Did you know that in Arizona, one in four children are struggling with hunger? Join St. Vincent de Paul to fight hunger in your community between September 12-18!

SVdP is partnering with local food banks to fight hunger. Donate food, volunteer or make a financial donation.

Hunger Action Week kicked off at SVdP’s Phoenix dining room at 7 a.m. on Monday, September 12 with opening remarks by Governor Jan Brewer, Jerry Colangelo, Jimmy Walker, and Russ Dickey, executive director of Lift Up America Arizona.

Help fight hunger in Arizona! Visit www.endazhunger.org. 

Donate food: Find drop-off locations for nonperishable food items from your home or a food drive.

Make a financial donation: Donate online or text* FEEDAZ to 85944 to help those struggling with hunger. *A one-time donation of $10 will be billed to your mobile phone bill. Messaging & data rates may apply.  Donations are collected for LIFT UP AMERICA by mobilecause.com. Reply STOP to 85944 to stop. Reply HELP to 85944 for help. (For terms, see www.igfn.org/t.)

Volunteer: Find a food bank, pantry or charity dining room and donate your time.

The slumping economy is hard on most everyone, but the summer months bring more challenges for many families. Children are not in school to partake in meal programs and bills for utility are higher due to the Southwest summer heat.

That’s why Bashas’, Food City, 12 News, The Arizona Republic, News-Talk 92.3 KTAR and Sports 620 KTAR, 98.7 The Peak, Univision Radio and La Voz joined forces to hold a Peanut Butter and Jelly Drive during the month of July.

Together, more than $59,000 was collected for St Vincent de Paul. The drive was a great success.

Thank you everyone who donated food and money!

Rachel is the six-year old daughter of Jocelyn, a single mother. Jocelyn was laid off from her job as an administrative assistant when the company she worked for closed her office. She looked for jobs, for months, but had no luck. After her savings dwindled, she found herself without enough money to buy groceries and pay rent. The manager of her apartment complex recommended that she called St. Vincent de Paul for help.

The next day, two St. Vincent de Paul volunteers visited her in her home and brought her an emergency food box filled with essentials like milk, eggs, bread – as well as Rachel’s favorites, peanut butter and grape jelly. The volunteers listened to her situation, offered encouragement and provided enough money to cover her rent for the month.

With the help and referrals of St. Vincent de Paul volunteers, Jocelyn is picking up odd jobs cleaning houses while she looks for permanent work. While she still has many challenges making ends meet, she is thankful that she is able to maintain a home for her and her daughter — a safe home that where there is always a peanut butter and jelly sandwich when Rachel is hungry.

Help feed families like Jocelyn’s — donate food at any Bashas’ and Food City stores or donate online today. In addition to the challenges families face during a slumping economy, summer brings a whole new set of hurdles. Children are not in school to partake in school meal programs and utility bills are higher due to the summer heat. Any amount you give will go a long way to help struggling families.

St. Vincent de Paul is proud to announce the 12 News & Bashas’ Annual Peanut Butter & Jelly Drive starts today June 30th and runs through July 31st!

Donate food to needy Arizona families and the homeless. Summer is a particularly difficult time of year, when hungry children are home from school and the high Arizona summer temps means more air conditioning, which means high electricity bills that cut into the family food budget.

Click here to donate online or bring in your food donations to Bashas’ stores statewide through July 31st.

Let’s make 2011′s drive even bigger and better than last year!

 

families volunteering together

It’s been another busy month at St. Vincent de Paul, and we’ve put together a little recap of some of the activities you can learn more about online. Below you’ll find links to lovely photo albums, moving videos, and informative blog posts, and other things you can learn more about via our blog, Facebook page, and YouTube channel.

Let me know if I’ve missed anything – we can always add more. If you’d like to save this digest to…um…digest later, or to forward it to friends (hint, hint) its permanent URL is http://www.helpingthepoor.org/digests/digest06-11. By the way, all of the events and activities below have happened in the last 30 days.

Homelessness

Making the Transition from Transitional Shelter blog post.

One Expense Away From Homelessness, blog post.

Feeding the Hungry

Food-services manager oversees 3,200 meals daily at St. Vincent de Paul

What’s new in our Family Dining Room for June?

• Blog post
• June calendar

Fry’s executive team serving meals in our dining room.

Poppy’s Cup.  Kids honor their grandpa by raising money and food for St. Vincent de Paul at an ice skating event.

Volunteerism

SVdP Volunteer Profile series. Videos produced and narrated by Mary Jo West. Featured below are on Facebook page, others will be moving over soon, so that we can all write and read comments about these wonderful volunteers. For a sneak peak at others, see our YouTube channel.

• Terri
• Ryan
• Joanie
• Bill
• Blessed Sacrament Conference
• Alec
• Ana

A Personnel Perspective, a series of short videos of staff members and volunteers telling little stories about their work at St. Vincent:

• Mary Jo West

Volunteer Appreciation Event

Fry’s executive team serving meals in our dining room.

City of Phoenix Aviation Department serves meals in the dining room it paid to remodel.

Blog post and video about our new volunteer-run thrift store in Cottonwood.

Home Makeovers

Showered with Love A disabled vet gets a bathroom makeover that was years overdue.

Sewing them Together A tiny house gets a top to bottom transformation.

Charlie’s Tricycle for Freedom Charlie, an elderly veteran, gets his wheels back.

Go Dad! A single dad with four kids had his whole home made over by volunteers from various groups, including an Eagle Scout project.

Amazing before and after transformations. Pairs of photos, same rooms, same angles, before and after Vincentian Fresh Perspectives home makeover projects.

Thought Provoking

St Vincent de Paul is so dependent upon and grateful for the volunteers who help us help others. What area/type of volunteering are you drawn to personally?

Can you share a story about a veteran in your life?

Who serves as an inspiration to you?

Do you think a credit score reflects one’s character accurately?

What are your thoughts on giving cash or spare change to panhandlers?

Do you feel that it is better to assist a few people with their whole needs or several people with their basic needs?

Event & Visitors

Volunteer Appreciation Event

Third Annual Burrito Project

Bank of America Literacy Campaign and Book Drive to benefit St. Vincent de Paul

Engaging our Supporters

Dena’s Birthday Wish

Poppy’s Cup.  Kids honor their grandpa by raising money and food for St. Vincent de Paul at an ice skating event.

Testimonials

• Sarah Fey The company that I work for just did a bottled water drive for SVdP. We received 43 CASES of water! I encourage everyone to try to coordinate drives at their place of work or worship. They are so easy, put boxes out, send out emails, hang some signs and that’s it! It is a great way to give back without spending a lot of time. The results of drives though can help so many people! You can contact SVdP for what is needed …. sugar, non-perishable foods, water, etc. !!
• Kim Hatch: Great time volunteering this morning at St. Vincent de Paul…You should do it!
• Catholic Charities Community Services We had a great time volunteering serving the evening dinner last night. Thanks for the opportunity!
• Neighborhood Housing Services of Phoenix Another great outreach event partnering with St. Vincent de Paul for NeighborWorks Week! Where else can we reach new homeowners or those struggling with their mortgage payments with our programs and services? Neighborhood Fairs? Housing workshops? Vendor fairs? Neighborhood festivals? Let us know!
• Sue Fricke Thank you for the warm welcome this morning!!! All of the staff was wonderful! Thank you Blase
• Aldo Gonzalez Support the youth group at St. Vincent De Paul Church by enjoying a meal at Panda Express today before 8pm. Print and present this flyer at one of the 3 panda express restaurants listed in the flyer. Thanks for all of your support.
• La Tolteca It’s set! Our Third Annual Burrito Project, which benefits St. Vincent de Paul of Phoenix is scheduled for Thursday, July 21st here at La Tolteca. More exciting details on the Project to follow!

Hungry for more? There’s lots more great news, photos, and videos on St. Vincent de Paul’s website, Facebook page, Twitter feed, blog, and YouTube channel.

A Towering Success

St. Vincent de Paul’s Family Evening Meal is a “hotbed” of activities this Summer (if you’ll pardon the Arizona dry humor!). Our manager of Family Programs, Allison Ghan, has put together an update for us, including a monthly calendar, to let you know how easy it us to join us or support us by stopping by for a visit, finding items on our wish list, or volunteering with our families. We hope to see you in our “cool” dining room!

To keep you updated on the many events and activities we have going on this month, we would love to show you our monthly calendar in hopes that you will stop in for a slice of pizza (June 17^th), join our guests in a Zumba class (every Monday!), schedule a time to volunteer (contact Khawkes@svdp-phx-az.org), or simply keep our families in mind as the weather starts to heat up.

Something new and exciting… Although school is out for the kids in the dining room, we are in the middle of an essay contest! One of our corporate partners, Freeport McMoRan, is giving away four bikes to four deserving young kids who are currently writing about who they think deserves a bike.

Volunteers are the center of attention

Winners will travel with their families to a special ceremony where they will receive recognition and their brand new bike! Following that essay contest is another one about energy sponsored by one of our regular volunteers who we believe is secretly trying to get all of the kids to become engineers. Thanks, Charlie!

Wish list:

Essay question for July, and a sponsor willing to donate a couple prizes

Family DVDs for cartoon/movie nights in the dining room

Birthday presents for older children (we have lots of toys, not as many ‘cool’ gifts for ages 10+)

Bingo prizes (anything fun!)

Storytellers spark kids' imagination

Thank you for all of your support for the work we do and people we serve. Take care!

The Family Dining Room Team

Vincentian Fresh Perspectives

A lot has been happening at St. Vincent de Paul, even in our supposedly “slow” season.

New programs, noteworthy visitors, great new relationships, and new ways of engaging with our supporters. We’ve been posting lovely photo albums, producing moving videos, and writing informative blog posts. But you may have missed something in an area that interests you, so I’ve compiled a little digest, by subject area, of things you can learn more about via our blog, Facebook page, and YouTube channel.

Let me know if I’ve missed anything – we can always add more. If you’d like to save this digest to…um…digest later, or to forward it to friends (hint, hint) its permanent URL is http://www.helpingthepoor.org/digests/digest05-11-fb-yt-bl. By the way, all of the events and activities below have happened in the last 30 days.

Feeding the Hungry

Blog post about a volunteer who is giving our homeless dining room guests (all 800 of them) a name tag on the day he volunteers.

Flowers that Feed Why give cut flowers when your loved one can have Flowers that Feed?

Easter Party in the Family Dining Room thanks to St. Joseph’s Hospital and Sodexo.

Health Care

Banner Health teaches kids about healthy eating

Homelessness

What are your thoughts about homeless individuals owning pets?

Homeless guest at main St. Vincent de Paul dining room sings the national anthem at an Arizona Diamondbacks game.

Open House at Ozanam Manor transitional shelter.

Volunteerism

SVdP Volunteer Profile series. Videos produced and narrated by Mary Jo West. Featured below are on Facebook page, others will be moving over soon, so that we can all write and read comments about these wonderful volunteers. For a sneak peak at others, see our YouTube channel.

• Andy Andreano
• Anita Tabcharani
• Ellen Lagerman

A Personnel Perspective, a series of short videos of staff members and volunteers telling little stories about their work at St. Vincent:

• Ed Dubiel
• Patricia Metrick
• Cassidy Zoellner

Blog post about a volunteer who is giving our homeless dining room guests (all 800 of them) a name tag on the day he volunteers.

Angels who make Curtains for Vincentian Fresh Perspectives home makeovers.

Corporate volunteers love making SVdP Tees, which raise money to fund our homeless programs.

Hearts and Hands Day of family volunteering

SVdP volunteer Dick Warren wins Governor’s volunteerism award.

Home Makeovers

A Collection of Vincentian Fresh Perspectives Home Makeovers

Cesar’s New Bed Six year old gets his own bunk to recover from kidney surgery.

The Lemon Tree Mayo Clinic paints the house a disabled vet and his wife have lived in for over 50 years.

The Ice Cream Truck and the Girls Four girls who share a small room get their own beds.

Angels who make Curtains for Vincentian Fresh Perspectives home makeovers.

Thank You Nana A grandmother caring for her four granddaughters gets her house painted by a team of volunteers.

Events & Visitors

SVdP International President visits Phoenix for Western Regional Meeting

• Story
• Photos

Golf for Charity event, organized by the Our Lady of Joy Knights of Columbus, raises money for St. Vincent de Paul and has become one of the top charity events in the area.

Hearts and Hands Day of family volunteering

Land of Ahhs honors new SVdP program, Vincentian Fresh Perspectives.

A Shred-A-Thon for Earth Day.

SVdP volunteer Dick Warren wins Governor’s volunteerism award.

Open House at Ozanam Manor transitional shelter.

Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon. Video honoring a group of fabulous volunteers is in two parts:

• Part One
• Part Two

Thrift Stores

Video describes new Volunteer-run thrift store in Cottonwood, AZ.

A Shred-A-Thon for Earth Day.

Ozzie’s Furnishings grand re-opening.

Thought Provoking

Should a food box be handed to anyone who asks for it?

What are your thoughts on restricting restroom access to “customers only,” in public establishments?

What are your thoughts about homeless individuals owning pets?

Who from your childhood has had the greatest positive effect on the kind of person you are today?

Activities for Needy Families

Family Evening Meal calendar – May

Banner Health teaches kids about healthy eating

Easter Party in the Family Dining Room thanks to St. Joseph’s Hospital and Sodexo.

Engaging our Supporters

SVdP “Friend-Raising” Campaign to meet new Facebook Fans

Liliana’s Birthday Wish

Hearts and Hands Day of family volunteering

Flowers that Feed Why give cut flowers when your loved one can have Flowers that Feed?

Hungry for more? There’s lots more great news, photos, and videos on St. Vincent de Paul’s website, Facebook page, Twitter feed, blog, and YouTube channel.

asking for spare change

First, do no harm

Dealing with panhandlers across the Valley may be a daily dilemma for some of us.  You want to show compassion and empathy for the plight of the homeless, but you’re just not sure that those two extra dollars in your wallet will fill the bill and make a significant difference in someone’s life, or that they’ll be used for a productive purpose.

The Need a Hand card is a better way to help a homeless person who is asking you for cash.   Instead of handing out cash, this wallet-sized card lists the addresses and serving times of our five Phoenix Metro-area dining rooms. The reverse of the card lists the services available to the homeless through St. Vincent de Paul’s Special Works Ministries located at our main Watkins Campus.

A local bus day pass is attached to the card to help the individual make the trip to St. Vincent de Paul for assistance, return to where they were staying and make any other bus trips needed that day. Cards are sold in packs of four for $10. This amount covers the cost of the bus tickets, and what remains can help defray some of the costs of providing the services being accessed.

The idea is that, instead of giving someone cash, you can help them get to the assistance they may really need to change their lives.

Need A Hand? Come See Us.

The Society of St. Vincent de Paul offers meaningful help for the homeless and working poor of central and northern Arizona. With more than 90 cents of every donated dollar going directly to fund food programs and other services for the poor, St. Vincent de Paul provides a hopeful alternative to those who need it most. With a powerhouse food bank and one of the largest industrial kitchens in the state, St. Vincent de Paul provides more than 1.1 million hot meals to the homeless and working poor each year; and the need continues to grow.

With the help of skilled and caring volunteers, St. Vincent de Paul serves 110 homeless individuals each day, providing showers, clothing and haircuts, bikes and bus tickets, job leads, mentoring, post-incarceration assistance, and case management to inspire our clients to make real change in their lives.

Through these professionally-run programs, St. Vincent de Paul helps the homeless work their way back to self-sufficiency by providing a hand up and not just a handout.

call (602) 261-6808 to order a packet of four Need A Hand cards to carry in your wallet, purse, or glove compartment.

You can also donate online today.

Stay in touch. Sign up to receive the SVdP monlthy e_Newsletter.

Are you looking for that special gift for that special someone? What about a gift that keeps on giving? Think about Flowers that Feed. This is a meaningful gift to give a loved one or a special someone and at the same time donate food by helping Phoenix area children and families receive nourishing hot meals in one of St. Vincent de Paul’s five charity dining rooms.

Flowers that Feed Roses card

With each donation of $25 (Sunflowers), $50 (Tulips) or $100 (Roses), you will receive a beautiful, custom-designed Bertica Garcia-Dubus gift card to tell your friends and family that you’ve honored them with the gift of hope. Each card is inscribed with the number of meals your donation provides, so the recipient will know how much they are helping struggling families.

A Sunflowers purchase provides one week of nourishing meals in our charity dining rooms for a family of four. ($25)

A Tulips purchase provides two weeks of nourishing meals in our charity dining rooms for a family of four. ($50)

A Roses purchase provides a month of nourishing meals in our charity dining rooms for a family of four. ($100)

Visit the St. Vincent de Paul website for more information on Flowers That Feed.

Donate food Phoenix!

Once again, St. Vincent de Paul  has teamed up with 12 News and  Bashas’ and Food City stores for the annual 12 News Peanut Butter and Jelly Drive.

During last year’s drive, over 4,600 jars of peanut butter and jelly were collected and nearly $52,000 was donated to SVdP to help feed needy families and homeless individuals.

Summer is a particularly difficult time of year, when hungry children are home from school and those high electricity bills cut into the family food budget.  Let’s make 2010′s drive even bigger and better than last year!

Click here to donate online or bring in your donations to Bashas’ and Food City stores statewide through July 31st.