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Volunteer With Us
Food Bank volunteers are needed to work in our pantry, at the front desk or in the office.
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday
10:15am - 2:30pm
Please contact Felicia@svdpaul.org or call 360-377-2929 ext 7
Thrift Store Volunteers are needed Monday through Friday, anytime between 9am and 6pm.
Please contact Debra@svdpaul.org
or call360-377 2929 ext. 8
Conversation with a Community Leader:
SVdP Bremerton Executive Director, Joe Crain
Produced by Leadership Kitsap for BKAT Bremerton-Kitsap Access Television. Hosted by David Walters.
SVdP Bremerton Board President, Lin Krell
May Reflection
REFLECTION: OUR LABOR OF LOVE
MAY 2024
On the very first page of our Rule of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, you will find a truly remarkable statement: “No work of charity is foreign to the Society.” [Rule, Pt. I, 1.3]
All modern communities thrive by specialization: farmers farm, builders build, writers write, and so on. Within the community of charitable and philanthropic organizations, there also tends to be specialization: shelters for the homeless, food pantries for the hungry, utility assistance, legal aid – the list, especially in this generous nation, is nearly endless.
The Society of St. Vincent de Paul also has a specialty, but it is the charity, not the works. Our service, our works, are the means towards growth in holiness; we’re called to see the face of Christ in those we serve, to fulfill His teaching, and to draw others to Christ through our example of charity.
None of these works stems from an ambition merely to provide greater amounts of material assistance, but from a commitment to love our neighbors as ourselves.
We’re not, after all, the Society of Rent Assistance, or of Groceries For The Hungry; we are the Society of St Vincent de Paul, called by the example of our patron to “love God with the strength of our arms and the sweat of our brows.” [CCD XI:32] Charity itself is not a work; charity is love. No work offered in love is foreign to us.
On May 9th, we honor St. Marie de Marillac, who along with St. Vincent de Paul, co-founded the Company of the Daughters of Charity, a community of women which remains dedicated to serve the poor with humility, simplicity, and charity. Louise de Marillac said: “Above all, be very gentle and courteous toward your poor. You know that they are our masters and that we must love them tenderly and respect them deeply. It is not enough for these maxims to be in our minds; we must bear witness to them by our gentle and charitable care.” (Gibson and Kneaves, Praying with Louise, p.. 72)
In the spirit of Louise, we ask ourselves: in what ways does our Conference serve the poor today…in gentleness… loving them tenderly and respecting them deeply?
Closing Prayer:
Compassionate Christ, Louise ministered to the needs of your people,
-give us courage to walk in her footsteps.
You inspired Louise with a great love for the poor and the abandoned,
-grant us the grace to serve with the same spirit of love.
You inspired Louise with compassion for the destitute and sorrowful,
-may we love them tenderly and respect them deeply.
May the Vincentian Family continue to grow throughout the world,
-so that the poor will know God’s love in a tangible way. Amen
In service,
Lin Krell
Conference President
SVdP Bremerton Executive Director, Joe Crain
May Reflection
St. Vincent de Paul, Bremerton has been serving our community since 1937! In that time, our special services have fully matured into providing the essential basic human needs of Food,
Clothing, and Shelter within our Resource Center, Thrift Store, and Women & Children shelter respectively. Through these vehicles of charity, we have become experts in loving those in our community who may be the most marginalized or underserved. This is true religion. As James wrote in chapter 1 vs. 27, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” Our services here have transcended traditional “work” as we know it. We learn daily how to love our community well through the faces and lives we see as they receive fresh clothes, enjoy a safe place to sleep, or take home nutritious food to prepare their next meal.
As we progress in our campus revitalization project, we will be relocating our Assistance Office & Food Bank (Resource Center) to 1117 N Callow (our old Thrift Store Building down the street) at the beginning of June. As part of our move, we will be transitioning to providing a nutrition-based, farmer's market style shopping experience for the families we serve. We will continue to offer the same financial assistance services, 24-Hour Packs, and an improved grocery selection.
We invite you to come to the Dist. 4 Town Hall meeting on May 2nd (5-6:30pm) at Bremerton High School to learn more details about the impending development of our property and expansion of our services!
Consider how you can get involved with our campus revitalization. Visit our website (see link below) to see how you can make a difference through the dynamic charity opportunities already established here at St. Vincent de Paul, Bremerton. Our new Assistance Office location will require additional volunteers to operate! Are you interested in joining our volunteer team? Please give us a call at 360-377-2929 ext. 7
During Volunteer Week (4/21-4/27), we pause to honor those who sacrifice their time, energy, and talents to the service of charity on a daily or weekly basis with us! Thank you! Volunteers are the lifeblood of St. Vincent de Paul! Consider joining us here at St. Vincent de Paul where we can show our commitment to love our neighbors as ourselves.
Keep up with what is happening here on our website: St. Vincent de Paul Bremerton (svdpbremerton.com)
Don’t forget to “Like” us on Facebook at:
https://www.facebook.com/stvincentdepaulbremerton/
Facebook is one of the easiest locations for us to announce large sales and post updates concerning donations so follow us there for updates!
Respectfully,
Joseph Crain
Executive Director
