A Lesson in the Price of Hunger

In early November the Family Support Center at St. Vincent de Paul was visited by a group of young people and teacher moderators for a Community Service project for their school.  The visit developed into one of the most interesting experiences for, not only the young people, but for the staff and those we serve.  As was noted on our website:

When the students from Wesleyan School arrived at the St. Vincent de Paul Family Support Center this morning to volunteer, they suspected they’d be sorting clothing for the Thrift Store. Little did they know, they would have a profound, life-changing experience.

Their first impression was the smell of coffee, an absolute must in every office in the morning. They noticed the smell changed as they entered the Family Support Center. They said it smelled sweet, like baked goods.

They jumped right in sorting the donated bread and pastries and moved on to stocking the Food Pantry shelves. They were surprised and shocked to see how little food there was to put on the shelves. They went about getting everything on the shelves and asked their teacher, Steve Broyles, what else they could do to help. He gathered the group together.

The group talked for a few minutes and decided to take up a collection among themselves. They came up with $150 and off they went to purchase food at the grocery store.  This provided the opportunity to practice real life family economics. They returned with several bags and cases of food. SVdP weighed the items and they weighed 112 lbs. The students immediately got busy putting the newly purchased food on the food pantry shelves.”

The article concluded with the following sentence, “With hope, the lesson will resonate with them; they will share the lesson with their friends and families, and continue to look for more ways to help.

In yesterday’s mail I received a letter and donation from one of the young people who visited in early November. 

The letter reads as follows:

I am a student at Weslyan School and I recently came to work at the food pantry with a peer group a few weeks ago.  As you may know each year our high school students participate in Serve His Day, which gives us the opportunity to serves places in the community, and those that may be less fortunate.

I am taking a health class this semester.  One of our class requirements is to do a service project.  I did a project for my neighbors, taking care of two large greyhounds while they were away visiting family on Thanksgiving.  They paid me forty dollars ($40) and I am now sending this money to you at St. Vincent de Paul to use as you see fit.    Sincerely,  - A student from the Class of 2014.

Nothing more really needs to be said.  What a profound act of generosity!  What a story of hope!  What an example from a young high school student that speaks volumes to us.

Our Vision

In the spring of 2008 the Board of Directors Of St. Vincent de Paul Atlanta met at an off-site retreat and developed a new Vision Statement for our organization.  It reads:

 

The Vision of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul Atlanta is to change the face of charity by offering hope as well as help to all through the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Our Vision begins; “To change the face of charity…” What’s so powerful about those few opening words is that they are so deep and broad and inclusive. They incorporate things we are familiar with, like “Don’t just give someone a fish, but teach them how to fish” yet it also allows us to dream and look to those things that have not yet been thought of.  Bobby Kennedy used to say “Some men see things as they are and ask why; I dream things that never were and say, why not?”  Our vision statement calls on us to dream things that never were and to develop ways to make them a reality.

Our Vision continues “…by offering hope as well as help to all…” There are some key concepts in these nine words.  ‘Offering’ is one.  This acknowledges that we can’t give people hope.  Hope is an internally driven emotion.  We can no more give hope to someone than we can give them any other emotion.  But what we can do is change the circumstances in which they exist through help so that they will have an opportunity to have hope.  In order to have hope you must have faith.  And in order to faith you must have love.  Love comes to those in need from us through our help.  Our help, whether it be financial, material, educational, or spiritual (our mission) is what gives people faith that things will get better. And that leads to hope.  And finally   “…to all…” acknowledges that we are here for those of all backgrounds, faiths, and ethnicities.  We serve all his people.

And our Vision concludes “… through the guidance of the Holy Spirit.”   This acknowledges and celebrates our Catholic heritage and our commitment to the foundation of the Society.  It also acknowledges that it is God who directs what we do, not man.  We serve because we are called to serve and the Holy Spirit watches over and blesses our work.

We are about to begin the development of a new Strategic Plan in 2011.  That plan will help us to turn our vision into reality for the many people that we help every day here in Georgia.

John

A Shiny Brand New Freezer. Take a Look at the Transformation!

In early spring, Kroger approached SVdP about accepting large monthly donations of meat and other perishable foods. Since good quality protein is hard to come by for clients, SVdP jumped on the chance to receive meat on a regular basis. This project requires us to install a commercial grade freezer for the Chamblee Conference Support Center, provide freezers for each participating Conference and a buy another truck to assist with distributing the food to the outlying Conferences. The entire project will require a total of $150,000.  

Since raising the first $75,000, we have begun the installation of the commercial refrigerator and freezer. It seems like our warehouse has been transformed overnight. Where towering storage shelves once sat, there is a shiny brand new freezer.

What’s great about this is we are now one giant step closer to becoming a functioning food distribution center. So, more people throughout North Georgia will have access to more food. We’ll be able to supply suburban Conferences with perishable foods and meats. This means better nutrition for our clients, which leads to better health and a better future.

Before

The space before installation.

The beginning of installation  this morning.

There a re a lot of pieces/parts!

Take look at the transformation!

Did You Know?

Often when I meet people for the first time the subject of 'What do you do?' comes up.  I guess we all tend to use the exchange of occupational information as a comfortable and easy way to develop relationships and find common ground with others.

Usually, when I tell people that I work with St. Vincent de Paul. I get one of three reactions;   the first being a quizzical stare or a furrowed brow as people try and figure out who and what St. Vincent de Paul is, the second an enthusiastic 'Oh, your the people with the great Thrift Stores, or finally a comment about what great work SVdP does for people in need in our community.

Each of those, for me, is a great response.  Because in the first case I get to tell people about all the incredible things that St. Vincent de Paul does (and has done since 1903) for the people in need here in Georgia and across the world.  In the second case I get to tell people, 'Well if you think the Thrift Stores are great wait till you hear about everything else we do!".  And in the third case I get to thanks them and see how they can engage with us to continue that great work.

So which of those three answers would you give?  Since you're on this website and reading this blog you likely know something about SVdP and the work we do.  But how much do you know?

Did you know that SVdP Atlanta is one of the Top 50 biggest nonprofits in Georgia and that last year we helped over 179,000 people?

Did you know we operate over 35 food pantries, 10 Thrift Stores, 4 Family Support Centers, and 2 temporary housing programs?

Did you know that we conduct GED preparation classes in English and Spanish for people working to better themselves by getting their High School degree?

Did you know that we have over 70 local conferences of volunteers working across North and Middle Georgia?

Did you know that we provided over $13 million dollars worth of direct financial assistance and in-kind support to people in need last year?

Did you know that we have a Pharmacy Program that provides free prescription medicine to people?
 
Would you like to learn more about what we do?  Would you like to help?  We'd love to have you.  Then you can tell people that you work with St. Vincent de Paul - and how incredibly proud you will be to do so!

Thanksgiving

Next Thursday is Thanksgiving and many people will gather with family and friends to celebrate the holiday with food, drink, conversation (and for some football and shopping).  For those who are traveling this Thanksgiving we wish you safe travels.

As we offer thanks for what we have and join with those we care about to enjoy our holiday meal let us not forget that there will be people - far too many people - who will have no family and friends to spend the day with, no TV to watch football and the parade, no money to take advantage of the shopping sales, and no food for a holiday meal; or maybe just enough food to barely get through another day.

The people in need who we serve at St. Vincent de Paul have many faces.  Some of those faces are those who are carrying a burden, and maybe have carried a lifetime burden, of poverty and need driven by many circumstances, life-choices, and behaviors.  Others have encountered a short term and bounded 'bump in the road' of life that they need some support getting through.  Some lack education or the training, and the opportunity to make a better life for themselves and their families.

What is important to remember is that these faces of need are not all the same.  Given what has happened in the economy over the last three years the profile of those people driven into circumstances of desperation and need has changed dramatically.  Need has many faces - and many of those faces look just like us, and our neighbors, and our family members, and our friends. 

We are the faces of need.  We are the faces of those who can help alleviate that need.

So next Thursday, as you enjoy your day, add to your prayer of Thanksgiving a prayer for who aren't enjoying their day.  Those for who Thanksgiving is just another painful days journey through a desperate situation. And if you can find a way to help those in need this holiday season, whether it be with your time, your talent, or your treasure, then please find a place where you can make a difference and do it.

Need has many faces - and so do we.

Peace and God Bless,
John 

Monday of Another Busy Week

It seems like each new week at St. Vincent de Paul Atlanta is as busy as the prior weeks.  No matter how often we think that things will slow down a little they just don't.  And that's both good and not so good. 

The downside is that it means we are continuing to deal with a huge need for our services and that means that there are still too many people in need.  The upside is that we are accomplishing much to address that need and we are improving the effectiveness and impact of your services.

Today the actual physical installation of the industrial refrigerator/freezer in our Family Support Center began.  Electrical work and site preparation are the first phases.  We also began processing 2000 pounds of food donated from a foods drive that was held at Mary Our Queen Catholic Church in Norcross, Georgia.

Following up on last weeks blog entry about the coat drive held by the 2nd grade at Holy Redeemer School; they ended up bringing in over 300 coats from that drive!  We had an 8th grade group of volunteers in here last week who sorted and hung all those coats so they can be distributed to people who need them.

The Thanksgiving Holiday is coming up and Christmas is just 6 weeks away.  This is the time of year when our help and support is critical to those who are suffering.  We may be busy each and every week, and it may never seem to get less busy, but we know that someone will have a better week than they did the week before as a result of work of our many amazing Vincentian volunteers and supporters.  

John

Financial Stability Partnership

This morning I attend the United Way Financial Stability Partnership meeting.  This group of nonprofit agencies, along with foundation and funding providers is working on issues related to housing, income support, savings and assets, and employment that impact people's ability to be self-sufficient.  Today's meeting looked at many of the issues surrounding reporting and measuring of the data nonprofit agencies collect to assess their programs.  These can then be used to determine whether programs are having positive impacts on the community.

At SVdP Atlanta we are working with a Georgia Tech MBA Pro Bono team to develop our own set of measures to look at our programmatic outputs, outcomes, and impacts so that we can be sure that our programs and services are both efficient and effective and that we are being good stewards of the donations we receive from you.

I'll keep you informed as the Ga Tech project continues on what we're coming up with.

On another note, the 2nd grade students from Holy Redeemer School just dropped off the coats that they collected in their coat drive.  They brought THIRTY TWO BAGS of coats to us here.  What a great group of kids!  I gave them a tour of the facility here and we had a great time together.  We'll have some pictures up on the website soon I'm sure.

John

The Start of a Busy Week

We're excited here at SVdP Atlanta because this is the start of a great week for us.  It's actually always pretty busy around here.  Between our normal operations and business needs, our GED and ESOL classes, processing donations from the weekend, stocking the food pantry, and assisting clients and conferences we generally don't lack for things to do.

But this week we have two pretty cool things happening.  First, on Wednesday the 2nd Grade students from Holy Redeemer School in Jones Creek will be coming in with the coats that they've collected from their coat drive.  Each year the kids in the second grade do this coat drive for us.  I get to go up and meet with them to help kick it off - that is truly one of my best days each year.  The energy and excitement of the kids as they start on this service project is fun and infectious.  You can't help but smile the rest of the day after spending half an hour sitting on the floor and talking with second graders!

 
The other exciting thing happening is that the installation our industrial refrigerator/freezer will begin this week.  This is the second phase implementation of our new Food Distribution Program in partnership with Kroger to supply our 35 food pantries with fresh meats, vegetables, other items.  Eventually, as we continue expansion of the program we will be purchasing a second refrigerated truck and hiring another driver to support program expansion.  This is really going to be a great way to expand our help to people in need throughout north and middle Georgia.

I'll update you more this week as things progress.

John 

Welcome to Our Blog

Welcome everyone to the new St. Vincent de Paul Atlanta Blog.  We are really hoping that by beginning this conversation with you we can help you learn more about who we are and what we do and that we can learn more about you; our friends, supporters, volunteers, and just the curious.

We're new at this, so I hope that you'll bear with us as we make some mistakes and learn how to make this method of engagement most beneficial to all.  We welcome your feedback and comments on what we post and hope that this will truly become a conversation among people dedicated to help those in need.  We ask that you respect decorum and the right of others to state their opinions and thoughts.  While we welcome feedback and comment, we will remove any post that contains inappropriate language, links to other sites, sales or marketing pitches, personal derogatory statements, irrelevant information and comment, or other content deemed offensive.

OK, so for those of you not familiar with us, who are we?  I'm going to focus the first few of my blog postings on providing a little background and history on SVdP Atlanta (which is our short, easier to say/type name).  Once we establish some common knowledge then the blog will get into other areas.  If you are familiar with us I ask for your patience.

We are the Society of St. Vincent de Paul Atlanta; an organization of over 4000 volunteers and staff who help people.  Our mission statement reads: "The Society of St. Vincent de Paul provides financial, material, educational, and spiritual support to those in need regardless of background or faith and collaborates with other organizations to empower people to achieve self-sufficiency.  We are part of an international organization and have been operating in Georgia since 1903."

SVdP Atlanta accomplishes this mission through the work of volunteers at 70 local conference organizations throughout north and middle Georgia, through four Family Support Centers, ten thrift stores, and our central Conference Support Center.

So there we go.  The first blog post is written and posted.  One of the tips I received was keep the postings short, so I'll save more information for later.

We are thrilled you've joined the conversation and we look forward to hearing from you.

John Berry - CEO and Executive Director