2024 St. Vincent de Paul Friends Walk
The annual St. Vincent de Paul Friends Walk was held on Belle Isle on Saturday, September 21, 2024. Twelve walkers represented the St. Alphonsus-St. Clement Conference on a beautiful end-of-summer day! So far we have collected roughly $1400 in donations, not including the online contributions that have not yet been tallied. We are overwhelmed by the generosity of our parishioners and benefactors, and we offer our sincere thanks. All funds raised will be used in direct service to disadvantaged people who live right here in our community. Among other services, we provide food, clothing and furniture vouchers, utility assistance, and rental assistance. Your continuing support is a blessing and is greatly appreciated!
To donate, click HERE. Be sure to select "St.Alphonsus/St. Clement Dearborn" from the drop-down menu when making a donation.
If you are in need of help with groceries or any assistance please call our St. Vincent de Paul (SVdP) office and ask about our St. Vincent de Paul pantry at 313-581-7495.
For emergency assistance, please call SVdP's main phone line at 1-313-393-2930 or 1-877-ST VINCE (1-877-788-4623), and then press 5 OR go to the St. Vincent de Paul emergency website.
Did you know …
… that the Society of St. Vincent de Paul (SVDP) was founded by a 20-year-old college student in 1833? Frederick Ozanam walked through the poorest areas of Paris on his way to university each day, and he soon became deeply moved at the hopeless state of families facing homelessness, disease, and starvation. He invited a group of fellow Catholic students to follow the example of the great St. Vincent de Paul, calling on them to be not only dispensers of food, clothing, and other basic needs but dispensers, too, of the love and compassion of Christ, which had been poured into their own hearts by the Spirit of God.
Today the Society has over 800,000 members in 153 countries. Here in our local family of parishes, there are two St. Vincent de Paul Conferences, one at St. Maria Goretti and one at St. Alphonsus-St. Clement. Some of our charitable works include food distributions, bill payment, thrift store vouchers for clothing and furniture, the purchase of new beds and appliances, and referrals to other agencies. More importantly, we offer face-to-face, personal interactions with a listening ear and an open heart. No work of charity is foreign to the Society, and the blessings we receive far outweigh the cost of our efforts.
If you wish to make a difference in someone’s life, consider joining the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul. This rewarding charity affords you warm fellowship, prayer and devotion, as well as inherent value in helping our brothers and sisters in need. Meetings are held on the first and fourth Monday of the month in Fr. Yagley Hall following the 6:30 rosary. See the parish calendar for dates.
Call our office if interested 1-313-581-7495.
In other news, our Conference will sponsor a bundle weekend on June 1 and 2, so start gathering your donations now! In addition to accepting clothing, we will take shoes, books, linens, towels and household items. At the same time, we will have our bottle and can drive in support of Camp Ozanam. Please watch for details in an upcoming bulletin.
2020 - 2021 Annual Report
The St. Alphonsus-St. Clement Conference of the St Vincent de Paul Society would like to thank the members of our parish and community for the overwhelming support given during this past year. As we close the books on the 2020-2021 fiscal year, we would like to report that our Conference performed 285 service hours, traveled 366 miles and provided nearly $14,000 in funds for food, utility, furniture and housing assistance to 1322 individuals. Many of those served were recipients of the 'Care Kit' project we launched last year, funded in part from a $5,000 grant from the national organization. Even after all of the grant money was spent, the conference continued to provide food and hygiene kits to two outreach organizations, with the help of funds received from our parishioners and benefactors. We are off to an excellent start for the 2021 - 2022 reporting year. This Christmas we distributed food baskets and a $25 Fairline Food Center certificate to 20 area families. The Father O'Kelly Knights of Columbus provided turkeys and other food items to another 10 families. In addition, we distributed 70 gift cards worth $50 each to assist with the purchase of Christmas gifts for children 16 and under. Your outpouring of generosity in providing food, cash donations and gifts cards made this possible, and is greatly appreciated. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!