St. Albert the Great Ministry Overview – Society of St. Vincent de Paul
MISSION:
The Society of St. Vincent de Paul (SSVP) is an international Catholic organization whose mission is: To live the Gospel message by serving Christ in the poor with love, respect, justice and joy.
VALUES:
- See Christ in anyone who suffers
- Come together as a family
- Have personal contact with the poor
- Help in all possible ways
IN OUR PARISH
The SATG conference of SSVP serves people in our neighborhood experiencing poverty. We serve by providing food hampers, financial support, and occasionally household items for those in need throughout the year, and with a special food hamper and gift program for Christmas. We collect food through food drives and donations, and when required do our own shopping with our team of bargain hunters. We are blessed to have strong support of financial donations from our parishioners as well. Members try to respond to requests for furniture and other household items from spare items we and our friends might have, although we have no ability to stock those items. We do home visits with our families to share the love of Christ and to ensure support goes where it is needed most. We meet once a month to plan and discuss the duties of our Society. We have about 80 members in our conference.
We serve in our parish communities of McKenzie Lake, McKenzie Towne, Copperfield, New Brighton, Douglasdale, Douglas Glen, Cranston, Auburn Bay, Mahogany, Seton, and in our adopted communities of Penbrooke, and Applewood.
Our community of schools strongly supports us, operating several food drives throughout the year, and with food, gifts, and volunteers for our Christmas hamper program. Our schools include St. Albert the Great, St. John Henry Newman, Monsignor Smith, Christ the King, Prince of Peace, Divine Mercy, St. Isabella, Our Lady of the Rosary, St. Marguerite, St. Gianna, Bishop O’Byrne and All Saints.
2021 Results (2020 in brackets)
919 children and 1016 adults served (923 children and 1001 adults)
534 food hampers delivered, including 190 at Christmas (507 and 170)
3369 volunteer hours (2840)
The combined retail value of the food hampers and financial supports was estimated at $180,000 for 2021.
99% of funds go to the poor. Administration costs average about 1% for our conference.
CONTACT:
If you wish to join the SATG conference of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, or if you know someone who needs help, please contact the Parish Office at 403 257 6054 . If you’d like to make a donation, we accept e-transfers at svdp.satg.donations@gmail.com (please include your name and address for a tax receipt), or envelopes are available in the church narthex.