Vincentians

A Midyear Meeting to Remember in St. Louis

A Midyear Meeting to Remember in St. Louis 2560 1707 SVDP USA

Vincentians from all across the United States gathered together March 5-8 in downtown St. Louis at the Midyear Business Meeting of SVdP USA. While in attendance, leaders learned about governance, leadership, advocacy, and finance, while renewing and deepening shared spirituality and friendships with one another. More than 200 leaders were in attendance, representing all nine regions and hundreds of SVdP Conferences.

National President John Berry welcomed members with his Presidential Address on Thursday with this speech. He began his address in this way: “Every night, more than a half a million people in America experience homelessness. Imagine walking past them knowing they are someone’s mother, father, or child. As Vincentians, we cannot simply walk by — we are called to act. As Vincentians, and as Christians, we understand our profound responsibility to act boldly in service to others.”

Other highlights included Director David Garcia’s update on the SoCal wildfire relief efforts, Archbishop Andrew Bellisario CM’s spiritual retreat,Good Governance workshop with John Hallissy, and a Finance Presentation by Ed McCarthy.

To make our meeting times together more effective, SVdP USA is moving away from the Midyear Meeting starting in 2026. Instead, SVdP will focus on regional meetings and meetings of other affinity groups, including Executive Directors, Stores, Spiritual Advisors, Conference Presidents, and more.

See below for highlights of last week’s Midyear Meeting, and view video presentations here.

Devastating Wildfires Heighten Importance of Homelessness Prevention in California

Devastating Wildfires Heighten Importance of Homelessness Prevention in California 2048 1536 SVDP USA
by David Garcia, Executive Director, The Society of St. Vincent de Paul Los Angeles

The recent wildfires that have devastated Los Angeles and its neighboring communities bring the threat of homelessness ever closer to countless doorsteps.

I’m not just talking about the tens of thousands of people that have been displaced due to the fires, many of whom face the awful challenge of finding a place to live and rebuilding their lives after their home was destroyed. All sorts of establishments have also been destroyed — offices and shops, restaurants and schools, parks and recreation centers. According to Morgan Stanley, an estimated 20,000-40,000 jobs have been lost from the fires — another devastating and long-term impact. For many Californians, this job loss and profound disruption pushes them closer to the brink of homelessness. Effective, preventative intervention needs to happen now — before it’s too late.

Make no mistake: Even before the fires, California residents have been struggling. The average median rent in California is already $2,763 — 38% higher than the national average, according to Zillow — and that was before the housing supply in Los Angeles took a catastrophic hit. Many Californians need to find a new job, a new home, or both – when they were already struggling to keep up with rent and feed their families. That situation puts far too many California families far too close to the edge of homelessness.

Responding to this situation effectively means responding to it proactively. While many homelessness services organizations focus on what happens after someone becomes homeless, homelessness prevention is at once far more effective and humane. It involves identifying and supporting people who are on the verge of losing their homes – assessing their underlying threats to homelessness and taking preventative measures that will keep them housed.

This is our approach at the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. We administer Home Visits to those seeking assistance to meet them where they are and learn the best ways, tailored to their specific situation, to help keep them in stable housing and off the streets.

Since the fires broke out, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul Conferences in the neighborhoods that were affected by the fires have been tirelessly active in addressing the critical needs of their communities. Conferences and the Los Angeles Council have hosted fire relief distributions. Items given out include shoes, clothing, food, water, towels, pet supplies, and baby essentials. In addition, gift cards were distributed, and immediate financial assistance was offered. We continue to work with the fire victims once they move into new housing by providing move-in assistance and home furnishings through St. Vincent de Paul’s National Disaster Services Corp’s House in a Box program.

New research indicates how well these preventive measures work. According to a recent study conducted by Notre Dame’s Lab for Economic Opportunities (LEO), persons who received an average of $2,000 in emergency financial assistance were 81% less likely to become homeless within six months of enrollment and 73% less likely within 12 months.

The state of California has spent $24 billion on homelessness in the past five years. Granting that much of that money is well spent, consider how acute the crisis remains. How much farther could that spending go if we invested some of it in preventing homelessness rather than ameliorating its worst effects? As we look to help those who lost their livelihoods in the fires, it’s time to find out just how effective prevention can be. I am confident it will alleviate a much higher long-term housing crisis in the future.

Homelessness isn’t going away in California. The aftermath of the wildfires in Los Angeles is a stark reminder of that. There is a pressing need to step in and intervene now, before the demand for affordable housing becomes too great and more families are forced out of their homes. By turning our attention to prevention, we can work together to stop the future scourge of homelessness in Los Angeles.

Home Visit Highlight: SVdP Delivers Hope for the Holidays to Long Island Family

Home Visit Highlight: SVdP Delivers Hope for the Holidays to Long Island Family 1198 1198 SVDP USA

Home Visit Highlight: SVdP Delivers Hope for the Holidays to Long Island Family 

No family deserves to spend the holidays sharing one mattress on the floor of their apartment.

Josephine Melton-McGovern and Marianne Simpson, two volunteers for the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, couldn’t believe what they saw last November when they first stepped inside the apartment of a family of four in Long Island. The room was barren—no furniture in sight, just a single mattress where the mother, father, and their two young children, a two-year-old and a four-month-old, all slept together.

“I saw it as a safety issue, especially for the four-month-old,” said Josephine. “I explained it to the mother, and she was all ears. She understood what I was saying.”

That same day, Josephine and Marianne helped deliver a donated portable crib for the baby. The next day, they stocked the family’s shelves with food and drawers with clothing. Within three days, the family’s apartment was fully furnished with a new mattress, box spring, and frame, along with blankets, sheets, pillows, two dressers, a sofa, end tables, a coffee table, and a kitchen table with chairs.

Two days later, the family also enjoyed a real Thanksgiving dinner, thanks to a turkey and fixings provided by SVdP.

“All [the mother] kept saying was ‘Thank you! Thank you!’ They were so grateful. We were so glad they had a nice Thanksgiving – I was so worried about that.”

As part of their Vincentian charism, Josephine and Marianne serve families like this every day. They know that a lack of bare necessities is the grim reality for many who have lost their homes or are on the brink of homelessness. This family had recently moved out of a shelter and into an apartment—a success story in the minds of many organizations. But they had also lost all their belongings due to a roach infestation.

Marianne and Josephine visited the family as part of a Home Visit Encounter, a core tenet of SVdP’s work. In the Home Visit, Vincentians go in pairs to visit those they serve. In doing so, they are able to assess the family’s situation in a way that many other charitable organizations are not. Because of that Home Visit, Marianne and Josephine were able to discern that the family needed more than just a new mattress.

Michael Bedell, president of the St. Frances Cabrini Conference for SVdP, learned of the Long Island family’s needs from a questionnaire they filled out on the organization’s website. He then gave them a call to get more information and schedule a Home Visit. The family is one of 65 that he and his Conference have administered Home Visits for in the last year.

“We’re calling each family and are basically saying to them, ‘Is there anything we can do for you during the holidays?’” said Michael. “It might be a ham, it could be a toy, it could be anything … but we try to put those touches on people so they can have a good holiday. We also recognize that Christmas can’t end in December. It’s got to go all year round.”

And it does. Every day, SVdP Councils and Conferences all over the globe are helping individuals experiencing or at risk of homelessness – through services such as rent and utility assistance, shelters, food pantries, thrift stores, pharmacies and medical clinics, and much more.

For Marianne, the Home Visits particularly hit home.

“I feel so fortunate to help because I’ve been in that situation – I raised five children on my own,” Marianne said. “I know what it’s like to have to reach out, go to the church, go to social services – all of those things. The more people that I can help to not have to go through that, the more it makes me feel good.”

SVdP USA flips the traditional model of a nonprofit in the homelessness services sector. Instead of vulnerable individuals having to go out and seek things like food, clothing, and support, SVdP’s Vincentian volunteers come to them via the Home Visit, providing tangible assistance, a listening ear, and friendship.

Bedell says it’s the instinct of a Vincentian to go out and serve.

“We all do it from our hearts with no expectations,” he said. “But when we give, we also receive back. We all close our eyes at night knowing that we changed a life. There is no better feeling in the world and it is a feeling more people should seek.”

 

Meet Michael Acaldo, CEO

Meet Michael Acaldo, CEO 2048 2048 SVDP USA

From the Bayou to CEO: Meet Michael Acaldo

MICHAEL ACALDO KNEW NOTHING ABOUT THE SOCIETY OF ST. VINCENT DE PAUL when he applied to lead SVdP Baton Rouge. He was graduating from Louisiana State University and just looking for a job. His father filled him in on the details.

“By some miracle, they decided to give the opportunity to someone with no real experience,” he says. Thirty-four years and 11 months later, it’s safe to say that things worked out well.

What Michael noticed right away was that his experience of knowing very little about SVdP was not uncommon. “The Society has been in Baton Rouge since 1865 . . .but there was not much public branding relative to what they did.”

Michael understood that raising awareness of SVdP was essential — both for raising funds and more importantly, for reaching people in need. “Part of the Vincentian spirit is one of humility. But it’s critical you get the word out because that’s what evangelizes for your organization!” he exclaims. “You rob people of that gift if you’re not open about [your work].”

Over the next few decades, Michael’s mission was to help SVdP Baton Rouge become a leader — in providing hot meals, establishing a comprehensive sheltering program, and working with SVdP Conferences all across the region to prevent homelessness. Under his watch, the Baton Rouge Council was SVdP’s first Council in the country to start a foundation and the first to have a community pharmacy. But he also made it a top priority to make sure that the public knew what SVdP was doing. Michael ran major campaigns with all the local television and radio stations over the years, building a reputation around the region that led to sustained fundraising success.

“WE WERE SO BLESSED TO SERVE CHRIST!” he reflects. “Some days we would serve 500 people in our dining room – that’s an opportunity to serve Christ 500 times. And it’s so uplifting to be a witness to 1,500 volunteers helping those in need each month. Both the Vincentian family and those we were blessed to serve — they both touched my soul and my heart.”

Now as the new CEO of SVdP USA, it’s this heart of Christian service that has kept him grounded. “Humility and spiritual growth are the foundation of everything we do,” he says. “And the more we grow spiritually, the more we realize we have to grow.” With God’s grace, SVdP will surely grow under his careful stewardship.

SVdP North Texas Spotlight: Providing Health and Financial Freedom

SVdP North Texas Spotlight: Providing Health and Financial Freedom 2560 1707 SVDP USA

Providing Health and Financial Freedom in North Texas

After spending 30 years working in finance, Luis Gonzalez sensed the Lord calling him to something new. After a cold call from a non-profit recruiter, Luis made a career change, and now he has been the CEO of SVdP North Texas since January 2022. Under Luis’ leadership, SVdP North Texas has expanded two signature programs that uniquely serve their community.

THE ST. VINCENT DE PAUL CHARITABLE PHARMACY is the only freestanding charitable pharmacy in Texas. By partnering with 300 clinics around the state, it uses an Amazon model to ship prescriptions state-wide. The service is completely free to uninsured individuals and has grown from filling 7,000 prescriptions in 2018 to more than 103,000 — or $100 million of medications — in 2024!

“Our pharmacy saves lives,” Luis says. “Most patients receive medication for chronic conditions like diabetes and hypertension.”

“A favorite story of mine about the impact of our Charitable Pharmacy actually involves one of our delivery drivers. Demetray* worked for us for four years delivering medications. After an unexpected hospitalization, he was prescribed daily medications that he couldn’t afford. We were able to enroll him in our program, provide his necessary medicines, and save him hundreds of dollars per month.”

THE MINI LOAN PROGRAM empowers people to find financial freedom by escaping cycles of debt and building healthy financial skills. SVdP North Texas connects individuals to partner banks and guarantees mini-loans of $500 to $4,000 to consolidate predatory payday and auto title loans into a low-interest loan with manageable monthly payments. To date, they have given out 475 loans. Recipients also receive financial coaching for the duration of the loan. When a loan is paid off, SVdP deposits $50 in the participant’s newly established savings account to encourage future saving.

“The spirituality of SVdP is unique. It’s a moment of encounter — encountering Christ in the poor and bringing Christ to them. It’s connecting our faith to works and action. Our motto is ‘Serve in Hope,’ and it is a blessing to show our neighbors in need that they can have hope because they are seen and loved.”

Luis is grateful for the opportunity to lead SVdP North Texas. “I want SVDP donors to know that their support enables us to show our neighbors that God cares for them, especially in their hour of greatest need. It is a privilege to work on behalf of our donors. Thank you for letting us serve in your name!”

01-09-25 A Letter From Our Servant Leaders

01-09-25 A Letter From Our Servant Leaders 1200 1200 SVDP USA

5 Great Virtues to Center Our Lives On!

As we enter a new calendar year, many of us embrace resolutions or new goals to better ourselves. The focus is usually on the mind, body, and spirit. As a Vincentian family, we have five great virtues to center our new year on — Simplicity, Humility, Gentleness, Selflessness, and Zeal.

Every new year is an opportunity to embrace our Vincentian Virtues. When I undertake a new resolution or change in my life, I often find it difficult to keep my full attention on it throughout the course of a year.

We are thrilled to announce this first publication of our new Frédéric’s Five newsletter, which is built on our five virtues. Every week, you will receive this email, which will be an ongoing reminder to grow and live by these essential elements of our Vincentian life.

This new publication will be shorter, more focused, and much easier to get through in today’s busy world. We will continue the popular Servant Leader column written by our Vincentian leadership. This will be followed by a Feature section highlighting newsworthy content, a compact Q&A section, a Calendar of Events section, and a Faith in Action section. Quick links to important Vincentian resources have also been added.

Our goal is that, by highlighting the five virtues, we help readers to keep each virtue close to their hearts and minds as they read the content.

Where did all these wonderful ideas to change the format of our membership newsletter come from? They came from you, our Vincentian family. Over time, we heard your feedback about the things you loved about the e-Gazette, and the things that you felt could be improved.

I would like to give a shout out of appreciation to Jill Pioter, National Director of Marketing and Communications; Pam Hudson Johnson, National Director of Membership Services; Kristen Blacksher, Digital Communications Manager; Tim Williams, Senior Director, Formation & Leadership Development; and the other Vincentian leaders that took all these thoughts and put them together in this wonderful new format.

As I mentioned above, these changes are from input we have received over time, and we want you to continue to give us input by commenting on this article or emailing us at usacouncil@svdpusa.org. Your input will be a gift to us to share through this new publication.

In my past columns, I have talked about my love and admiration for the many Vincentians that I have been blessed to observe, who live lives full of spirituality, friendship, and service. We are so blessed to have so many Vincentians emulating St. Vincent de Paul in their commitment to the five Vincentian Virtues. For a Fred Talk and more information on our Virtues, visit https://members.ssvpusa.org/our-spirituality/the-vincentian-virtues.

I know all of you are keeping those in California devastated by the wildfires in your thoughts and prayers. Be assured that our National Council and our SVdP USA Disaster Services Corporation will respond with a Vincentian compassionate hand of hope to those impacted by this terrible disaster.

Thank you for making 2024 a great year for our Society, and I wish you and your family a 2025 filled with blessings!

Happy New Year,
Michael J. Acaldo
National CEO

SVdP Supporters Walk for the Poor in Anderson, Indiana

SVdP Supporters Walk for the Poor in Anderson, Indiana 800 800 SVDP USA

Even the after-effects of Hurricane Helene couldn’t stop SVdP Anderson, Indiana from hosting their annual Friends of the Poor Walk last September. “This event is the centerpiece of our fundraising for the year,” explains Becky, the event organizer, “so we weren’t going to cancel. When we saw the weather forecast, our local high school allowed us to move into the gym.”

“We start working on the event in March. Everything is done by volunteers — 81 of us in total. It’s a fundraising walk and a family festival, a chance for the community to come together and support neighbors who are struggling.”

More than 250 people attended, and 175 took part in the Walk. “It was a fantastic day,” Becky continues. “We had activities for kids and adults, including bounce houses, carnival games, balloon artists, and free ice cream.” A gift basket auction, 50/50 raffle, and an overflowing concession stand increased their overall fundraising. “We raised over $48,000 that will support our rent and utility assistance programs,” Becky says.

SVdP Anderson, IN serves a community with a poverty rate double the state average. Many people come to their Council for help because there are not sufficient services in the areas where they live. “Most of what we raise goes towards rental assistance, so people don’t lose their housing. Several of the families we work with are so far behind in payments that they’re facing eviction. We also help people catch up on gas
and utility bills. We are only open three hours a day, two days a week, but our all-volunteer staff served 1,870 families over the last 12 months.”

“I AM PROUD OF HOW OUR COUNCIL SERVES THE COMMUNITY,” SAYS BECKY. “WITH THE HELP OF OUR DEDICATED VOLUNTEERS, WE DISTRIBUTED $176,200 OF FINANCIAL AID, HOUSEHOLD ITEMS, AND EMERGENCY FOOD TO OUR NEIGHBORS IN NEED THIS YEAR.”

Thank you for helping our local Councils serve their communities well! Together we are Serving in Hope and bringing the love of Christ to those who need it most.

In the Spotlight: Young Vincentians John Paul and Francis Brissette

In the Spotlight: Young Vincentians John Paul and Francis Brissette 500 500 SVDP USA

JOHN PAUL AND FRANCIS BRISSETTE GREW UP IN RHODE ISLAND WATCHING THEIR MOM WORK WITH HER LOCAL SVDP COUNCIL. Learning about Blessed Frédéric Ozanam was an inspiration for the brothers.

“Frédéric founded the Society of St. Vincent de Paul when he was just a student,” Francis says. “He and his friends ignored people who said young people couldn’t make a difference and they got to work serving the poor.” Motivated by Ozanam’s example, John Paul and Francis helped start “Necessities for Neighbors” through the SVdP Rhode Island Council. Youth volunteers fill bags with essential items like soap and shampoo, and a handwritten note of encouragement. These bags are distributed by Vincentians on their Home Visits to individuals and families in need.

“We saw how SVdP Vincentians throughout America share the same heart for service.”

But the brothers wanted to do more. “We had a unique set of skills to offer SVdP,” John Paul says. “We could help spread their message
more effectively on social media, especially to people of our generation.”

The brothers’ @Franchismo10 account was already well-established on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, and their creative videos regularly garnered millions of views. “We partnered with SVdP USA to highlight their work on social media,” Francis explains. “We pretty much lived on a plane for a year and a half, visiting Councils around the country and telling their stories to an online audience.”

The brothers knew they could help SVdP, but they had no idea how much they would learn along the way. “We saw how SVdP Vincentians throughout America share the same heart for service,” John Paul says. “But communities are unique, and it was incredible to see each Council tailoring its activities to meet the specific needs of their neighbors.”

“In Arizona, we helped Vincentians hand out water, something our Conference in Rhode Island doesn’t do,” Francis continues. “But that was a pressing need for that community. In Baltimore, they offer culinary lessons to help people build skills for employment. We saw firsthand how SVdP Councils have the flexibility to do what is necessary for the people they serve.”

Though they’re relatively young, John Paul and Francis are long-time Vincentians — “It was our dream!”— and are working to connect
young people to the organization. John Paul was recently given the SVdP Youth Service award and is Vice Chair of his Conference.

“There is a misconception that today’s youth won’t get involved,” Francis says, “but our generation is passionate about developing creative solutions to meet the needs of those around us. People our age need to be invited to share their time and talents. We can’t write big donation checks, but we can carry boxes of supplies up three flights of stairs!”

“SVdP gave us a reason to serve,” John Paul says. “We saw the face of Christ in all the Vincentians we worked with, and we want to share that opportunity with our peers. Christ calls people of every age to put their faith into action by serving their neighbors in need.”

YOU CAN SEE THE BROTHERS’ VIDEOS ON INSTAGRAM, TIKTOK, AND FACEBOOK AT @SVDPUSA AND @SVDPRI.

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