You may be wondering if there is any way you can help in the Saint Vincent de Paul ministry here at Nativity of Mary. The good news is that there are many different ways to help with different levels of commitment. First of all, we need prayers. We rely on God to guide us. If you don’t have a lot of time, but you do have a bit of extra cash, we need canned goods all the time. Picking up extra canned goods or rice and beans and putting them in our SVDP bin is a huge help! This is an ongoing need. There is also an ongoing need for financial donations.
The next level of commitment would be volunteering at our monthly Food Giveaway. This takes place the second Saturday of the month at 8:30 AM. Volunteers pack the food the day before at the SVDP warehouse. The day of the event, volunteers direct traffic, hand out forms, greet our guests, and put food into the cars. There is a sign up, and you are free to sign up whenever you are able. We appreciate the help, and everyone has a good time. We always pray together before we begin. Our volunteers range from young school aged children to not so young adults.
We also have conference members who meet once a month, the Sunday evening after the Food Giveaway, at 7:00. These volunteers have made a commitment to the SVDP conference. We pray and reflect on Sunday’s Gospel reading and then participate in making the decisions necessary to keep the conference running well. If you can’t make a commitment, you are still welcome to attend the conference meetings.
There are also those committed members who sign up to do Home Visits. This is an important part of the SVDP ministry. Our neighbors sometimes run into difficult times and face an emergency need. Two of us meet them at their home and discuss their situation. There is training for this. Sometimes people get behind on their rent and need help. Sometimes they need emergency food or diapers or gas money. We always offer to pray with them, and we have a process for discerning how to help them.
Jesus asks us to care for each other, and especially those in need. SVDP conferences have been doing this for many, many years, and other conferences are located in Catholic parishes around our city, our state, our country, and around the world.
If you have questions about our conference, getting more involved, or wanting to put your name on our sign up list for the food giveaway, please contact christopher.dietzen@gmail.com. If you have an emergency need, contact a SVDP volunteer at 952-767-5521.