The Work of our Parish St. Vincent de Paul Conference
(this is taken from an April update to the Pastoral Stewardship Council. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be highlight the various initiatives of our parish Human Concerns Committee. Ed.)
St. Vincent de Paul Society
The two chapters of the St. Vincent de Paul Society, one at St. Francis Church in East Palo Alto, and one at St. Thomas Aquinas, continue to provide weekly food and emergency help to those in need.
George Chippendale, now mostly retired, and Terry Atkinson continue to work with the St. Francis Church Conference, which is connected with the funding network of the San Mateo County Council.
Our St. Thomas Aquinas parish funds the work of our parish conference, which continues to visit people in their Palo Alto homes to help with emergency rental assistance and to learn what other needs the families have. In teams of 2, we made 20 home visits to talk with people each month and arrange to help with rents. We ask for and receive assistance from other parish conferences and from the Santa Clara County Council with co-pays for our larger rents.
We also have teams that meet people at our parish office door to listen to them, pray with them, give them a bag with nutritious daily food and talk about how we can help them or refer them to other agencies such as the LifeMoves at the Opportunity Center. In addition to the day’s bag of food people are prayed with, given a grocery card, a day’s transportation and a little laundry money. In addition we help people with other car expenses. We have been able to help approximately 160 people who can come once a month.
Our parish volunteers provide help in various ways. Some of us meet people at the door and go on home visits in teams of two. Some of us faithfully prepare the daily food bags, working quietly each weekend at the Dermody Center.
All of the parishioners help with regular donations to second collections and help with food donations especially during our Novermber Food Drive. The Christmas Giving Tree donations of blankets and toys are very welcome to needy Palo Alto families. Before Christmas day, the rest of the items donated are taken by volunteers to the Ecumenical Hunger Program, which provides Christmas assistance to families in East Palo Alto.
If you would like to join us to assist with any of the above activities, please contact Anne Fillin,
graceful.heron@gmail.com.