Society of St. Vincent de Paul

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News Roundup January 1 – January 7
News Roundup January 1 – January 7 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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Daily Prayer 1-7-2022
Daily Prayer 1-7-2022 940 788 SVDP USA

Daily Prayer for Friday, January 7, 2022

Through the troubles of the day,
Through the darkness of the night,
I place my faith in You, Lord.

Down the long, uncertain path,
Through both storms and sun,
I place my hope in You, Lord.

Thankful always for Your gifts,
Given to me to share,
I place my love in You, Lord.

Amen

Written by National Vincentian Formation Director, Tim Williams.

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A Letter From Our Servant Leaders 1-6-2022
A Letter From Our Servant Leaders 1-6-2022 1367 1520 SVDP USA

Dear Vincentian Friends,

Happy New Year! The month of January is named after the Roman god Janus, who is depicted as having two faces; one looks forward and the other backward. This matches what we often do when we transition from one year to the next. What was your Vincentian experience like last year, and what are you looking forward to this year?

As the year ended, news sources were filled with stories looking back at celebrities who had died, the year’s top news stories, the most-popular music and movies, and a host of other categories of happenings to be remembered. Looking back at 2021 as a Vincentian, I find some highlights in an otherwise difficult year.

During 2021 we moved into and dedicated our new National Council office in St. Louis. We had two “Invitation for Renewal” retreats and a very successful National Assembly in Houston. Our Society has also been blessed with hundreds of new servant leaders who stepped into office to lead our Conferences and Councils this October. We were blessed by their being ready to put their talents to the service of our members and the people we serve. I hope your Councils and Conferences were blessed with a few memorable 2021 highlights that have kept you serving in hope.

Certainly, there were many disappointments and losses in 2021. Events were canceled, and friends were missed. You probably experienced the death of family members and friends, including some fine Vincentians, during the past 12 months. The Society lost some beloved pillars this year; among them were Joe Mueller and Paul Collins. Let’s remember them all in prayer and keep moving forward, building on the strength and fortitude that are our Society’s legacy.

The other face of January looks forward. What will we make of this year ahead? Let’s keep hope alive by trusting in the providence of God. As we embrace our strategic plans or form a few goals for ourselves, I ask you to consider:

  • How can we help each other be better friends and Vincentians?
  • How can we make our organization function better?
  • How can our Society better serve Christ in the person of our neighbor?
  • How can the people we serve help us to be better followers of Christ?

These are the questions I that I shared in my inaugural speech four years ago. They are still my focus as I look to another year as your servant leader. Together, we can create that better Society of St Vincent de Paul toward which we all aspire.

Serviens in spe,
Ralph Middlecamp
SVdP National President

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Daily Prayer 1-6-2022
Daily Prayer 1-6-2022 940 788 SVDP USA

Daily Prayer for Thursday, January 6, 2022

My Lord Whom I cannot see,
I will love You in the neighbors before me;
In them and through them,
In acts and in words,
In Your name and for Your sake.

Amen

Written by National Vincentian Formation Director, Tim Williams.

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A Letter From Our Servant Leaders 1-13-2022
A Letter From Our Servant Leaders 1-13-2022 1363 1363 SVDP USA

The holidays are mostly behind us. We stare into our refrigerators now, looking for leftovers while they last. The cakes and cookies were the first to go, followed by anything we could put into a sandwich. Now we are left with items requiring a bit more creativity.

Behold, the humble can of cranberry sauce.

It sits in the pantry awaiting another holiday meal. We heard there was a national shortage of this stuff heading into the holidays, so we bought an extra can just because, and Heaven forbid it wouldn’t be on the table with the ham or turkey this year. Now we are into January, the meats are gone, and the can sits there, staring back at us. What to do? (Stick with me here, I really do have a point to this column.)

We could simply eat it with another meal, even though it might not feel quite right. I like to use it as a spread on a turkey sandwich. Some people create fruity spreads with it. A quick internet search will give you, believe it or not, at least 65 uses! I couldn’t read it all without laughing, so I’m not even sure that all of these uses are food related. Paint tinting? Edible finger-paint? Fragrant glue? The possibilities seem endless.

If we can do so much with a commodity food, imagine what we can accomplish with several Vincentian hearts in our Conference meeting as we discuss how to help someone in need. These neighbors may not be “leftovers” but “left behinds” by others.

It may be easy to do what we have always done, help in the same small way, and move on to the next family that needs our help. Or we can look with fresh eyes and hearts at alternatives. Some may be emergency assistance gifts while other might be systemic change solutions for the longer term. Some might solve today’s problem while others look to the root causes of this person’s poverty and present situation. Some answers may be comfortable, while others will require new thinking, new resources and new partnerships.

If we approach people with the same tools, we might miss some great possibilities. If the only tool you have is a can opener, every problem becomes a can! If instead we consciously add to our Conference and personal toolbox, we are prepared when a different problem needing our help comes along.

In this New Year, let’s resolve to approach our neighbors in need not as society’s leftovers but as treasures of potential, awaiting our innovation, discernment and most of all, love, to create newly imagined lives of purpose and value.

Christ did something amazing with just a few fish and loaves of bread. What can we do for our neighbors with our Conference’s love and so many blessings? Let’s think on it, pray on it together, and then think some more. Isn’t this what we would want Christ to do for us?

Yours in Service,
Dave Barringer
CEO

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Daily Prayer – Wednesday, January 5, 2022
Daily Prayer – Wednesday, January 5, 2022 940 788 SVDP USA

Daily Prayer for Wednesday, January 5, 2022

Lord, I love you
With all of my heart
With all of my soul
With all of my strength
With all of my thoughts
With all of my actions
Live in me, Lord,
With Your love.

Amen

Written by National Vincentian Formation Director, Tim Williams.

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1-4-2022 Daily Prayer
1-4-2022 Daily Prayer 940 788 SVDP USA

Daily Prayer for Tuesday, January 4, 2022

Lord, help me to see
What I have is enough
My time, my talents,
My possessions, myself
Enough to give
Like the loaves and fish
Like the love of God
That multiplies when it is shared

Amen

Written by National Vincentian Formation Director, Tim Williams.

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Contemplation – Behold, I Make All Things New
Contemplation – Behold, I Make All Things New 940 788 SVDP USA

Vincentians serve in hope! Not merely the hope of a paid light bill, but the hope of Christ’s promise, the hope of new life, and the hope of a church that “is ever renewing itself…” [Ozanam in Baunard, 20]

The neighbors we serve often lack hope – any kind of hope. Burdened with material needs, with worries for their children and for their future, it is difficult to offer eternal hope when, as Mahatma Ghandi once explained, “To them God can only appear as bread and butter.”

In our empathy for the neighbor, it can be all too easy for us at times to feel overwhelmed, burned out; to share the neighbor’s despair rather than the Savior’s hope. Our neighbor’s continuing struggles weigh us down, and we allow ourselves to forget the great power of love over even the greatest forms of deprivation.

Whatever resources our Conference has, however great or small, we offer freely and generously. And when we offer food to the neighbor who can only see God as bread, remember that Christ offers Himself to us as bread. All of the material assistance we give is foremost a sign of Christ’s love. In that love, we welcome the neighbor into communion with us, and with the God who sent us.

It is for love alone that we continue, through home visits, through special works, and through systemic change programs, to walk with people out of poverty. It is for love alone that we can say, “this relationship does not end when we pay the bill this week. You matter.”

There is never a need to be frustrated, or to wonder why the land will never lack for needy persons. As St. Vincent taught, it is through our humble devotion to God and our charity toward the neighbor that they might see the beauty and holiness of our faith. [CCD VIII:208] The needs we seek to alleviate may be of this earth, but the hope we bring is not.

We gather on our home visits in His name, and He, as He promised, is there. He is there in the suffering of the neighbor, and He is there also in the prayer and in the hope that we offer, wiping away all tears, saying “Behold, I make all things new.”

Contemplate

How can I better share hope?

Recommended Reading

Turn Everything to Love

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Dec. 20 – Dec. 30 News Roundup
Dec. 20 – Dec. 30 News Roundup 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.

  • No Comments
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January is Poverty Awareness Month
January is Poverty Awareness Month 940 788 SVDP USA

According to Poverty USA, more than 38 million people in the United States currently live in poverty.

The month of January is dedicated to bringing awareness to this crucial issue that is at the forefront of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul’s mission. January is Poverty Awareness Month.

Who Lives in Poverty?

Individuals and families that earn less than the Federal Government’s poverty threshold are considered to be living in poverty. There are two main classifications of poverty:

  • Absolute Poverty: When a household income is below the poverty threshold making it impossible for the individual or family to meet their basic needs including food, housing, safe drinking water, education, healthcare, etc. For those living in absolute poverty, their situation remains unchanged no matter the economic state of where they live.
  • Relative Poverty: The condition in which people are deprived of the minimum amount of income needed in order to maintain the average of standard living in their community. Those that fall in this category have money, but not enough to “keep up with the Joneses.” This type of poverty can change with economic growth in the country. This category, while it may not seem as extreme as absolute poverty, can still be permanent.

Poverty can also be broken into two groups called “Generational Poverty” and “Situational Poverty.”

  • Generational Poverty: A family that has lived in poverty for at least two generations. Those experiencing generational poverty often deal with hopelessness, tend to focus on survival over planning, have different values and patterns than those who have not grown up in poverty.
  • Situational Poverty: A individual or family’s income and support is decreased due to a specific change – job loss, divorce, death, etc. Those coping with situational poverty tend to remain hopeful, considering it a temporary setback.

The COVID-19 Pandemic and Poverty in the U.S.

In the years leading up to 2020, poverty had gradually been declining in the United States. In 2019, the poverty rate was at 10.5%, the lowest since 1959. Then, COVID hit.

According to Human Rights Watch, since the start of the pandemic, 74.7 million people have lost work, forcing them to dip into savings, depleting individual reserves.

Census Bureau data shows how households with different incomes are coping with the pandemic and that low-income households are disproportionally struggling for their social and economic needs to be met. Among households with incomes below $35,000, 47% of adults report being behind on housing payments, and 25% say they struggle to put food on the table.

While stimulus checks, and tax credits have offered a little help over the past two years, the problem persists.

SVdP Is Here to Help

Our mission is: “A network of friends, inspired by Gospel values, growing in holiness and building a more just world through personal relationships with and service to people in need.”

Vincentians around the world have dedicated themselves to offering our suffering brothers and sisters a hand up in their time of need. Through a combination of spiritual and material aid, we seek to help those suffering from poverty. While we do assist with food and rental assistance – the things you picture those living in poverty to be most desperate for – SVdP’s goal is to help make a “systemic change.”

Systemic Change is a key facet of the Society’s work to end poverty. It goes beyond addressing immediate needs and instead, partners with the poor to identify the root causes of their poverty and remove the barriers that keep people impoverished.

“The money or assistance in-kind that we give to those who are poor will not last long. We must aspire to a more complete and longer lasting benefit: study their abilities … and help them get work to help them out of their difficulties.” – Blessed Rosalie Rendu

To learn more about how SVdP helps those living in poverty, click to visit our website.

Resources for Poverty Awareness Month

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