St. Vincent de Paul: 175 years of caring

By Helen Carlson
ESCANABA — In honor of the 175th anniversary since its founding, members of the Escanaba St. Vincent de Paul Society hosted a celebration at Holy Family Parish in Flat Rock. Following mass, breakfast was served by the youth group.

The St. Vincent de Paul Society was established April 23, 1833, by Frederick Ozanam in the aftermath of the French Revolution. Ozanam, then a university student who was studying at the Sorbonne in Paris, gathered five other students of like mind and faith and confronted faculty members who were challenging their beliefs. Other students at the Sorbonne said, “We have no need of faith. We have liberty, equality and fraternity. Faith is dead! Show us your works.” In response, on his 20th birthday, Frederic founded the Society of St. Vincent de Paul so that he and his schoolmates could put faith into action through service to the poor. They took St. Vincent de Paul as a patron after the example of his work with the poor.

The Escanaba district St. Vincent de Paul Society (SVDPS) has approximately 131 members and includes Escanaba, Gladstone, Stephenson and Manistique. Additionally, there are over 100 active volunteers. This SVDPS District provided services and assistance to 8,058 neighbors in need in 2007 alone, not including the people served by the SVPDS dining hall/kitchen.

The SVPDS’s 115,000 U.S. members, known as Vincentians, plan to mark this year’s milestone with commemorative activities around the country. The Society’s U.S. members donated nearly six million hours of their personal time in 2007, aiding more than 20 million of their neighbors in distress and offering services valued at nearly $500 million.

Despite the tremendous outpouring of caring shown each year, the Escanaba District St. Vincent de Paul remains in constant need of donations (money, food, clothing, toiletries, tissue, laundry soap, furniture etc.) in order to help our neighbors in need. Money and food may be donated at the Service Center, 115 N. 8th St., Escanaba. Clothing and household articles may be donated at the warehouse, 815 1st Ave. N., Escanaba.

The Gladstone St. Vincent de Paul Society, 816 Delta Ave. in Gladstone, also accepts donations. The Manistique St. VIncent de Paul Society, 231 Cedar St. in Manistique, accepts donations too.

Web sites of interest: www.svdpusa.org — The national Web site at which all forms and information can be found; www.svdpmadison.org — This site is also in the Society’s NCR and offers a list of other Web sites throughout the country; and in Google, “Vincent Studies Institute.”