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SOCIETY OF ST. VINCENT DE PAUL TRANSFIGURATION CONFERENCE |
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“To help the poor and needy.” This sums up the purpose of the Society. The organization is made up of Catholic lay people who have two objectives: to live out Christ's Gospel message in their own lives and to personally service those in need, offering material help as well as the comfort of friendship as Christians. St. Vincent de Paul is a canonized saint who lived in France in the 16th century and was known for his charitable life as well as for founding communities of religious women and men. The present international organization's founder was another Frenchman, Frederick Ozanam, who, in 1833, began a group to help the poor. Our conference began in December, 1994, when the then pastor and a small group of parishioners met and decided to begin helping the poor in an organized way. |
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Our first activity was the collection of food and distribution once a month to a few families in Tarrytown. Today we distribute two or three bags of food and paper products to about 40 families. But we regard our personal contact with those who receive assistance, and the words of friendship and consolation we try to give, as far more important than the material goods we supply. Since then, our activities have increased. We currently:
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A real effort is made to keep our recipients anonymous, though the stories of many of those we encounter would make interesting reading. The contributions that provide us with the means to help the needy come exclusively from parishioners and Society members and a strict accounting is kept and reported monthly to our members. We distribute 100% of the donations we receive to those in need - we pay no “overhead” expenses. All work is done by our members, though we regularly depend on help from our priests, the children of Transfiguration School and other parishioners. Our membership began with about six parishioners, but now numbers about thirty. In 2004, parishioners from St. Theresa's Parish in Sleepy Hollow became associated with us and contribute their monthly food collections to our food pantry for distribution in Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow. Current officers:
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ST. VINCENT DE PAUL SCHEDULE
2009
Month |
Meeting |
Food Pantry Collection |
Packing & Delivery1 |
January |
15 |
17/18 |
19 |
February |
12 |
14/15 |
16 |
March |
12 |
14/15 |
16 |
April |
2 |
4/52 |
6 |
May |
14 |
16/17 |
18 |
June |
18 |
20/21 |
22 |
July |
16 |
18/19 |
20 |
August |
13 |
15/16 |
17 |
September |
17 |
19/20 |
21 |
October |
15 |
17/18 |
19 |
November |
19 |
21/22 |
23 |
December |
10 |
19/20 |
21 |
1Monday morning, directly after 9:00 a.m. Mass
2Weekend prior to Easter Sunday