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St. Vincent De Paul Society

Helping neighbors in need

The Society of St. Vincent de Paul is a volunteer, parish-based ministry dedicated to helping our neighbors in need. Guided by Matthew 25:40 — “Whatever you do for the least of my brothers, you do for me” — we seek to grow spiritually through works of charity.

The St. Vincent de Paul Conference, located at St. Vincent de Paul Parish, is one of 53 conferences under the leadership of St. Vincent de Paul of Seattle/King County. Our parish conference provides emergency help that includes food and rent assistance. In 2024, our conference:

Delivered food to 400 households (1,203 people) and provided each household with a $25 grocery card ($10,000 total).
Pledged rent assistance payments totaling about $60,000 to 135 families (451 people).

Vincentians work in pairs to visit neighbors in their home or in the community. During our visits, we listen and provide support to help prioritize their needs and mutually develop an assistance plan that promotes self-sufficiency.

Other ways our SVdP conference helps our neighbors include:

Fall Food Drive: We coordinate with our parish to collect food during weekend Masses around September 27, the feast of St. Vincent de Paul. See this year's shopping list.

Giving Tree: During Advent, we sponsor the Giving Tree, asking parishioners to take a tag from the tree and purchase gift cards to benefit families in need.

Christmas Deliveries: On the third Sunday of Advent, parishioners gather to package and deliver groceries and gift cards to families. In 2023, we served 48 families with 116 children.

Need help?

Become a Vincentian

Our conference volunteers typically make visits once or twice a week, on days and at times that are mutually agreeable. New volunteers are mentored by experienced Vincentians to respond to requests for assistance; trainings are offered by the Seattle/King County council.

The St. Vincent de Paul Conference meets the second Tuesday of each month in the South Narthex. Stop by to meet us and learn more! From April through September, meetings are held at 6:45 p.m.; from October through March, meetings are held at 9:30 a.m.

For more information, call John Wright, conference president, at 253-797-0761.

Funding/How to Give

We are funded through the generosity of our St. Vincent de Paul parishioners, who provide donations of money and food.

We also thank Knights of Columbus St. Joseph Council #7528, at St. Vincent Parish, which supports our mission with financial contributions.

Here’s how you can help:

Financial donations: Use the monthly envelope in your church envelope packet or give online through the parish giving site (click here and choose “Society” from the drop-down fund menu).

Food donations: Place nonperishable food items in the SVdP donation bin located in the southeast corner of the church narthex.

History, mission of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul

A young law student named Frederic Ozanam founded the Society of St. Vincent de Paul in 1833 in Paris, France. Ozanam and five friends wanted to form a group to assist the poor and decided to call it “Conference of Charity.” It was later renamed the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, after the patron saint of the poor.

The founding members met with Rosalie Rendu, a Daughter of Charity who served in the most impoverished part of Paris, for guidance. She sent them on home visits and modeled the idea of serving the poor with dignity and respect. Ozanam and Rendu were beatified by St. Pope John Paul II.

The first meeting in the United States took place in 1845 in St. Louis, Missouri. The U.S. has over 4,600 Conferences with more than 146,000 members, who each year give well over 7.6 million hours of volunteer service, participate in over 650,000 home visits, and manage another 900,000-plus visits to prisons, hospitals, the elderly and others in need.

This service to the poor amounts to over $330 million, and the in-kind value of food, clothing and furniture totals over $80 million.

(Source: St. Vincent de Paul Seattle/King County)