The Society of St. Vincent de Paul is a lay Catholic organization, inspired by the teachings of this 17th Century saint, and founded circa 1840. Its ongoing Mission is: To live the Gospel message by serving Christ in the poor—with love, respect, justice and joy. The emphasis has always been on personal contact with those who need help.
Holy Rosary’s volunteers continue this 175-year tradition by living the values of the Society. Through visits to our clients in their homes, we listen to their stories, attempt to understand their situations, and strive to assist them wherever possible. To that end, we provide food vouchers, often supplemented by groceries donated by our parishioners, but also, on occasion, help with such things as rent or utility payments. In addition, we make our clients aware of other community-support agencies, and when possible help them develop a path to a better way of living.
With the generous financial support of our parish, our Ministry serves approximately 90 families.
There are further initiatives included in our care:
• For our back-to-school program, we supply backpacks filled with school supplies to those children who, otherwise, could not afford them.
• We make families aware of the Canada Learning Bond (RESP) Programme, a Federal Government initiative to provide children from low-income families with an opportunity to save for post-secondary education. This is a major focus of ours, as we strongly believe that through better education, poverty can be alleviated.
• We assist secondary school graduates who require financial help for their continuing education to apply for grants from the Ozanam Education Fund (a program initiated through the St. Vincent de Paul Ontario Regional Council).
• We partner with The Salvation Army in helping our clients apply for Christmas hampers and gifts for children under 15 years old. For older children we provide gift certificates so they, too, can enjoy a Christmas present.
An exciting new initiative that was introduced in 2014:
A young Vincentian youth group was formed to provide an opportunity for young people to develop their own spirituality, friendship and service. They meet once a month and have already completed a fund-raising activity for poor families in a Third World country. Their enthusiasm is awesome and inspiring—it is such a joy to see them generate ideas to provide service to the parish and to the needy in our community, as well as to enhance their own spirituality.