While one team armed with buckets and rags took all of the non-perishable items off the shelves and gave the shelves a good wipe down, another group cleaned the insides and outsides of the refrigerators and freezers in the food pantry.  Yet another group worked with rented carpet cleaning machines to clean the carpet in the food pantry, as well as, the family support center. 

The largest group, by far, was the cleaning group; however, the very dedicated group of painters covered over bright blue and lavender walls with a fresh coat of cream colored paint, giving the family support center a cleaner and brighter look.

The autotrader.com group helped us immensely with a project that we never could have completed on our own providing a much needed spruce up for the Family Support Center and Client Choice Food Pantry. We are very grateful for all of the different corporate, school, businesses and other groups who come to St. Vincent de Paul to assist us in accomplishing our mission.

This morning 14 students from California arrived on St. Vincent de Paul Atlanta’s doorstep to volunteer. 

Part of the Alternative Winter Break program for the University of California Santa Barbara, they arrived ready and excited to serve. Each student applied to participate. Of the 80 applications submitted, just these 14 were accepted.

The students belong to a volunteer organization called the Community Affairs Board. The AS/UCSB Community Affairs Board (CAB) is an official board of the Associated Students Legislative Council and is comprised of active students who work to bring the campus and community together through service.

The AS/UCSB Community Affairs Board (CAB), UCSB’s Volunteer Action Center, is dedicated to enhancing the educational experience of all UCSB Students by providing information and easy access to community service work. Through a wide range of projects and community programs, CAB seeks to augment classroom experiences, create opportunities for career exploration, connect UCSB to the community in a meaningful way, and promote the ethics of public service. This is service learning at its best.

The students arrived in Atlanta on Dec. 12 at the same time the frigid weather arrived. They have volunteered with several other nonprofits throughout the week and capped off their visit with SVdP.

While at the Conference Support Center, some of the students worked in the warehouse hanging donated clothing, sorting shoes and household items. Others worked in the Family Support Center, Client Choice Food Pantry stocking the shelves and organizing the food. They left SVdP feeling like they had a made a difference and we at SVdP who met them and worked with them felt restored and inspired by their selfless service to people they will never meet.  What a blessing!

Serving Latte of Love, Hope and Community

Starbucks is a favorite, if not a daily, stop for my sister, Peg, and I.  Knowing this, Sandra called St. Vincent de Paul on Thursday, September 24, to take a case:  A woman was found living in her car in the parking lot outside a local Starbucks. I mention the date because what followed has been a whirlwind of love, charity, and community action.

This Starbucks is always busy with a variety of customers from every ethnic and religious background; all ages.  Mothers with infants, tables of people playing cards, and others just gathering to discuss and solve world problems.  Some of the “regulars” know everyone and others just wave at familiar faces as they leave with their purchases.   Some employees even know our “drink preferences”.   This is the Community that reached out to help this woman.

By the time we met with our client at Starbucks on Friday, her story was known throughout the store.  One customer had already provided Thursday and Friday nights’ lodging for her.  Others had offered money.  Peg and I had our “private home visit” at a table outside the store.  Our client turned out to be a homeless woman who had been living in her car for 5 weeks and hadn’t eaten in 5 days.  Her story was not unlike others we have heard:  divorce, illness, accidents, etc. leading to loss of employment, eviction, nowhere to turn, and too ashamed to ask for help.  Unlike other cases, she was raised, educated and, until recently, lived in Dunwoody.  “Regulars” knew her when she would stop on her way to work to get drinks for the hospice patient she was taking care of. Others knew her from the Jewish Community.  She was one of us and the Dunwoody Starbucks’ Community went into action to help her.

A “core group” of people took charge.  Immediately, everyone was on their cell phone or BlackBerry finding resources to help her.  Within a couple of hours a plan took shape.  All Saints SVdP provided lodging in an extended stay hotel for one week and gave her Kroger cards.  The Jewish Community began organizing food and finding doctors willing to evaluate her health.  Other Starbucks customers began collecting laundry supplies, quarters and other staples she would need and All Saints SVdP took them to her.

By Friday, Oct 2, she had been seen by a doctor with a scheduled follow-up appointment.  This doctor arranged for her to be seen by a pulmonary specialist….both pro-bono.  She was given samples of medicine.  She is looking better and eating well. She’s been to the Jewish Family & Career Services to see what services were available to her and was given food from their pantry.  Maureen, from All Saints SVdP, gave us clothes to give her. Her health is improving, her spirits hopeful and she’s feeling better about herself.  Emails and meetings at Starbucks have kept everyone updated on her progress. This is Community action at its best!

We have not and will not solve all her problems.  That is not our goal.  We just wanted to give immediate and short term help.  We also wanted to direct her to resources that will lead to a future of self-sufficiency.  This experience has shown me, once again, what God expects from each of us:  To Help One Another.  This is what life is all about. 

To the wonderful Dunwoody Starbucks Community…..thanks for including us.   I lift my tall Pumpkin Spice Latte to ALL of you!

While looking for jobs and better opportunities for my family and myself, I found St. Vincent de Paul Society where I am now volunteering. My past experience with Language and Culture facilitation, Program coordination, ESL teaching, French/English interpreting/translations and other experience were all conducive to my volunteering at the Society of St. Vincent de Paul Conference Support Center.

I came from Burkina Faso, West Africa, where I grew-up in a St. Vincent de Paul Parish; my 9-year-old son is name Vincent de Paul. I have also found the best in many human beings on the road to becoming useful and helpful to others. Indeed the rule of the Vincentians is to make personal contact with those who suffer and direct services of the marginalized, their basic work. The final objective of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul is to grow together, spiritually, morally and humanly. Every time I step into the Society of St Vincent de Paul’s premises in Atlanta (Chamblee Tucker Road), I pray the Lord to continue making this place a solid rock for all those coming from hard places, I pray to the Lord to allow his glory to be revealed in every person I meet, every activity I’m going through, data entry, setting up donated appliances, folding envelopes… and I pray to my Lord to make me new again, to give me the means to be more helpful to people.

My job search has been challenging. It’s difficult to go through a lot of applications and sometimes to be told that you’re not the best match for the position, when you know deep in your heart that you have potential to be taken into account.

After four months of job seeking, I filed about 80 applications, from which I received about 10 non-matching notifications, 10 in progress notifications, 10 interviews and 50 silent responses. It sounds like an adventure. Actually there is no need to go into a no man’s land, in the middle of nowhere, in a remote jungle to seek adventure. Adventure nowadays is anytime you click on a “apply now” icon without knowing definitely where it will lead you; adventure today is when you cross the threshold of your door (when you have any) without expecting the road to take you to any store you can’t afford because you’re penniless, or bring you to any hospital you can’t visit because you’re dime less.

I do believe we’re in the right place, where the American Dream is still possible, where we can move from square one to the top of the mountain. The right people are those who believe in this dream and who struggle to find opportunities to achieve their dream. The right people at the right place, is it not a perfect match? I also believe that when God hears the cries of a captive, he assigns a deliverer.

God Bless You!

Jean