Dear Parishioners,
The Society of St. Vincent de Paul has an active conference in this Parish. Nationally the Society has over 8000 volunteers who last year made more than half a million visits to people in need.
Our group has 18 active members, 7 men and 11 women, who meet each Tuesday, at 7pm, in the Presbytery. Members try to do a weekly visit, always in pairs, to people in need of a little help or simply a friendly chat. Last year the group made 2,034 visits to people in their own homes, 1,141 to people in Residential Homes and 218 to hospitals making a total of 3,393. There were a further 133 lifts given for appointments, shopping or coming to church.
In our locality the SVP supports people in all kinds of need. In the last year these included debt, disability, sickness, addiction, rehabilitation after prison, struggling with family poverty, bereavement and loneliness. We could do nothing without the help that you give us, so vital in reaching out to families and individuals for whom life is a struggle.
Our group would like to thank you all for the amazing financial support we receive from you through quarterly collections and donations. Last year we received £2,327 from church collections, £498 from members’ donations, £340 from gift aid and £997 from other donations. £2,089 was used to help families and those in need locally, £832 supported national projects, £120 was sent to our twinned conference in India to assist their work, £320 to provide beds for Indian families, £400 to the Nepal disaster appeal, £200 to the Sudan baby feeding camp and £120 to sponsor a doctor and nurse in training in India. £85 was given in stipends for Masses for those who have died. We really appreciate your support and prayers helping us to help others.
Being a member of the SVP is about more than helping other people, it is also about our own spiritual development. Prayer forms an important part of every SVP meeting. We start and finish our meeting with prayers and we also have a short spiritual reflection. In one of our prayers we say, “We thank you Lord because you inspired the foundation of our society to help overcome suffering and for the spiritual development of the members”
Everyone is welcome to join. If you are interested, please contact Peter Donnelly (01200 441081) or any member.
Parish SVP Group