Society of St. Vincent de Paul

Years ago I bought some original comic book production pages of black ink on card paper, because I enjoyed the comics featuring Conan the Barbarian and other heroes as a young adult. I had them framed, kept them out of direct sunlight and otherwise protected my whopping investment of about 30 bucks a page. As I recall, the frames cost more than the art!

When I started reading comic books, they cost 12 cents. The books today start at $3.99 and may be $5.99 or more. Most aren’t even designed anymore for kids. A lot has changed in 50 years! If I had continued to read those comics for all this time, I would have spent thousands of dollars – and Batman would still be chasing the Joker. Superman and Lois Lane will still be together (they did finally get married), and Thor would still need a haircut.  The stories were never meant to end, but rather to keep me reading and spending my money.

I’m wondering if it’s the same with poverty.

It seems we can’t end poverty by spending more on it.  With the billions of aid from government and charities in the United States alone, the number of poor people remain stubbornly about the same. They are considered to be relatively better off than 50 years ago, but millions are still under the poverty line.

As Vincentians we remain hopeful, and we keep giving resources to our neighbors in need as we help one family at a time. The frustration we share privately is that some people we help need to return to us again and again, whether it be for rent assistance or food pantry support. We smile but it can break our hearts, and we wonder if we truly make a difference. We do of course, but perhaps to create lasting change we need to provide more lasting support. As the Society we can invest in building our capacity to serve, or keep spending on treadmill practices that move a lot but never really get anywhere.

Some Councils and Conferences have invested charitable dollars into systemic change solutions, designed to help families get out of that food pantry line once and for all. This strategy can be expensive when considered on a cost per person basis, but with a longer view of real impact the investment is a good one. Our Bridges Out of Poverty classes, Back2Work, and other employment programs, IMMERSION, and other reentry services, predatory loan aversion strategies, and financial literacy education, and so many other local creative programs, work closely and over time with one person or family. Yet that family has a much better chance of succeeding, not just now but generationally. That’s true impact.

Considering inflation and the cost of living, and our Society’s financial resources which also are affected by the same forces, systemic change makes sense. This does not, and never will, mean that we should abandon our signature Home Visit programs. People need help today, and that can’t be ignored. Allow me to offer two blended strategies for your local consideration.

One, keep Conferences focused on immediate help while designing Council programs for systemic change. Some of those who come for urgent needs can be recruited into the lasting solution resources, and Conferences can financially support the more regional, often more expensive, programs.

Two, re-think how we spend our precious local financial resources. Just as individuals spend some wages on today’s needs while putting some aside for retirement and education, consider splitting Conference resources (at whatever percentage you determine) into separate immediate and systemic change budgets. Strike a balanced approach between immediate and long-term solutions.

There are two notable exceptions to these strategies. First, sometimes a community is hit with a disaster such as a storm or a refugee crisis. These all-hands-on-deck times require urgency in both time and dollars. Second, we do not hoard funds for rainy days. It is raining right now for our neighbors! Saving to start a major program, however, is not hoarding.

While I am hardly a financial genius, I saved all those childhood comics and sold them to invest in a year of my college tuition. The original art pages I bought for a few bucks apiece are now up for auction and expected to sell for a return of several thousand percent! Our beloved Society likewise can benefit now as well as later, if we create plans and budgets over longer time horizons and keep long-range goals in our minds and prayers.

Yours in Christ,
Dave Barringer
CEO

Dear Vincentian Friends,

Last weekend I met Sister Norma Pimentel at a regional meeting of our Society in Texas. She is a highly respected leader of relief efforts for immigrants in the Rio Grande area, and I have long admired her work. In the next few weeks, you may see Sister Norma interviewed on national news programs because the situation with refugees on the U.S. southern border will receive a lot of coverage. Talking with her put me in touch with the human stories of suffering and fear that are often ignored in the political narrative the surrounds this complex problem.

Some have called Sister Norma the Mother Teresa of the Rio Grande, but I think she is more like our Blessed Sister Rosalie Rendu. Sister Norma is trusted and beloved by those refugees she serves, and she is also trusted and respected by border patrol agents and their leaders. (She tells me the agents all have her cell phone number and regularly call her.) Like Sister Rosalie, Sister Norma is trusted by the poor and is trusted by those who have the resources to provide aid.

Sister has stories to tell that humanize the refugee situation at our southern border. She emphasizes that you need to get close to the people to understand, and she believes that it is possible to protect our borders and still respect humanity. We Vincentians understand the need to get close to the situation and listen to those who suffer. We serve people who are without shelter, without food, and without adequate healthcare, and who are also portrayed with a narrative that fails to capture the real suffering and fear experienced by people living through complex, difficult realities.

The answers to migration, homelessness, unemployment, addiction, hunger and lack of healthcare are complicated, with people of goodwill disagreeing on how to respond. Frequently, however, the political narrative is not centered on finding solutions but rather on scoring political points and demonizing people with opposing ideas. Let’s not get caught up in this as we advocate for compassionate responses to the serious problems from which we see people suffer.

Sister Rosalie and Sister Norma are role models for us in their sharing of stories that show the human faces of those they serve – so that the real people involved are not cast as mere pawns in divisive political debates. We can do that, too, but we need to take the time to have actual conversations in which we listen to those we are helping. That takes some extra time and effort, not just talking to get the information to fill out an application or voucher.  When we do that, Frederic Ozanam says, “we begin to know the elements of this formidable problem of misery; then we have the right to propose serious measures, … instead of frightening society.”

In that same speech Ozanam gave in 1848, he also tells us, “when the times are so difficult, the problems so serious, the designs of God so hidden, how could the finest citizens not be divided and not bring to their opposite opinions all the passion of their patriotism?” There will be a lot of political news in the next few weeks that affects the people we serve, and we Vincentians will not always agree amongst ourselves about what should be done. Let’s be sure we always respect each other and work to preserve the human dignity of all who suffer – because in them we have seen the face of the suffering Christ.

Serviens in spe,
Ralph Middlecamp
SVdP National President