St. Vincent de Paul Society

The St. Vincent de Paul Society is a worldwide organization of lay men and women which is committed to feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, visiting the sick and other works of compassion.  A rule of the Society states, "No work of charity is foreign to the Society".  It was founded by a twenty year old college student Frederic Ozanam in 1833 in Paris France.  Frederic Ozanam was Beatified by Pope John Paul II during world youth day in Paris on August 22, 1997.  Our namesake and patron saint is the noted, compassionate, 17th century French priest, St. Vincent de Paul, whose feast day is September 27.

In Western New York, more than 90 parishes in the Diocese of Buffalo have conferences with 1,000 members.  These members are involved in the charitable works of the society.  For the past 160 years, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul in Buffalo has served the poor and needy in western New York, by providing food, clothing and financial assistance.  We are the 2nd oldest Council in the U.S. The Diocesan Council of Buffalo operates a retail store and dining facility at their site at 1298 Main Street in Buffalo.  The Society also operates a summer camp in Angola for children 8 to 13 years of age.

Here at St. Paul's, we have approximately 20 members.  We continually collect non-perishable food items, bag them and then distribute them from the church to the hungry of our area twice a month.  From donations to the "poor box" under a portrait of St. Vincent de Paul at the front of the church, we provide supermarket gift cards to allow the hungry to purchase milk, eggs and other perishable items.  This past year we helped feed almost 400 children and over 800 adults.   We collect clothing in our bin located in the church parking lot.  We helped distribute winter coats to 450 children and adults in the recent "Coats for Kids" drive.  We make home visits as needed and  provide vouchers for furniture, clothing etc. to be used at our downtown store. 

Currently we have our meetings the 3rd Wednesday of each month in the St. Joseph room on the 2nd floor of the school at 7:00 P.M.  As our Lord said, "The poor are always with you."  So our mission never ends. 

If you are interested in joining the society or just want more information, please come to one of our meetings or call Frank at 510-9720.