Shelby County SVDP Vincentian

Volume 2, Number 1. October 2020

Doggone Covid! Since SVDP’s inception, we have had contact with over 700 families. Many of which we have provided services to more than once. SVDP Help Line: 317-395-7027 or shelbycountysvdp@gmail.com.

This is what we paid out to help clients:

These are our Business Expenses:

Dear Lord, Thank you so much for guiding and directing us.

This is what we have received:

We have ~$26,000 in our building fund for ten years down the road. We have no plans to leave our current buildings as they are perfect for us and we thank our landlord, Larry Lux.

Community Participation: With the doggone Covid pandemic it was even more important to have had great cooperation and participation with our fellow Shelby County agencies. In just July and August of 2020; we spent over $11,500 on just Covid-19 related cases. We received two grants from Blue River Foundation: One for $5,000 then a couple of weeks later, one for $10,000. We really appreciated that and hopefully they will consider us later too. Volunteers: I still can’t tell you how many volunteers we have. Sorry. There are many! Without you, we would be nothing. We have home visitors, warehouse workers, pick up people, store personnel, officers, so many. Dear Ladies and Gentlemen Volunteers, If we had to pay salaries to you, NONE of our assistance to the poor would be possible! Thank you for your dedication. You others should join us. It is very fulfilling. No, you do not have to be Catholic to be a Vincentian volunteer. It is easy to sign up: shelbycountysvdp@gmail.com or phone: 317-395-7027. Warehouse: The warehouse is open every FIRST Saturday of each month from 9 am to 11 am to accept your donations. (or by appointment) It is located at 628 Hodell Street, Shelbyville. Please email us and we will send you a paper describing what we accept and what we can’t accept. shelbycountysvdp@gmail.com. Store: We had to shut down the store for a little over 4 months from March to mid-July. We may have to shut down a while during this winter, but we hope not. Please let me be perfectly clear: We never stopped serving our clients during that shut down. We still served each and every one of the clients in all aspects of their needs. Sometimes, while shut down, our volunteers would go in and “shop” for our needy clients and deliver the goods to the client even though the store/warehouse was technically closed. The SVDP Store is now open every Saturday from 10 am to 2 pm. It is located at 424 E. Jackson Street, Shelbyville, right off of Vine Street. It is a long gray building. This store provides income to our mission and provides very high quality merchandise at a very low cost. It is completely run by our volunteers. We do interviews there when we can’t meet clients at their homes. We had to suspend taking care of children while their parents are shopping due to the doggone pandemic. We really hate that! At this time children are not allowed into the store. We still show respect and love for all of our customers. Many folks still think this store is for our clients only. Not true! In fact, we want everyone to come shop with us and become a part of our outreach. I’m telling you; it is fantastic when you see the smile on our clients’ faces when we are able to help them! Please come.

The warehouse/store ladies have made the place a wonderful little shop. We even have a furniture showroom now.

AVERAGE SALES ETC. per week (Just open Saturdays) approximate numbers Total sales: $560.00/wk Clothes: $289.00/wk Number of items: 147 Miscellaneous; (cook ware, bath items, nick-knacks, etc) $189.00/wk 132 Furniture: $90.00/wk 4 Vouchers: $74.00/wk These are goods given to clients in need. The value is much greater than the dollar amount indicated. Customers: 54/week Inclusion: If you would like to be added to our SVDP meetings’ updates list and receive notification of events and special needs requests, please email us at shelbycountysvdp@gmail.com . We don’t have pre-scheduled meetings anymore. Hopefully when the pandemic cools off we will be able to reinstate these wonderful get-togethers where we grow spiritually and make decisions with new friends.

Sign up to work at the store on Saturdays or the First Saturday at the Warehouse

So please click it!

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0D4FACAA2FA0FDC34-shelby1

Or email Anita Johnson at shelbycountysvdpscheduler@gmail.com for help.

Truck Guy! Thanks to Kenny Zauss as he has taken over responsibilities for the SVDP truck.

Secretary: Anne Buening has decided to move “back home” to the Maryland area to be closer to her

family. She has been fantastic and we really appreciate all that she has done and continues to do.

Thank you Anne! We are all going to miss you. Now Anne will be around for a while but sometime in

the near future we will need a new secretary and I would ask that someone contact me (Jim Carrier)

about doing that please.

(Many don’t know that SVDP for our area was Sister’s idea and we thank her for that! Jim)

From Sister Joan Miller:

Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought on January 17, 2018, that we would have made such

great progress with our St. Vincent de Paul Society in just about 3 years. During these three years the

membership of our St. Vincent de Paul Society has made hundreds of house calls and have helped many

more families with the beautiful store. Our St. Vincent de Paul Society is the best I have experienced in

all of my forty-seven years of parish ministry. I feel blessed to be a part of it, even though I cannot

attend very many meetings. I do keep up on what you are doing and I pray that the members will

continue to grow in love of God and Neighbor.

The St. Vincent de Paul Society has certainly helped me to help the people who call for financial help in

many different ways. One lady recently said to me that a few years back she asked for help needing food

and we helped her for which she was so grateful. Now she was in need of more help. I told her we had a

much better way to help her now and was able to give her the 317-395-7027 number and tell her that

someone would be contacting her within 24 hours and maybe sooner. It doesn't take much time from

my day and the people get much better and more help with the St. Vincent de Paul Society. I am so

grateful for and proud of our St. Vincent de Paul Society. Sr. Joan

From Father Michael Keucher:

Dear Friends,

I continue to give thanks to God for the gift of the St. Vincent de Paul Society of Shelby County. During this

time of COVID-19, SVdP has proven to be an indispensable resource for the poor and those in a tough spot.

The Society has come to the rescue for many folks. It was a relief during the quarantine time to have a place

to send folks who called my cell phone, the church phone, or who dropped by.

What is it like to touch the broken Body of Christ? Just ask our Vincentians. Thank you to one and all for

your outstanding service to Jesus. Let us always remember the words of Jesus as recorded by St. Matthew in

his 25th chapter: “Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the

foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to

drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took

care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.”

May God continue to bless the Shelby County Society of St. Vincent de Paul! Many thanks to all who

contribute their time, talent, treasure, and prayers!

Blessings,

Fr. Mike

Dear All, I want to separately thank our officers and managers who (with the exception of Anne) will stay on for another three years. Treasurer: Angela Matney VP from St. V. Church: Paul Pavey VP from St. Joe Church: Teri Mackey Assistant to the Secretary Membership: Judy Miller Home Visiting Managers: Sherry Staehler and her coworker: Clare Delaney Warehouse/Store Manager: Denise Carrier and her coworkers (there are many).

It has been my pleasure to serve you for three years and I want to thank our members for allowing me to serve for another three years. This was voted upon at our last meeting. SVDP rules dictate that I will not be able to serve after this last term so…….please be ready to step up. There will be help for you to start a new adventure. Jim Carrier, President, Shelby County SVDP For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. Matthew 25:35