Twining

Helping other Vincentians

The Vincentian family has historically practiced "twinning," the sharing of financial resources between conferences with excess funds (or those with a willingness to share from their own need) and poor conferences and Councils. For if we are to love and serve the poor, does this same obligation not apply to the poor within our own Vincentian family? Conferences which meet certain minimum standards are eligible for assistance provided they have exhausted other appeals for The objective of the program is to insure that no SVdP conference is left effectively unable to function because it is without funds to respond to those who call for help. While Vincentians primarily provide prayers, understanding, information and caring, a conference which is never able to provide even the smallest bit of financial help to those in desperate straits has a difficult time retaining members.

There will be occasions when a conference, working with a client in desperate circumstances, finds the client's needs are beyond what it can provide even after networking with government agencies and members of its neighborhood faith community.

In such situations, having established a working relationship (networking) with other conferences in your area may provide your Conference with one or more additional sources of help to assist the client. Rare is the conference that does not have "ups and downs" in donations. So when you are scraping the bottom of your barrel, a neighboring conference may have a little "extra" it can provide (as can your Conference, in turn, at some later date).

The objective is to serve those who are suffering. Cooperation between nearby conferences is both essential and eminently sensible. From a practical point of view, such a relationship is likely to flourish only when the leadership of both conferences get to know one another. This happens when they both regularly attend district meetings and other regional functions. Friendship & fellowship within the Society creates bonds which encourage sacrifice to help one another. It is living the Spirit of St. Vincent.