This month, I decided to give the proceeds from Substack subscriptions to the Saint Vincent de Paul Society of Arizona. You can check out their website here.
Many of us are familiar with the Saint Vincent de Paul Society. In a great number of parishes around the world, SVdP takes care of those who need food or assistance at the local level. The Society in Arizona also has a network of thrift stores and a large central campus. For those in the Phoenix area, it is 400 W. Watkins, just south of I17 between Central and 7th Ave. It is an amazing place to check out for those who have not been there.
You can see on the side of this building, which is just one of many at their main campus, the words “Feed. Clothe. House. Heal.” These are the four things that Saint Vincent de Paul does, and they do it in a very creative way. I will give just one example from my own experience.
I went a few times last year to the urban farms that provide food for the SVdP family dining room. They grow food in three different farms in the Phoenix metro area and then give that food away to families. For a long time, they would use the produce from the urban farm for the meals that they made in kitchen. But then, one of the staff told me, they decided to do a farmer’s market for the families that come to the dining room. Rather than decide for the families how to use the vegetables, they would give the families a choice to take what veggies they wanted and use them in meals they could cook at their own homes. Then, based on what families were choosing, that’s what they would decide to grow in the garden going forward.
You may wonder about families going to SVdP to take food back to their homes. The people who come to this dining room are not homeless. SVdP does have a kitchen for the homeless at a nearby facility. At the Watkins SVdP, though, they have a huge family dining room, set up like a restaurant. Volunteers take orders and serve the meal from a number of options. The families who come here often have homes and cars, but do not have enough to make ends meet each month. They can come to the SVdP dining room where there are activities for the kids, a restaurant meal for the whole family, and all kinds of give aways and resources for them. One week when I was at the family dining room they were giving away free shoes!
I am donating to Saint Vincent de Paul this month because I love what they do and how they do it. They have been a real inspiration for me, both at the parish and the city level. I really have on my heart the many people in need this summer, as we here in Phoenix move into our extreme weather season. Please find ways to offer help to those you might meet on the streets when it gets to be 110 degrees and more. Water, food, a business card with the SVdP address on it (400 W. Watkins, Phoenix)—there are many ways to help.
If you have not subscribed, please subscribe. If you would like to do a paid subscription, as you see, I will give away what I get each month to a different charity. Thanks!