Ever wonder what St. Vincent de Paul is all about?

The St. Joseph's conference of St. Vincent de Paul has been working to help the needy for many years. We are a group of volunteers from this parish who gather each month to pray, plan our charity work for the upcoming month, and to report on the previous month's activities.

From the generous donations we receive through St. Joseph's, we are able to assist numerous families year round. We are proud to inform you that only approximately 2.6% of the donations that we receive are used for the purchase of donation envelopes, vouchers and mailing costs. All of the rest of the donations are used to directly assist the poor in the following ways:

1. Conduct monthly home visits to needy families that have been "adopted" by our conference. We "adopt" families that are in real need of assistance and each month two members of our conference visit each family to provide them with support and assistance in the form of food vouchers (which excludes tobacco or alcohol), advice, and bus passes in some cases. We can also refer them to the Social Concern Office of the Vancouver Island St. Vincent de Paul for clothing and other items. Our overall objective is to assist these families to become self sufficient.
    
2. Donate and coordinate funds for the Social Concern Office (located downtown) to purchase food that is distributed to others in need in the greater Victoria area. Some of our members also volunteer to help there every week.
    
3. Hold occasional food drives within the parish and at St. Joseph's School. This food is also sent to the Social Concern Office for distribution. A food donation "shopping cart" is located in the lobby of the church for all other food donations.
    
4. Provide assistance to our two "twin St. Vincent de Paul conferences" in India and Colombia. We try and send regular financial assistance.

We would like to thank everyone at St. Joseph's Parish for their generous donations to assist us in our work helping the less fortunate.

We would like to invite anyone who is interested in learning more about us to please contact the office and come to one of our meetings. We are always seeking new volunteers.