Agency - St Vincent De Paul Council Of Seattle/King County

Inspired by Gospel values, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, a Catholic volunteer organization, leads individuals to join together to offer person-to-person service to the poor and the suffering. And in doing this work, we all enrich our lives spiritually.

Description:
St. Vincent de Paul of Seattle/King County was started in our area in 1920. We have 53 Catholic Parish-based neighborhood volunteer conference groups providing person-to-person in-home visits to people needing help. We prevent eviction, hunger, utility shut-off, and more. About 95 cents of every dollar in donations goes directly to people. We serve people of every faith, religion, color, creed, sex, and national origin.

Volunteers are the foundation of our operations, donating over 121,000 hours of time in 2010. We manage five thrift stores and serve the equivalent of 1.6 million meals to neighbors through our food bank operations. We have been an active recycler since 1926, and in 2010 we reused or recycled 8,000,000 lb. of materials. St. Vincent de Paul of Seattle/King County is part of a global organization that serves millions of people in 142 nations.

History:
While our organization started in France in 1833, we came to the US in 1845 and started serving the poor in Seattle in 1920. In that year we started our first all-volunteer neighborhood conference in North Seattle at St. Benedict Parish.

Frederic Ozanam was a 20-year old French college student when he founded St. Vincent de Paul. He and a colleague were reviving a dormant organization called “The Conference of History.” The group met on Saturdays to discuss various topics, everything but politics. At one of their meetings, a fellow student challenged Ozanam and other practicing Catholics about their work for the poor. The student said the Catholic Church had done much good work in the past, but "what do you do now?" A few days later, Ozanam called a meeting of a few friends and on that date---April 23, 1833, the Conference of Charity was started. In a short time, they changed their name to The Society of St. Vincent de Paul in honor of their Patron Saint.

What grew out of our early global and US service to the poor was an organizational strategy that still fuels and powers our organization today. The strategy is simple. We are organized into neighborhood conferences around our Catholic Parishes. Our conferences are made up of Parishioners and other local residents who want to help neighbors. This approach is unique to our worldwide organization in two ways. First, we help people on the spot with person to person service in their home. Second, in doing this work, our lives are enriched because we are helping someone in need.

Currently, we have 53 Parish-based Conferences (volunteer groups) in neighborhoods throughout Seattle and King County. And our volunteer conferences have over 700 members who work to serve the poor.

We have 51,000 all-volunteer neighborhood conferences with 750,000 members delivering services to the poor 365/24/7. Our assistance may take the form of intervention, consultation, or neighbor emergency survival assistance, or programs to help people become self-sufficient. We work in 145 countries on five continents.

An essential precept of the Society's work is to provide help while conscientiously maintaining the confidentiality and dignity of those we serve. We are strong advocates for those who are defenseless or voiceless. The list of services we provide globally and in the US is endless. No work of charity is foreign to the Society. To quote our patron, St. Vincent de Paul: "Charity is infinitely inventive."

In the US we have 4,637 Conferences and a total of 146,365 members. Our 2009 annual report totals are based on information from 352 Councils and 3,565 conferences across the USA.

In 2009, 146,365 volunteer members of served 14,582,339 people. They gave 7,659,373 hours of volunteer service. We made 644,000 home visits, plus more than 910,000 visits to prisons, hospitals, elderly, and to others in need.

We obtained jobs for more than 8,000 people, gave travelers aid to 83,000, and provided referrals for 382,000 people.

Expenditures in service to the poor totaled $329,447,590. In kind value of food, clothing and furniture totaled an estimated $80 million. The total value of our services across the US is more than half a billion dollars.

Contact people:

Steve Knipp, Volunteer Manager, (phone), (email) Suzanne Metcalf, Volunteer Coordinator, (phone), (email)

Address:

5972 4th Avenue S Seattle, WA 98108-3208 (See a map)

Directions:

Exit I-5 at Michigan. From the exit ramp, turn right on Michigan. Turn right at the stop light at 4th Avenue S. The Food Bank is 2 blocks north of Michigan on the right (East) side of 4th Avenue S.   Nearest Bus Stop: 23 & 124, 2 minute walk