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!