Parish Services

PURPOSE
The Society of St. Vincent de Paul's purposes are to offer tangible assistance to those in need on a person to person basis and to offer spiritual services; this makes the Society unique in its role as a charitable organization. A key strength of the Society is in the personalized delivery of help. This aid may take the form of intervention, consultation or often through direct dollar or in-kind service. An essential precept of the Society's work is to provide help while conscientiously maintaining the privacy and dignity of those that are served. The Society recognizes that it must assume, also, a role of advocacy for those who are defenseless or voiceless.

CONFERENCES
Vincentians gather in groups called "Conferences" which meet regularly. The Conference is the basic unit of the Vincentian organization. Parish Conferences are located throughout Orange County at various Catholic Churches.

Additional Information and a List of Local Parishes with Conferences

PARSIH CONFERENCES

General Information
The Society of St. Vincent de Paul (SVdP) is an international organization of lay persons. Catholic in character, who seek, in a spirit of justice and charity and by person-to-person involvement, to help those who are suffering. To provide this personal and neighborly help, Vincentians organize themselves into small working groups, known as "conferences," which are the first line of action.

Vincentians regard the conference as the paramount unit of SVdP life. It is at this grassroots level that the great majority of Vincentians find themselves engaged in the person-to-person service to those in need. Members may and usually do recognize the importance of higher councils in organizing countywide person-to-person services (for example, food banks and thrift stores) and in developing other special works. But for most, the fundamental Vincentian action is their own and their conference's involvement with troubled persons and families in their immediate neighborhood.

For Vincentians, moreover, this person-to-person work is associated with not just any kind of grouping, but almost always with the parish conference. A strong case can be made for the traditional parish as a logical and desired base for serving people. The trend today is toward decentralization in the providing of social services. This is a move propelled by the anguish of troubled people who so often feel that nobody really cares. Today, many individuals experience a sense of powerlessness in relation to the forces that shape their lives. Bureaucracies often seem just too big and distant. So community welfare planners are increasingly accepting the necessity for getting closer to people, individualizing them and their needs, and offering "nearness" to those wanting help.

Some of the things we do

• Home and hospital visits to the poor, sick, elderly, physically challenged
• Referrals to Thrift Stores
• Gift Certificates for free distribution
• Food Pantries
• Soup Kitchens
• Visits to local jails
• Person-to-person counseling
• Provide financial aid to individuals in emergency situations: for utilities, housing, medication, household items, etc.
• Twinning - foreign and domestic, Conference to Conference through the National arm of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul
• Disaster relief and recovery assistance for victims of natural disasters in the United States and other countries