About St. Vincent de Paul

The Mission of the St. Vincent de Paul Society

When you give to the St. Vincent de Paul Society, almost all the money goes to the poor. We have almost no administrative cost because our members volunteer all their services.

We visit people. In addition to assistance with food, rent and utilities, we try to help people improve their lives, find jobs, and seek other beneficial services. In Fond du Lac County alone we distributed $225,000 in the last fiscal year, visiting 2,600+ families totaling 7900+ people.

We are a safety net for the poor. We cannot serve these people without your help. One hundred percent of the profits of our store go directly to the needy.  Therefore we need you!  Please give generously, especially this year!

 

Blessed Antoine-Frédéric Ozanam.

By Gravure d'Antoine Maurin dit "Maurin l'aîné" (1793-1860) à partir d'un dessin de Louis Janmot (1814-1892) - Oeuvres complètes de Frédéric Ozanam, éditions Lecoffre, Paris, 1862 (seconde édition), Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21883993

From Our Founder

"Knowledge of the social situation is to be learned, not from books, not from the public platform, but in climbing the stairs to the poor person’s home, sitting by his bedside, feeling the same cold that pierces her, sharing the secret of a lonely heart and an anxious mind.”

Frederic Ozanam founded the Society of St. Vincent de Paul on April 23, 1833, his 20th birthday, so that he and his friends could put their faith into action through service to the needy.

Today the Society is the largest lay Catholic charitable organization in the world. The Society has more than 690,000 members operating in 142 countries.

In the United States, our membership has 115,000 “Vincentians.”

“Inspired by Gospel values, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, a Catholic lay organization leads women and men to join together to grow spiritually by offering person-to-person service to the needy and suffering in the tradition of its founder, Blessed Frederic Ozanam, and its patron, St. Vincent de Paul.”

US Manual, Society of St. Vincent de Paul 1999