St. Vincent de Paul
St Vincent de Paul
The St Lawrence O’Toole Conference of the St Vincent de Paul Society is one of the oldest conferences in the United States. Our conference has been active since it was formed in 1865.
We are a group of parishioners joined by the common goal of making life better for those among us in need. We share a desire to ease the pain of poverty, loneliness, hunger, homelessness, and financial desperation.
As a group we organize a women’s shelter for the homeless during the winter months. Our Shelter runs other weekend from November through April. The women are given a hot meal when they arrive, have warm beds to sleep in and are given a breakfast of eggs, toast, cereal and fruit before they leave in the morning. If you’ve volunteered at the shelter and are interested in continuing your ministry this year, or if you’re thinking about joining this ministry and would like more information, please contact Pattie Hughes at the Parish House.
We cook for and serve lunch to approximately 150 hungry neighbors once a month, year round, at a local soup kitchen.
We send a bus full of city children to summer camp each year, where they can enjoy the freedom of walking barefoot in the grass, and swimming along with other children.
We have a trained, certified Red Cross Disaster Response Team. This is an ongoing relationship with the Red Cross, offering advanced training to our team members.
We serve the seniors in the community by offering senior outings to such places as The Milleridge Inn, on Long Island and historic homes in the Hudson Valley.
We also plan seasonal lunches for our seniors at the Parish. Both of these activities are well received by the neighborhood seniors.
The Christmas Angel project is sponsored and organized by the society. The needy parishioners of two local churches receive Christmas gifts donated by our parishioners.
We also organize food drives and toy drives.
Several blood drives are also organized by our conference for the New York Blood Center each year.
Our meetings combine spiritual readings and reflections with the plans for the projects and programs we offer. We always welcome new members. We meet every other Wednesday evening at 7:00 PM at the Parish House.
If you would like to volunteer for any activities, please leave a message for Chris Halem at the Parish House: 212.288.3588.