District Council of Madison, Inc. – Society of St. Vincent de Paul

Helping Our Neighbors In Need

Autumn 2014

Vincentian Charity News

Hearts for service Certainly, our mission depends on the service of many people who are older, retired and have the time to devote to serving people in need. Increasingly, however, we also find that Dane County young people – despite busy academic, work and social schedules – often have great hearts for service. From the many young volunteers in our busy food pan-try to UW-Madison pharmacy students helping in our Charitable Pharmacy to youthful members of our Society making home visits to families in need, young people are a vital and growing part of our mission of local charity. “I think young people are drawn to our work for the same reasons oth-ers are,” said Gayle Westfahl, Member Services Coordinator for the Society in Dane County. “They’re attracted by the opportunity to grow through ser-vice, friendship and spirituality. They seek to understand the struggles others go through and how their own gifts can contribute to providing help.”

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T heir hoodies read “est.r1833.” And that’s fitting.

That’s the year when students barely older than members of our Youth Ser-vice Council (pictured above at a Septem-ber planning retreat) began what soon be-came the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. The Society was founded by six Parisian university students – with guidance from some “older” mentors (one was all of 39) – to put their faith into action on behalf of people struggling with poverty. Our Society’s principal founder, Fred-eric Ozanam (top left), turned 20 on the day he and his friends – during the time many know best from “Les Misérables” – first met as the “Conference of Char-ity.” They would later take as patron the great 17th century French priest and “Apostle of Charity,” St. Vincent de Paul. While still relatively young, the founders saw their organization and its good work spread around the world.

Youthis not

wastedon theyoung

College students started our Society and its mission of

helping people whoare poor & suffering. Young people today

continue to play vital roles in the work of St. Vincent de Paul.

A car wash our Youth Service Council held June 7 raised $270 for pool passes &

swimsuits for our transitional-housing families.

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Vincentian Charity News – Autumn 2014

Youth Service Council formedSince early this year, Gayle has fa-

cilitated development of a Youth Service Council of Dane County high school students who have banded together to grow through Vincentian service. With support from St. Vincent de Paul youth efforts around our region – in Waukesha, Grafton, Marinette and the Twin Cities, for example – Gayle has overseen the group’s growth to about 20 young people who applied to represent the following area schools and churches so far:

• Blessed Sacrament, Madison• Cathedral Parish, Madison• Christ the King, McFarland• Edgewood High School, Madison• Our Lady Queen of Peace, Madison• St. Bernard, Middleton• Good Shepherd, Madison• Sacred Hearts, Sun Prairie • St. Ambrose Academy, Madison• St. Dennis, Madison• St. John the Baptist, Waunakee, & St. Mary of the Lake, Westport• St. Maria Goretti, Madison

Youth Service Council activities have included mounting a fundraising car wash, providing goodies for our hous-ing-program residents, conducting a clothing drive and working in our Lacy Food Pantry Garden. Council meetings are held monthly to plan efforts support-ing St. Vincent de Paul’s local charity. Council members take plans back to the parishes and high schools that members represent and then work to involve other young people in these projects. (For more information, contact Gayle at 442-7200, Ext. 440, or gayle@svdpmadison.org.)

Many other youth roles Our Youth Service Council isn’t our only youth-focused effort. At UW-Mad-ison’s St. Paul University Catholic Cen-ter, a St. Vincent de Paul member group (what we call a “conference”) has been in place for decades. Members of this student-based group conduct service projects, fundraisers and even home vis-its to help people in need. Many students from the UW-Madi-son School of Pharmacy volunteer in our Charitable Pharmacy to help meet medi-cation needs among the uninsured. Four “Summer Scholars” work through the time when other students are scarce. The Cathedral Parish St. Vincent de Paul Conference has been rejuvenated in recent years. An influx of commit-ted young adults has driven conference growth in membership and service. Edgewood College and UW-Madison provide many volunteers who serve in ways ranging from helping at our food pantry and pantry garden to making vid-eos that tell our story. Other acts of gen-erosity by youth from preschool age up are too numerous to list. Some effects of generous service are evident, however, in insights young Vincentians share here:

Tia Rashke, Middleton High School Student & Youth Service Council Member “I am grateful for this opportunity to not only grow in my faith but put that faith into action. … It could take as lit-tle as a few pool passes for the summer or an ice cream sundae for the people at St. Vinny’s shelter programs to make an impact. It is the small things that let someone know they are cared for.”

Yoli Wojdyla, UW-Madison Undergraduate& Member of St. Paul SVdP Conference “My involvement in the Society of St. Vincent de Paul has played a crucial role in my college experience. When I first joined the Society, I learned that service, spirituality and friendship were the building blocks of a Vincentian com-munity, and after my participation in St. Vincent de Paul, I realized how much of an impact those three elements made.”

Frank Quinn, Edgewood High School Student & Youth Service Council Member “There are many things that I have taken out of SVdP. The biggest of all is the obvious work and care for others. It’s because of this that I actually have con-sidered – heavily, I might add – joining the Peace Corps after college. I guess you can say I caught the fever of service.”

Tom Dobbins, UW-Madison Graduate Student& President of St. Paul SVdP Conference “Our conference ... helping at the food pantry has always been a good way to meet those in need and has helped me to understand and relate to them as people who are just like me. … Conver-sations with our clients have done a lot to make the problem of poverty a per-sonal one involving real people instead of an abstract issue.” Ben Emmel, UW-Madison Graduate Student & President of Cathedral Parish SVdP Conference “I’ve grown in my understanding of the needs of those around us. … Each time I go on a home visit, I’m reminded of the blessings in my own life – but at the same time, I feel compelled to give even more, because the need is so great.”

Jen Emmel, Special Education Teacher & Vice President of Cathedral Parish SVdP Conference “Our community includes people who are in need, those facing debt or evic-tion, the homeless – many who have lost their luck or place in society. SVdP gives you a real way to be involved in their lives and help them get back on their feet. … Being a part of SVdP has helped me to judge less and listen more.”

Coordinators Yoli Wojdyla & Rachel Hudsonserve as St. Vincent de Paul liaisons to the service coordinators at St. Paul University Catholic Center.

Young Vincentians Ben & Jen Emmel were married at St. Patrick Church Aug. 9.

Helping Our Neighbors In Need

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Give online: www.svdpmadison.org

The sign along the street is up, and on Oct. 2 we’ll start collecting donations of gently used goods at 1110 W. Main. That will help stock what will soon be our great, new Sun Prairie St. Vinny’s Thrift Store. This location will be our seventh store in Dane County – and by far the largest among them. We’re working hard to open the store sometime in November. (And by spring 2015, we also plan to complete expansion of our Odana Road store.)

Coming soon to Sun Prairie!

Dear Friends,

Can we prepare future leaders who will look beyond themselves and help their neighbors in need? Many institutions encourage young people to participate in “service projects.” They often volunteer here at St. Vincent de Paul on that basis. This introduction to service should be only the start of encouraging members of the next gen-eration to live generously in giving from their precious time, their ample talent and even their limited treasure. Our young volunteers highlighted in this newsletter are bringing new ideas, youthful energy and hope for the future to this organization. It was the youthful enthusiasm of six Pari-sian college students that created the Society of St. Vincent de Paul in 1833. Today, the Society they started works to help thousands of people in need daily in 149 countries around the world. We look to build on the heritage of our young founders by fully engaging young people as participants and leaders in every aspect of our work today. When he was 23 years old, our founder, Frederic Ozanam, wrote another young friend that, ...

“Charity must never look behind it, but always forward, because the number of its past benefits is always

very small and the present and future miseryit must comfort is infinite.”

Often we use this newsletter to look back at what we have accomplished. Ozanam was correct, however; the needs of the future will be even greater. Fortunately, we have attracted tal-ented and enthusiastic young people to join us and to carry our mission of helping our neighbors in need into the future. Let’s continue to encour-age and support their efforts.

Sincerely,

Ralph MiddlecampExecutive DirectorRaalph Midddle a p

When charity looks forward

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Our pharmacy depends on them!Students from the UW-Madison School of Pharmacy have been a crucial source of high-skilled help for operation of our Charitable Pharmacy since it opened last year. Above, UW SOP students Robert Lor, Jane Wu, Erica Bauer & Jenny Liao join SVdP Service Center Director Chris Kane (behind sign) in helping meet medication needs of patients at the Aug. 9 free C.A.R.E. Clinic at the Alliant Center in Madison. Student Pharmacist Jean Doh (left) volunteers at our Charitable Pharmacy’s prescription-filling station.

District Council of Madison, Inc.Society of St. Vincent de PaulPO BOX 259686MADISON WI 53725-9686

Address Service Requested

2033 Fish Hatchery Road • P.O. Box 259686 • Madison, WI 53725-9686 • (608) 442-7200 • www.svdpmadison.orgh h d d d d

The District Council of Madison Inc. – Society of St. Vincent de Paul is a Catholic lay organization in which members join together in friendship to grow spiritually by providing person-to-person services to people who are in need, suffering or forgotten. Sales of donated goods at Madison-area thrift stores help fund the charitable work of the Society in Dane County. At its Center for Vincentian Charity in Madison, the Society operates a large customer-choice food pantry and a charitable pharmacy; distributes vouchers for bedding, furniture and clothing; and supplies other forms of emergency aid to local people in need. The Society offers programs that provide housing for men, women and children in Madison. These and all other services provided by the Society are offered without regard to the religious affiliation or beliefs of those assisted. The Society of St. Vincent de Paul is a nonprofit, tax-exempt charitable organization.

District Council of Madison, Inc.

Society of St. Vincent de PaulYour gift at work can help us here. The Society of St. Vincent de Paul is part of the United Way of Dane County funding umbrella for public-sector campaigns, but we’re not a United Way agency. For those em-ployed in Dane County by the state, University of Wisconsin or UW Hospital & Clinics, St. Vincent de Paul is a designa-tion option – #1221 in the “Partners in Giving” Campaign. If your workplace takes part in the broader United Way of Dane

County campaign, please consider writing in St. Vincent de Paul on your form, as shown at right. Your support is needed, and we’d appreciate it!

“Society of St. Vincent de Paul,” written in as above on a United Way form, will provide funds we’ll use to help Dane County neighbors in need.

How Young People Help