The Society of St. Vincent de Paul

2024 St. Vincent de Paul Friends Walk

The Annual Friends Walk, sponsored by the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, will be held on Saturday, September 21 at Belle Isle State Park in Detroit. The event is a unique national fundraising effort designed to raise awareness of the challenges faced by the nation’s poor. All funds raised locally will be used here in our community in direct service to those in need.

Representatives from the St. Vincent de Paul Society will be in the vestibule of the church after each Mass on September 7, 8, 14 & 15 to take donations and sign up participants for the 3-mile route. Please stop by to pick up a flyer, volunteer to walk or contribute to this worthy cause. Or simply drop your donation in one of the poor boxes at a church exit. Last year the St. Alphonsus-St. Clement Conference raised roughly $1,600 from this event, which helped provide services to 450 individuals in need of food, utility, rent and other assistance. Thank you once again for your support and generosity!

To register to walk or 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.

May 2024 Update

The St. Alphonsus-St. Clement Conference is please to announce our new slate of officers. They are: President- Terry Smith; Vice-President-Michele Smith; Secretary-Rose Ann Buttigieg; Treasurer-Annette LaBeau; Spiritual Advisor- Toni Henry. Please pray for our servant leaders! We would also wish to express our appreciation for the continuing support of our parishioners. Many of you have already contributed to our conference, using the envelope in you box set and we thank you for your generosity! If you have not, please prayerfully consider making a donation. Sadly, the needs of our area are great. In the first quarter of this year, we spent over $4,100 on rent, hotel costs, utilities, beds, gasoline cars and other needs for our destitute neighbors. The good news is that our food pantry is now well stocked. Thanks to all who donated food and hygiene products.
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.

Christmas Giving Projects - Thank You

The St. Vincent de Paul Society would like to express its heartfelt appreciation for the overwhelming response to our 2022 Christmas Giving Projects. Our goal was to give a $50 gift card to every child 16 and under on our list. Because of the generosity of those who purchased gift cards or made monetary donations, we were able to all meet this goal, distributing gift cards to 78 youngsters in our area. What a blessing it was to see the joy on the faces of those who received these gifts! Many thanks to the St Alphonsus-St. Clement community for your outpouring of love and compassion during this Christmas season! In addition to the gift cards, we collected over 10 bags of clothing and hygiene products for the St. Aloysius Outreach Program. Your donations will help keep the homeless and indigent in the Detroit area a little warmer and healthier throughout the coming winter months! As we close the books on a very successful 2021-2022 year, we want to acknowledge the tremendous support we have received throughout the entire year. Through your generous donations, we spent over $10,000 for food, clothing, utilities, and furniture, plus another $6700 on rent and housing assistance. We performed 265 hours and traveled over 250 miles to serve 783 individuals in our area. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for helping us help those most in need.

St. Vincent De Paul Friends Walk Fundraiser

The annual St. Vincent de Paul Friends Walk was held on Belle Isle on Saturday, October 1, 2022. Six walkers represented the St. Alphonsus-St. Clement Conference on an absolutely gorgeous fall day! So far we have collected roughly $900 in donations, not including the online contributions that have not yet been tallied. In addition, St. Kateri raised another $1000 for the St. Vincent de Paul Society, which was split between the St. Alphonsus-St. Clement and the St. Maria Goretti conferences. All funds raised will be used in direct service to disadvantaged who live right here in our community. We are overwhelmed by the generosity of our parishioners and benefactors. Your continuing support is a blessing and is greatly appreciated!

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!