

Article Abstract

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul marked the 175th anniversary of its founding in the United States. The Society’s usual works are described. Timothy Williams explains how the organization adapted to continue them during the pandemic, and particularly how it substituted for the home visits that have been the Society’s signature work since its founding. The Vincentian Family and the Society were created in times of political strife, widespread illness, and economic catastrophe, so the words and actions of their founders can inspire and comfort us now. The Society took special action in response to George Floyd’s murder. As Williams writes, “Our response began with self-examination, grounded in our spirituality and in our obligations to each other as Christians. To understand the faults we perceive in society, we must have the humility to examine and accept our own faults.” A webinar series allowed members to share their stories related to social issues, such as economic discrimination, crime, and violence. After the webinars, paired groups of members of different races shared more of their experiences. This strengthened their understanding of each other and equipped them to better serve their neighbors.

Read the Article

Click here to read Tim’s article, or click here to find the entire issue of Vincentian Heritage.

  • No Comments
  • No Likes

When the World Shut Down, We Never Stopped Serving Neighbors in Need
When the World Shut Down, We Never Stopped Serving Neighbors in Need 1733 902 SVDP USA

When the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020, it felt like the world shut down overnight. Churches, schools, and businesses closed their doors. No one knew when those doors would reopen — or if they would reopen at all.

But for the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and those we serve, shutdowns were never an option. Our 100,000 volunteers from across the country quickly pivoted our service models so that we could safely continue to support our neighbors in need, who were adversely affected by the pandemic.

EWTN Global Catholic Network recently aired a special called Our Faith in Action: Today’s Society of St. Vincent de Paul, illustrating how Vincentian volunteers in Albuquerque, Houston, and Tampa made innovations in how they serve neighbors in need. They’re the stories of just three out of the nearly 4,500 communities we serve nationwide adapted operations to support our neighbors in new and creative ways. Social distancing was essential, but it never changed the Society’s unique person-to-person ministry.

If you missed EWTN’s special, fear not! Watch it here now:

Share it with your Conference, Council, and parish communities!

 

  • No Comments
  • No Likes

Our Faith in Action…Even During the Pandemic
Our Faith in Action…Even During the Pandemic 1080 1080 SVDP USA

Almost overnight, the world changed forever in March 2020. But while many organizations closed in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul’s 100,000 volunteers knew that full closures weren’t an option. We would have to adapt our service models — and do it quickly — to safely continue to support our neighbors in need, who were adversely affected by the pandemic.

From masking up to social distancing, we innovated how we serve our neighbors in need, but never changed the Society’s unique person-to-person ministry.

Tune in to EWTN on August 6 at 5:30 PM Eastern for the premiere of a special edition of Our Faith in Action: Today’s Society of St. Vincent de Paul. We’ll share how Vincentians adapted their operations to support our neighbors in new and creative ways.

Mark your calendar, set your DVR, and join us on our travels to Albuquerque, Tampa Bay, and Houston, and see just some of the good works of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.

  • No Comments
  • No Likes

04-29-2021 Letter from Our Servant Leaders
04-29-2021 Letter from Our Servant Leaders 275 287 SVDP USA

We all learned something this past pandemic year. Individuals learned how much they can stand their family members in the house for long periods of time. They memorized the pizza carryout phone number. And they realized how much we miss airplanes, meetings with real, live people and the concept of breaking bread together – without a mask, closer than six feet apart.

Businesses and organizations such as the Society of St. Vincent de Paul are learning from the past year, too. Was it a better idea to have cubicles or private offices? Can workers be as effective, efficient, and even trusted when they aren’t in the office looking at each other every day? And we all learned new tech tools to bring us together — from a distance of course.

A painful lesson for some, including a few groups in the Society, is diversification of income streams. We learned the hard way. If all of our Conference revenues come from parishioners in the pews, and suddenly the parish is closed for public Mass, that income largely disappears. If a Council invested all their resources into thrift stores at the expense of fundraising and other incomes, and again, suddenly those stores can’t be open for business, that’s a serious scenario.

Costs don’t end when the income stops, unless you make intentional, serious decisions. This may involve staff layoffs, cutting programs, and otherwise reducing the footprint of the organization. Rent and utility bills, just as we see for those we serve, continue whether or not you have income. You may be a local restaurant or a multinational corporation, but having all of your income eggs in one basket was a painful place to be this past year.

The National Council has been blessed to be funded by member solidarity dues, and even more so this year when Councils continued to pay these funds amid their own uncertain incomes. Fortunately, the solidarity covers 30-40 percent of our operating budget, not all of it. Other income streams include traditional fundraising, bequests, member purchases of publications, event fees, and shared partnerships with vendors. That might seem an unwieldly combination of many inputs into an annual budget. The reality, though, is that this revenue diversification allows us to do much more on members’ behalf than permitted through only dues. Also, if the operating environment changes as drastically as it did this past year, some streams will fare better or worse, but we can manage through the challenging period.

As we all develop strategic plans and related financial conversations among friends, we should consider how this past year challenged our risk assumptions. Did we do well financially, but only because a major grant came out of nowhere? Many stores roared back to profits after the shutdown, in part due to federal stimulus payments and newly-cleaned closets full of material donations, but what if they hadn’t? How did our fundraising change, and perform, this past year? Overall, did we have a plan that worked, or were we simply lucky? In which ways did God bless our work and finances?

Looking at the present pandemic situation, we suddenly have millions of federal dollars available for rent and utility assistance due to COVID. By helping our friends in need to apply for these funds, we preserve our locally-raised dollars for other services, or we can help each person coming to us a bit more. Even though the Society does not receive these funds directly, this is revenue diversification to extend and expand our mission works.

We pray for God’s providence, and we trust Him to give us what we need. The first thing He gives us, though, is an ability to learn and adapt. What did we learn this year about our capacity to serve? What did we learn about our corporate, foundation, government, and other partners and collaborators? How much did our reputation grow, or get harmed, by our physical presence in our neighborhoods? How then did our reputation, mixed with prayer and respectful solicitation, help us raise the funds we needed to serve?

These questions could be ignored if we choose to try and forget the past year. Or, in response to God’s blessings and challenges to grow, we can assess, learn, and change. As with most Vincentian activity, this will be even better if we do it as friends serving in hope together.

Yours in Christ,
Dave Barringer
CEO

 

  • 8 Comments
  • No Likes

02-11-2021 Letter From Our Servant Leaders
02-11-2021 Letter From Our Servant Leaders 299 374 SVDP USA

“Charity must never look to the past, but always to the future, because the number of its past works is still very small and the present and future miseries that it must alleviate are infinite,” said Frédéric Ozanam.

How true those words ring today as we Vincentians face a future fraught with the uncertainty of the pandemic’s impact on our economy, our social interactions, and our ability to serve those in need. After a year in which our Home Visits have more often than not turned into video visits, our ability to serve the needs of the poor through food pantries, feeding kitchens, and thrift stores has been tested, and our volunteer base has been disproportionality impacted by the fear and reality of the COVID-19 virus, we must now look to the future and plan for how we continue our work in a world none of us has ever known, and which we cannot clearly envision.

I think we know that tomorrow will look nothing like yesterday. How many of us, in March of 2020, fully expected that by the end of that summer life would be back to normal? I know I did. Then it wasn’t. And it wasn’t at Thanksgiving, or Christmas, or now. The year went by and the world seemed to stand still. But it didn’t – it changed; dramatically.

And we changed with it. We found new ways to operate food pantries, serve meals, visit the poor, and comfort the needy. Our Conferences and Councils used new and innovative ways to raise needed funds to serve the poor. We found new volunteers; younger, more ‘tech savvy,’ more open to innovation and change. They have helped us change in real time for the new future. And what a wonderful thing that is to see!

Now, as we begin to see an end to this pandemic, it is critical that we “never look to the past, but always the future” and begin to make the systemic and structural changes to our Society in this new and changing reality that is our world. We must look at the innovative and creative ways in which we have operated these past months, analyze what worked and what did not work, and then build on the successes. This may cause us some degree of consternation as we are going to have to face the reality that one of our core principles, the Home Visit, probably is not going to look the same.

So, what could these changes look like? One way, I believe that we must make a conscious and concerted effort to increase our collaborative efforts with other organizations who can help us fill the gaps in our charitable ‘delivery model.’ Going to the poor does not always have to be going to their place of residence, as preferable as that may be. We can learn much about the sufferings of those in need by being in their communities and learning from others who serve.  I have seen organizations here in Georgia that have set up service centers in the local communities, using houses of worship and other physical locations to deliver assistance safely with appropriate social distancing and the ability to have better access to the technology necessary to provide access to needed services. Being in the community means that instead of relying solely on the parish property as our ‘base of operations’, we go to the poor where they live; not the house in which they live, but the community in which they live. I believe that will also give us a fuller and more realistic perspective on the challenges and realities that are faced by those we serve. And we can increase outreach and collaboration to become more effective in offering holistic and impactful support.

We also have the unique opportunity to create volunteer and service opportunities for those who in the past may have not considered the Society as they discerned how they wanted to live out their faith. We must be honest with ourselves and admit that in the past we have sometimes (oftentimes) not valued those who want to serve, but do not want to do Home Visits or attend bi-weekly meetings. That has, I believe, left many young people and people with unique and important talents, no choice but to look elsewhere. If we maintain a stance of rigidity and adherence to practices that are not aligned with the reality of tomorrow’s world, we will continue to see a decline in our membership and eventually see that new world reality pass by and leave us behind. The work we do is much too important for us to let that happen. Let us commit to finding new ways to leverage technology, innovation, and new thinking so that we can make a greater and lasting impact.

Some may balk at these ideas and say that we must adhere to the past to maintain our values and principles. But I say we can look to Frédéric for inspiration and guidance on that probable change. “Let us do without hesitation whatever good lies at our hands,” said Frédéric Ozanam.  And what is at our hands today and will be tomorrow is not what may have been at our hands yesterday.

So, let us continue that use of the ‘good at our hands’ to accomplish the one and only thing that matters; “We are here on this earth to accomplish the will of Providence,” said Frédéric Ozanam.

John Berry
National Council Vice President
Southeast Region

Sign Up for Our Newsletter

    ABOUT SVDP USA

    The National Council of the United States, Society of St. Vincent de Paul, Inc. is a non-profit organization under section 501(c)(3) of the United States Internal Revenue Code. Donations to the National Council are deductible. The Council’s tax identification number is 13-5562362.

    CONNECT WITH US

    © 2024 National Council of the U.S., Society of St. Vincent de Paul | Privacy Policy

    Enter your
    text here
    Skip to content