Society of St. Vincent De Paul
The Society of Saint Vincent de Paul is an international voluntary Catholic Christian organization that was founded in 1833 by a young law student named Frederic Ozanam.
He was so appalled by the conditions of the poor especially during the plague of 1832 in France, that he organized about six other students and himself into a society, named after St. Vincent de Paul, dedicated to serving the poor. They did this by visiting them in their own homes and providing emergency assistance through food, clothing, comfort and where appropriate, spiritual guidance.
The members of the Society draw our inspiration and energy from the message of Our Lord in the Gospel according to Saint Matthew and attempt to live the core values, Love of God and Love of our neighbour, by working directly with people in need.
The Society quickly grew internationally and was established in Canada in Quebec City in 1845. Here in Hamilton, the Society was started in 1865.
Here in Hamilton, St. Vincent de Paul operates 3 retail stores specializing in used clothing and furniture at affordable prices, we send numerous children to summer camps.
In addition, SVDP continues to turn “concern” into “action” by carrying on with main works of everyday visits to the needy in the tradition started by Blessed Ozanam. This work is usually carried out at the Parish level by the members of the Conferences.
To learn more, visit their website at ssvphamiltonpc.org
CHRISTMAS ANGEL TREE PROGRAM
Our regular Angel Tree Program resumed this year after 2 years of a modified version during COVID and as always, our parishioners made this year another huge success!
Throughout Advent, parishioners at St. John the Baptist church picked "angels" from our Christmas tree and each "angel" represented a member in our community in need. Parishioners then purchased Christmas gifts for each of their "angels" and on December 18, 2022, our Saint Vincent DePaul (SVdP) members sorted and delivered their gifts. In total, 145 gifts were delivered to our SVdP clients, school families and friends at L'Arche Canada!!
Food gift cards were also provided to the families of our clients and school families to help them with a Christmas meal along with a voucher to the SVdP store. We hope that we were able to make this Christmas a little bit brighter for these families through this program.
We would like to give a huge THANK YOU to our parishioners at St. John the Baptist church as this would not be possible without their amazing generosity!!
Wishing you and your families a very Merry Christmas!
From your Saint Vincent de Paul (SVdP) Association
Thank you to our members who helped package and deliver 58 Thanksgiving meals to our very grateful St. John clients! Thank you to Dave and the Columbus Club for cooking a delicious meal!