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Friends of the Poor Walk/Run: A Step Towards Eliminating Poverty

Friends of the Poor Walk/Run: A Step Towards Eliminating Poverty https://ssvpusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/FOP-Walk.jpg 800 533 SVDP USA SVDP USA //ssvpusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/svdp-usa-ssvp-int.png April 21, 2021 April 22, 2021

Now in its 14th year, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul’s Friends of the Poor® Walk/Run is an annual event that provides local Vincentian Conferences and Councils with an opportunity to raise funds and awareness to support neighbors in need. This year’s event will be held on Saturday, September 25, 2021.

The nationwide event raises awareness of the challenges faced by neighbors in need. At over 200 Walk locations across the country, more than 20,000 Vincentians, parishioners, families, and friends join together to support the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. Annually, over $3.4 million is raised each year.

Benefits of Hosting a Walk

While many Conferences and Councils are avid supporters of the Walk, others may be new to the program. Here are some of the benefits of hosting a Friends of the Poor Walk/Run:

Generating funds for direct service to people living in poverty in your community.
Increasing awareness regarding the challenges faced by neighbors in need.
Enhancing visibility and reputation of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.
Involving your parish, neighbors, and friends, family, and community in helping men, women and children in need in your area.
Cultivating new and existing members and donors.

Says Nathan Martin, who manages the program nationally, “The National Friends of the Poor Walk is an excellent way to raise awareness of the issues surrounding poverty, while at the same time raising money to help neighbors in need.”

To learn more about the Friends of the Poor® Walk Program, please contact National Director of Fundraising Programs Nathan Martin by emailing him at the link above, or by calling (314) 576-3993 ext. 218. Or visit the Walk website: www.fopwalk.org/

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Serving the Uninsured at St. Vincent de Paul Pharmacy

Serving the Uninsured at St. Vincent de Paul Pharmacy https://ssvpusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/SVdP-Pharmacy-scaled-e1617985628325.jpeg 1920 2560 SVDP USA SVDP USA //ssvpusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/svdp-usa-ssvp-int.png April 13, 2021 April 13, 2021

For the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, one pervasive challenge across the communities we serve is poor health management, often exacerbated by lack of access to prescription medications.

The first pharmacy of its kind in Texas, the St. Vincent de Paul Pharmacy serves the uninsured whose household income is at or below 300 percent of the Federal Poverty Level, which for a family of four is an annual income of $25,701. Nearly 1 in 2 Texans have incomes at or below 300 percent of the Federal Poverty Level.

Since its founding in March 2018, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul North Texas’ freestanding charitable pharmacy, named the St. Vincent de Paul Pharmacy, has filled the gap for many North Texans unable to afford medication. Nearly half of all Texans have incomes at or below 300 percent of the Federal Poverty Level.

As the pandemic’s effects continue to severely impact our neighbors in need, the pharmacy has been busier than ever, serving nearly 1,000 patients and averaging more than 400 prescriptions per week since March 2020. The St. Vincent de Paul team also innovated their service model by removing the transportation barriers that had previously prevented some clients from obtaining their medication by allowing for prescriptions to be mailed or personally delivered to those who need it.

Society of St. Vincent de Paul North Texas CEO Mike Pazzaglini recently spoke on the program’s expansion on Good Morning Texas. He noted that rather than a reduction in services, the St. Vincent de Paul pharmacy actually served exponentially more neighbors in need over the last year. “We went from 9,000 the year prior, to this year, where we filled over 17, 500 prescriptions.”

Says one pharmacy patient, Elsa R., “I am really grateful because I depend on my medication and I would not know how to find the means to pay.”

Neighbors in need aren’t the only ones who see the benefits of the pharmacy. Vincentian volunteer Martha Korioth notes that, “Vincentians are called to BE the face of Jesus TO others — and, to SEE the face of Jesus IN others. As a volunteer at the SVdP Pharmacy, I see the face of Jesus in the face of each Pharmacy staff member, and I see Jesus’ smiling face on each friend, who comes to pick up their medications. Remarkable growth [of the program]… is leading to Systemic Change for the poorest of the poor in this community.”

To learn more about how you can help support the St. Vincent de Paul Pharmacy in Texas, or to learn whether you qualify for services, visit the Society of St. Vincent de Paul North Texas website.

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Will You Help the Friends of the Poor?

Will You Help the Friends of the Poor? https://ssvpusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/AdobeStock_244883536-scaled.jpeg 2560 1707 SVDP USA SVDP USA //ssvpusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/svdp-usa-ssvp-int.png April 9, 2021 April 9, 2021

At the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, many of our nearly 4,500 Conferences and Councils across the United States have felt the financial effects of COVID-19. Some are seeing up to a 300% increase in need for food alone! And with 10 million Americans currently behind in rent payments, we expect a similar increase in demand for rent assistance in coming months, regardless of eviction moratoriums and government help.

By making a gift to the Friends of the Poor Grant Fund, you will provide emergency funding for local St. Vincent de Paul Conferences and Councils, to help Vincentian volunteers meet the growing demand for food and other basic emergency needs.

Will you donate today to the Friends of the Poor program? Your financial support is crucial and will allow Vincentian volunteers to bring the hope of the Gospel, answering Christ’s call to his disciples in Mathew 25: “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink.”

Your Donation Makes a Difference

Please donate today at www.svdpusa.org/friendsofthepoor. You will be helping those most impacted by COVID-19.

Thank you, and may Christ’s presence fill your hearts this most sacred time of year.

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Winter Storm Update From Disaster Services Corporation

Winter Storm Update From Disaster Services Corporation https://ssvpusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Winter-Storm-Update-.jpg 2000 1600 SVDP USA SVDP USA //ssvpusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/svdp-usa-ssvp-int.png February 18, 2021 February 18, 2021

The Disaster Services Corporation, St Vincent de Paul USA (DSC, SVdP-USA) is providing support to Councils and Conferences in the areas impacted by Winter Storms Uri and Viola. DSC is working closely with the State of Texas and Texas Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD). Additionally, we are working in coordination with the National SVdP Office to provide Rapid Response Grants to cover the costs of rent, food, pipe repairs, hotel stays, etc. Lastly, DSC, SVdP-USA is also monitoring and supporting Vincentians in Oklahoma and Louisiana. Our thoughts and prayers are with all the families without water and power.

To help support the work of DSC in this winter storm season, visit Disaster Services Corp., St Vincent de Paul-USA and choose “Where It Is Needed Most.”

Here’s What You Need to Know

As power begins to return, many Texans are now without drinking water.
Most power is back, but 500,000 Texas homes and businesses are still in the dark.
The latest storm is knocking out power in Mississippi, Kentucky, and elsewhere.
Several inches of snow are expected in the New York area, as vaccine shipments are delayed.
31 people have died across the country due to the winter storms.

Recap From the News

The winter storms and colder weather may persist in the Great Plains and Mississippi Valley through midweek, and a new winter storm is expected to sweep across the South and East over the next two days. More than 100 million Americans are under some type of winter weather warning.

As Texas struggles to restore power to millions of residents affected by the brutal winter weather, officials are now scrambling to provide clean water as well. Cities and counties across the state, including Houston, San Antonio, and Austin, have issued boil water notices stemming from concerns about contamination and low water pressure as frigid temperatures freeze pipes, leaving some households with little to no running water.

As of Wednesday, nearly seven million Texans were under a boil water advisory, and about 263,000 people were affected by nonfunctioning water providers, Toby Baker, executive director of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality said at a news conference. During a news conference on Wednesday, W. Nim Kidd, chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management, said facilities were reporting broken water mains, lack of running water, oxygen shortages and other problems.

Texas wasn’t the only state contending with power issues. Other states where outages numbered in the tens of thousands included Louisiana, Mississippi, West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia, Ohio and Oregon, according to poweroutage.us, a utility tracking site.

While some facilities can provide heat during the blackouts, others are relying completely on generators and cannot provide any heat. With another storm on its way to Texas, temperatures are expected to remain below freezing until Saturday.

Winter’s brutal assault continued Wednesday night as another snowstorm roared its way across the nation through the end of the week, hitting areas where millions were already without electricity in record-breaking cold.

More than 100 million Americans are in the path of the storm as it tracks from the southern Plains to the East Coast over the next few days, the National Weather Service said. But the nation’s heartland will get some relief over the weekend, the weather service reported, as the frigid air will begin to moderate over the next couple days.

But first, much of Texas and the Southeast will have to endure heavy snowfall and “ice accumulations of a light glaze to a few hundredths of an inch” through Thursday. Heavy snow is forecast to move work its way as far north as southern New England on Thursday.

The next winter storm will bring more snow and ice and “just a real mess” to many areas of the country, including the South, Midwest and Northeast, AccuWeather meteorologist Bernie Rayno said. As the storm advances to the northeast through Friday, snow is forecast to fall along a 2,000-mile-long swath from northwestern and north-central Texas to northern Maine, AccuWeather said. Freezing rain and sleet will occur to the south and east of the snow zone, extending from central Texas to southeastern New York state.

Ice accumulations of a quarter to as much as three-quarters of an inch are forecast in some areas. “In the areas that contend with these devastating ice accumulations, residents can expect dangerous travel conditions, numerous power outages and extensive tree damage,” the weather service said.

FEMA Update Region VI – TX

15 non-American Red Cross shelters open with 1,068 occupants
34 congregate shelters open with 1,140 occupants
10 non-congregate; 134 warming shelters open
Total of 200 warming shelters throughout the state: www.tedem.texas.gov/warm/
Boil Water Notices in effect for 40 counties; boil water notices are not for the entire county, only certain public water systems within these counties
729k liters of water, 10.9k wool blankets, 50k cotton blankets, 225k meals staged at DC Fort Worth (TX Consolidated Staging Area)
1 million (-2 million) customers (9%) without power
Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) energy conservation plan continues with rotating outages due to high demand exceeding available generation capacity generation resources are strained due to cold weather tripping units, natural gas supply curtailments, and wind power generation outage
I-35W in Fort Worth remains closed causing detours and traffic delays
TX EOC at Partial Activation (COVID), working 24/7 operations this week for winter weather; Governor declared a state of emergency and requested an Emergency Declaration; approved Feb 14

Who to Follow

What to Download

Stay informed: Download the FEMA App to receive real-time weather alerts, safety tips, and sheltering information.

Donate to support Disaster Services Corp., St Vincent de Paul-USA and choose “Where It Is Needed Most.”