As told by Susan de Queljoe, Director of Community Relations & Business Strategies, St. Vincent de Paul
Many have seen some of wireless telephone provider Verizon’s commercials touting the power of their network, and you might even be getting a little tired of the “can you hear me now?” guy in most of those commercials.
Well, hats off to Verizon for, at minimum, communicating what they believe is their value to customers and prospective customers.
One of these commercials got me thinking about networks, networks of people, and the powerful things they can do.
There’s one such network within St. Vincent de Paul. Specifically this is our 89 conferences based in Catholic parishes throughout central and northern Arizona.
Our conferences deserve much more credit than the busy nature of running St. Vincent de Paul permits us to give them. The parish conference members provide thousands of hours of their time and the financial resources to help people in need; yet their work often goes unseen.
They are run by volunteers who help provide for the needs of the homeless and working poor in their local communities. Services include food boxes, rent and utility assistance, among other living essentials.
At St. Vincent de Paul, we’re focused on keeping people from becoming homeless. We have over 3,000 volunteers working in the community every single day to help others in need. Most of this assistance isn’t witnessed by others since it is often provided via in-home visits to the working poor.
I cannot fully express how fortunate we are to have so many volunteers organized into conferences across Arizona. Without them we could not operate in such a meaningful capacity.
We want to hear more about the good things these conferences are doing. If you’re a member of a Conference of Charity (or want to become a member), please share a comment below or give Patricia Metrick a call at 602-850-6717.
