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07-21-2022 A Letter From Our Servant Leaders
07-21-2022 A Letter From Our Servant Leaders 1363 1363 SVDP USA

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

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Contemplation – Grateful Friends
Contemplation – Grateful Friends 940 788 SVDP USA

One of the four permanent principles of the church’s social doctrine is solidarity, which is a “common path of individuals and peoples towards an ever more committed unity.” [CSDC, 192] Whatever may separate us on the surface, each of us is created in God’s image, and meant to live in community. Solidarity reminds us that we are all dependent and interdependent upon each other.

As Vincentians, we often encounter those who are deprived materially, and who, because of their deprivation feel separated, forgotten by the rest of society. It isn’t only that they cannot afford “the finer things in life,” but that over time, they begin to feel those things are not really meant for people like themselves.

At the same time, there is nothing easier for people of means to say, in all sincerity, that money doesn’t matter to them, or to find their lives empty despite material comforts. Whatever our station, it is easy for us to allow our circumstances to separate us from others, and thus from God’s plan.

It was one of Bl. Rosalie Rendu’s great insights that the “poor rich…are more to be pitied than we think; they have griefs and trials that the poor know nothing about. If the poor knew what those poor rich often have to suffer, they would not envy them as they do.” [O’Meara, 33]

The “poor rich”, many of whom Rosalie found “would be so glad to help the poor, if they knew how to go about it”, became, through “the luxury of her sympathy”, friends to the poor. [Ibid, 35]

It was said that in Bl. Rosalie’s parlor, awaiting her wise counsel, the rich and poor sat side by side on the straw chairs, with no rank or status separating them. To each she offered her love, and from each she asked for help.

Indeed, as Pope Saint John Paul II teaches, our exercise of solidarity “is valid when its members recognize one another as persons”, the strong and the weak, the rich and the poor together, each of us and all of us pursuing the good of the other. [Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, 39]

In living and fostering the moral virtue of solidarity, Bl. Rosalie became known as “the Good Mother of All”. More than 50,000 Parisians turned out for her funeral procession in 1856, and the people of Paris donated a tombstone which stands as a tribute to “the Good Mother” and a monument to solidarity from her “grateful friends, the poor and the rich”.

Contemplate

How can I be a more “grateful friend” in all my social interactions?

Recommended Reading

A Heart of Fire: Apostolic Reflection with Rosalie Rendu

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News Roundup July 9 – July 15
News Roundup July 9 – July 15 1200 1200 SVDP USA

With 100,000 Vincentians across the United States and nearly 800,000 around the world, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul provides person-to-person service to those who are needy and suffering. Read some of their stories here:

INTERNATIONAL

NATIONAL

Help us share the good news of the good work being done in your local Conference or Council! Email us at info@svdpusa.org with the subject line Good News.

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07-14-2022 A Letter From Our Servant Leaders
07-14-2022 A Letter From Our Servant Leaders 1368 1387 SVDP USA

This isn’t a stores column, but let’s use a store as an example. When reviewing a Thrift Store, I always request that the manager and I close our eyes and we suddenly appear in the middle of the store. What do we see, and what is the store trying to tell us?

In a recent overseas stores tour, the request led me to see a lot of signage about sustainability. That’s a fairly new term for what stores used to call “reuse, renew, and recycle” to which all Thrift Stores can contribute. While such sustainability is a great stores benefit and certainly a very Catholic objective, it is not why we operate our stores. Rather it is one of many good business practices we undertake in the course of our work.

Thus a second and most important question, for all our works: Why don’t we tell more people about our actual mission in what we do to meet it?

Our mission is to bring people to holiness, done through the serving of the poor, assisted with the operations and revenues of, in this example, the store. Our members often complain that no one knows enough about the Society. However, we continue to tell them only what we do. What we often fail to tell them is who we are.

It is natural to confuse activity with intentions. Our communities see our food pantries, pharmacies, and other programs, and so assume that these are the Society’s mission. Even worse, for privacy reasons we purposely don’t show the public our core Home Visit service, so they have no evidence that this is any aspect of our Society’s mission. At best they know we “help the poor,” and because that’s often enough to stimulate donations and good will from most people, we leave well enough alone.

This might all be fine if our mission was to attract volunteers and funds to help our neighbors in need. That’s dangerous thinking because many good people don’t need a faith basis to be charitable. As pro football coach, Bill Parcells once said, you are what your (win-loss) record says you are. What does our Society program, signage and advertising “record” say we are? Could we easily be confused with another social services organization, another used goods store, or a parish ministry?

Marketing people look for the “unique offering” that distinguishes you from the competition, and hopefully provides an advantage in attaining organizational goals.  A unique offering of the Society in a few words is that we offer our members the chance to see the face of Christ. That’s one heck of an offering, right?

We are not embarrassed by our Catholic faith, nor by our members being driven by it to serve the poor. We can be much more intentional about this in our materials messaging, signage, and especially in our language. When asked what the Society does, the proper response might be different for a parishioner than someone else, and that’s fine. Whether the response is, “We help our members grow in holiness through serving the poor,” or “We are Catholics and others who put our faith into action by serving the poor,” at least both point to the same north star of our mission. Yes, we accomplish lots of other good outcomes! We provide sustainable solutions for clothing and household goods. We make efficient use of medications and food supplies to help the most needy. We pay rent and utility bills. We teach neighbors how to be more self-sufficient. We advocate. We do all this and so much more, which, again, is fantastic.

Let’s not confuse what we do, though, with who we are. Others, perhaps many others in our community, can do what we do. No one else is who we are, the members of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. We are not simply good people doing good works, we are disciples.  And we pray that others will join us and share in our vocation.

I invite you to close your eyes during your Vincentian service, and then re-open them. With this fresh view, what do you see?  Do others see it too?

Yours in Christ (see, isn’t that easy?),
Dave Barringer
CEO

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07-07-22 A Letter From Our Servant Leaders
07-07-22 A Letter From Our Servant Leaders 1367 1520 SVDP USA

Dear Vincentian Friends,

During the past several months, it has been my pleasure to attend three regional meetings of the Society and the meeting of the International Executive Committee in Paris. It was wonderful to be with Vincentian friends I have not seen in many years, and to meet new people taking leadership roles in our Society. Sure, we did get many people to participate in the Zoom conferences held during the past two years, but there is nothing like being together, sharing meals, and interacting with workshop presenters and other participants.

In a couple of months, we will have an opportunity to get together in Baltimore for the National Assembly themed “Come to the Water.” Please do come; I hope to see many of you there Aug. 30 through Sept. 3. It will make you a better Vincentian. When I attended my first National Assembly many years ago in Milwaukee, I saw for the first time the bigger picture of this international network of charity. I came home with many great ideas and renewed enthusiasm for our mission. Most importantly, I came home knowing like-minded Vincentians from all across the United States.

The Baltimore Council is working to host a wonderful meeting. We have developed a great program with excellent keynote speakers and dozens of topical workshops that will be led by knowledgeable presenters. I especially want to encourage our East Coast members to take the opportunity to attend. We move this meeting around the country to provide more people easy access to this experience. That is why I attended that first meeting. It was an easy drive for me, and I have not missed many since then.
This meeting will be special because it will be the first time Renato Lima de Oliveira, the President General of the International Council, will be attending our National Assembly. He is an enthusiastic ambassador for the Society everywhere he travels. He will share with us a perspective on what it takes to be a worldwide network of charity. Renato will be with us for the entire meeting; so, you will have many opportunities to meet and talk with him.

Another opportunity you will have at this National Assembly will be to meet and speak with the next president of the National Council of the United States. We don’t know who that will be yet, but all four nominees will be at the meeting. You can talk with them at Thursday’s Host City event or listen to their campaign speeches at the Saturday business meeting. At that Saturday meeting, the National Council Members will vote to reduce the number of candidates to two.

An important part of any National Assembly is our spiritual enrichment. We will celebrate the Eucharist on Friday with our National Episcopal Advisor, Bishop Donald Hying, and on Saturday with Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore. This year, our Friday morning of reflection will be led by Dan Schutte, who has written many of my favorite liturgical songs. Dan was one of the original St. Louis Jesuits and has continued that ministry by composing music and leading retreats.

If you are one of the more than 800 graduates of the Invitation for Renewal program, there will be a special event celebrating the program’s 20th anniversary. Come to rekindle friendships, continue to grow your leadership skills, and renew your Vincentian heart. Those who have not attended may receive some encouragement to do so after learning about the impact Invitation for Renewal has had on so many of our current Vincentian leaders.

A scripture quotation that Frédéric Ozanam and our other founders frequently repeated is, “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in their midst.” This Gospel passage certainly captures our Vincentian reliance on Christ journeying with us. In Baltimore, however, let’s shoot for “where 700 or 800 are gathered.” We have a great program in place, but what will make our National Assembly truly great is having you there. I think you will have a great time, but please do not regard this gathering as Vincentian tourism. When you get back home, what you will have discovered in Baltimore, you’ll need to share with fellow members, and what you will have learned there, you’ll need to put into practice. So, what’s your next step? Plan to sign up today, and be sure to get the early-registration discount!

Serviens in spe,

Ralph Middlecamp
National Council President

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News Roundup June 25 – July 1
News Roundup June 25 – July 1 1200 1200 SVDP USA

With 100,000 Vincentians across the United States and nearly 800,000 around the world, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul provides person-to-person service to those who are needy and suffering. Read some of their stories here:

INTERNATIONAL

NATIONAL

Help us share the good news of the good work being done in your local Conference or Council! Email us at info@svdpusa.org with the subject line Good News.

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Disaster Services Update
Disaster Services Update 940 788 SVDP USA

Besides responding to natural and manmade disasters, the role of Disaster Services Corporation (DSC) is to educate SVdP Councils and Conferences about different types of severe weather. Per the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), high temperatures kill hundreds of people every year. Heat-related deaths and illness are preventable, yet more than 700 people die from extreme heat every year in the United States and more than 7,000 are hospitalized due to heat-related illnesses.

Those who are at highest risk include, people 65 and older, children younger than two, and people with chronic diseases or mental illness.

Closely monitor people who depend on you for their care and ask these questions:

  • Are they drinking enough water?
  • Do they have access to air conditioning?
  • Do they need help keeping cool?

People at greatest risk for heat-related illness can take the following protective actions to prevent illness or death:

  • Stay in air-conditioned buildings as much as you can. Air-conditioning is the number one way to protect yourself against heat-related illness and death. If your home is not air-conditioned, reduce your risk for heat-related illness by spending time in public facilities that are air-conditioned and using air conditioning in vehicles. Contact your local health department or locate an air-conditioned shelter in your area.
  • Do not rely on a fan as your main cooling device during an extreme heat event.
  • Drink more water than usual and don’t wait until you’re thirsty to drink.
  • Check on a friend or neighbor and have someone do the same for you.

Even young and healthy people can get sick from the heat if they participate in strenuous physical activities during hot weather:

  • Limit your outdoor activity, especially midday when the sun is hottest.
  • Wear and reapply sunscreen as indicated on the package.
  • Pace your activity. Start activities slow and pick up the pace gradually.

Is your Council or Conference looking to assist families that have been impacted by a Hurricane? Contact us and see how you can help.

Please follow us at:
www.svdpdisaster.org
Twitter @svdpusadisaster
Facebook @DisasterServicesCorp.

 

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SVdP Heads to USCCB’s Journeying Together
SVdP Heads to USCCB’s Journeying Together 2016 1512 SVDP USA

Last week, a delegation of Vincentians from across the country traveled to Chicago, IL. to participate in the Journeying Together national gathering. The theme of this year’s event was “Alive in Christ: Young, Diverse, Prophetic Voices Journeying Together.”

SVdP’s participation in this event was the culmination of a recent push to target new and diverse groups of people and encourage them to become a part of the Society.

“This was a great opportunity to introduce SVdP to Young Adults and older Catholics involved with youth and YA ministries across the U.S,” said Bertha de Alegria, Western Region VOP Representative and delegate at Journeying Together.

The Society of St. Vincent de Paul was proud to be a sponsor of the event. We had an exhibit table with lots of SVdP goodies to give away and even had SVdP cornhole for visitors to take turns playing! One lucky table visitor will even get a special treat! They will get to keep Cornhole!

National Board Member and MCD Chair Pam Matambanadzo gave a heartfelt invitation to others who may be interested in joining the Society. “We like to say that we see the face of Christ in those we serve. Visiting with them in their homes allows us to share in their humanity, bringing hope and friendship where things might have previously felt hopeless. Our vocation is to follow Christ through service to people in need and bear witness to His love.”  

Journeying Together offered attendees a special opportunity to experience the beautiful diversity of the Catholic Church in the U.S.

“There was a spirituality reawakening and the passion of both young and old coming together and sharing personal journeys of faith,” said Pam Hudson, National Director of Governance and Membership Services. “I spoke with a wonderful young man from Alaska, Waylon, who was very open and sharing his spirituality and challenges within his village of poverty and drug infestation. Sad but hopeful.”

“Archbishop Nelson Perez spoke about how when we are invited to people’s homes, we seldom see the kitchen. We see the dining room table — set with beautiful china and cutlery. We sit down to a delicious meal. Seldom are we invited into the kitchen,” said Matambanadzo. “It’s the kitchen where all this beauty is created, but is generally messy and only the close family goes into the kitchen. He said our time at the event was like being in the kitchen with family. It was messy, but a lot of good will come out of it. I found that to be profound and comforting. Life is journey — some parts of the road will be smooth and others will need us to rely on the GPS (our faith) or maybe stop at the gas station for confirmation (our community).”

Our SVdP delegates left feeling refreshed in their faith and the mission of SVdP. We are so excited to welcome new members to the Society who learned about our work through our involvement in recent gatherings including Raices y Alas, Young Catholic Professionals Conference, and Journeying Together!

 

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06-30-2022 A Letter From Our Servant Leaders
06-30-2022 A Letter From Our Servant Leaders 1363 1363 SVDP USA

The Society has survived, and even in some cases remarkably thrived, during the pandemic period. Yet we have not been immune to the several major trends that affect our ability to grow or even maintain our membership.

It is worse than we thought.

Let’s look briefly at what we already know, the reasons why we are in this predicament. First, we primarily draw Society members from the Catholic Church, and the Church has suffered over decades now from eroding family memberships and departures from our faith. Add in a series of abuse scandals and other pre-pandemic issues, and we can clearly see that our universe of potential Catholic members has been shrinking.

Across the country, one Diocese at a time, we see massive parish consolidations. The Church has neither the dollars nor the number of clergy available to afford so many parishes, especially with declining enrollments and subsequent reductions in Sunday collections and other revenues. Society Conferences in these closed or consolidated parishes have merged when possible, but others have closed after struggling to stay viable with an aging Vincentian membership.

Then add to this a pandemic that closed down our very ability to go to Mass, to see each other and to serve. Local Society Conferences often lost their home base because the parish properties were closed. While we adapted mightily to these conditions to serve, it was certainly harmful to our membership efforts when we physically could not be together for many months. Fellowship was the first casualty.

Our just-completed annual national reporting from every Council and Conference shows a continued membership erosion, even considering some growth in associate members and in some ethnic minority volunteer numbers. I believe that these numbers still assume and perhaps inflate our actual membership numbers. It is easy to simply use the numbers from last year rather than take a new census of everyone to see if they are still active. We instead assume this participation. This is dangerous!

I asked our National Council Members at the Midyear meeting to consider a membership census, checking individually with each member to make sure they are still active and available to serve even if we need to help them adapt to changing parish and Conference membership. Now that the annual reporting is complete, let’s renew this effort to be in touch with every single one of our active and associate members. Businesspeople tell us that your best future customer is the one you already have, and it is easier and less expensive to maintain a customer than to grow a new one.  While our members are far more than customers, the adage still works.

Let’s assure that every Vincentian is accounted for and has the ability to continue to grow in holiness with us. This may mean Conference mergers. Alternatively it might mean new Conferences, designed for language/ethnic groups or for younger cohorts. Every Vincentian deserves a home with us to be closer with the Lord.

I won’t pretend to have all the answers about what to do about parish closures and mergers, Conference transitions and other community dynamics that negatively impact our membership. We all need to work together on this and share effective strategies. Let’s first agree, however, on a few principles to guide our work. One, every Vincentian is of value and deserves our communication, respect and best efforts to keep them active. Second, while we can’t control parish futures we will be nimble in adapting and designing Conferences to give everyone a Vincentian home. Some Conferences may serve multiple parish communities, while some parishes may now host multiple Conferences! Third, we will not assume Vincentian membership and services, but actively work to keep everyone we have and increase our efforts to find new members.

The people we serve continue to be with us, and their numbers are not shrinking! With today’s economic challenges, short and long term we may have more demands on our time and financial resources.

The Church is still with us as well, even though it is at times battered and bruised. Our Bishops and priests still appreciate our work as an “outsource solution” to serve the neighborhood poor amid dwindling clergy and parish resources to do so. The Church also deeply appreciates our work to help anyone, especially Catholics, to grow in holiness.

Most importantly, Christ is still with us. We know this because we see His face every time we serve.

Hang in there, dust ourselves off after so many challenges, and let’s get to work to re-establish our membership and our faith in action. Too many depend on us to do anything less.

Dave Barringer
CEO

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Stores Corner: Getting Store Donations – It’s All About Convenience
Stores Corner: Getting Store Donations – It’s All About Convenience 738 416 SVDP USA

Have You Heard?! SVdP Stores has a webpage on the National Website! The webpage offers tons of great information regarding all things stores!? 

The National Stores Committee is a group of SVdP stores folks that represent each SVdP Region and are committed to sharing best practices in support of SVdP Thrift Stores for success across the nation. Find great topical articles from the Region Reps here in the Stores Corner of the e-Gazette on the last Thursday of each month.

Getting Store Donations – It’s All About Convenience

By: Donald Schiffgens
Project manager /CFO
Saint Vincent de Paul Thrift Store, Port Saint Lucie, FL

Our Thrift Store, located in Port Saint Lucie, Florida, is relatively small with about $275,000 in annual sales. The store employs five people in key positions and has about two dozen volunteers. The store relies on customer donations brought into the store as well as free truck pick-up service. We do not currently have collection bins and so, just recently, we got permission from the pastor of one of our five parish-based Conferences to collect home goods and clothing from parishioners on two consecutive weekends following each mass.

The collection effort was very successful as donors had the opportunity to clean out their closets and bring their donations as they attended weekend masses. In this collection effort St. Vincent de Paul became more visible in our parish and many people inquired about our mission and the location of our Thrift Store. It was a win-win for all! Watch your donations grow when your store offers donor convenience and if you advertise don’t forget to advertise for donations.

Connect with a Region Rep to learn more about what is happening in your area – the list of committee members can be found under the Resources drop down here. 

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