The Society of St. Vincent de Paul of Vancouver Island has two distinct geographic areas, north and south
island.The South Island conferences are centralized through the Social Concern office. The office assists the
conferences by accepting the requests for assistance and ensuring the members are supported in their roles
to assist our neighbours in need.The boundary for south island ends at the Malahat. For more information
about conferences, Click here!
The Society of Saint Vincent de Paul is an international lay organization, founded in Paris in 1833 by Frederic Ozanam and his friends. A Catholic Society, it is open to all those who desire to live their faith in love and service of their neighbour.
People everywhere are called to serve others and to help in anyway they can. The Society gratefully accepts many forms of assistance from the community.
The are lots of ways that you can become involved in assisting those less fortunate in our community:
The Society seeks in a spirit of justice and charity, to help those who are poor, needy or with disabilities.
We assist thousands of individuals with food hampers, clothing and basic household goods, advocacy, and a variety of other services.
The National AGA for the Society will be hosted in Halifax in 2012 from June 6th to June 10th. Registration forms and draft programs are available to download. This AGA is open to all members of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul - please consider making this special trip part of your holiday plans for 2012. If you have any questions please contact the administration office at info@svdpvictoria.com or 250-727-0007.
The Society is looking to partner on an affordable housing initiative that will lead to an expanded thrift store and new social concern office in Sooke.
The District of Sooke has policy supporting an expansion of affordable housing in the area, and SSVP has identified aboriginal and non-aboriginal youth as a population at risk and the potential target group of this project.The initial plan is to use the CMHC funding to do a feasibility study of expanding the current Sooke thrift store and adding a social concern office, with up to 25 units of affordable housing located above. The housing would be “transitional” in nature, for example, providing youth a place to stay after they have left the foster care system and need affordable housing while they gain the necessary skills to enter the job market and become self-sufficient. Stay tuned for more information as this project continues to develop!
Improving Your Social Concern Office
Thursday, August 11th
The Society is looking to make tenant improvements to the interior of the Social Concern Office, a small portion of the Society Thrift Store, and to the entrance at 828 View Street.
We have allocated $25,000 of thrift store profits to this endeavor and hope to supplement this with other funding grants. The goal is to create multi-use spaces and expand the number programs and services that we may provide in this space.Keep an eye for these improvements, they are coming soon!
National AGA 2011 a great success!
Monday, July 4th
The Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, National Council of Canada Annual General Assembly was a great success! With over 200 registered participants and 30 additional guests, Vancouver Island hosted a very event filled three days in June.
We would like to give a special thanks to all the members, volunteers and staff who worked tirelessly to ensure that everyone had the best time possible.Thursday began with workshops and …..
On the day the new Provincial Premier was elected a letter was sent from our Society to Premier Christy Clark outlining Rosalie's Village and the progress to date. We have received a reply from her and look forward to more correspondence from Minister Coleman. Rosalie's Village will be located at 4349 West Saanich Road in Victoria. If you would like to read the letters they are attached.
All we need now is for BC Housing to approve construction funding.Through our outreach work .....
The 1st meeting of the North Island Particular Council was held in Port Alberni on Saturday, February 26th, 2011. Bill Duncan of St. Peter's Conference in Nanaimo was elected to the position of President. Bill appointed Scotty MacLaren from Our Lady of Guadalupe, Campbell River to the position of Vice President, Dorothy Taschuk, Notre Dame Conference in Port Alberni to the position of Treasurer and Claude Bedard, Christ the King Conference in Courtenay to the position of Secretary.
On behalf of the members of the Society - Congratulations!Pictured are Claude Bedard, Scotty MacLaren, Bill Duncan and Dorothy Taschuk.
Your donation to the Society during 2010 has impacted the lives of so many. We are so grateful to be part of a community that serves each other with compassion and understanding.
In 2010 the Society received over 23,835 requests for emergency assistance. We distributed $328,222 in food to our neighbours in need through the Social Concern program. Over 56% of that food was donated to the Society through food drives, local schools, parishes and individuals. In addition, with your help, the Society offers programs that give a helping hand up such as a work training program, life skills training program, women's day and family support programs, free income tax preparation and advocacy for those in need.Your contribution is very much appreciated and on behalf of those we serve - we thank you!
World Food Day Awareness Walk
Friday, August 20th
On October 15th, 2010 over 1200 Island Catholic School students joined the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul and walked to raise awareness for those in need. Also joining in the walk was the Bishop of Victoria, the Superintendent of Island Catholic Schools and our own President , Mary Spencer.
The food drive raised over 6 tons of food for those in need. All schools walked in their local areas and the food raised went back into the local community. In Victoria the food was distributed through the SSVP Social Concern office, in Duncan and Chemainus the food went to their local food banks. Special thanks to the teachers and parents of the Catholic Schools - without their support this would not have been possible.Photo Gallery Please have a look at the recent video's on the right hand side of the home page for more on the World Food Day activities.
Feel free to watch some of these informative videos to get a better understanding of how the Society operates.
You can also visit out Media and Publications section for even more information!
Watch more videos in our Publications and Media section, or visit our Photo Gallery!
