Seasons Greetings - St Vincent de Paul Society NSW · Seasons Greetings and sincere thanks to all members, volunteers, donors and staff. 2 UPDATE Dear Vincentians, volunteers and

St Vincent de Paul Society Victoria Inc. Newsletter 267 | November-December 2013

Our annual Christmas appeal has now launched and the theme for this year is ‘100 reasons’.

100 Reasons chronicles the deeds of kindness and goodwill undertaken by the St Vincent de Paul Society’s volunteers and donors during the festive season and, just as importantly, their reason for doing so.

Positive and personal, it’s a fresh approach which acknowledges the varied motivators that inspire people to donate.

In the lead up to Christmas, we will be out in market via traditional platforms, such as TV, radio, press, direct mail, whilst increasing our digital presence via online advertising and through social media sites such as YouTube and Facebook.

The St Vincent de Paul Society is grateful and humbled by the thousands of Victorians who support our fundraising efforts in many different ways.

Last year we raised over $640,000 for our Christmas Appeal and we are hoping to achieve even more this year. We will be able to use these donations to provide practical assistance, food hampers, emotional support to those without and gifts for children so they could participate in the joy of Christmas.

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Our Christmas gift appeal assists people and families in need who, without our support, may not experience a joyful Christmas. We are asking supporters to hold gift appeals in their school or workplace. Following a successful campaign last year, we are also collecting gifts at every Vinnies shop.

If conferences are distributing gifts as part of the Christmas gift appeal they should contact their lo-cal Vinnies shop to organise collection. Otherwise collected gifts will be sent to the warehouse and distributed to other conferences.

For more information see: http://www.vinnies.org.au/Christmas_Gift_Appeal

Seasons Greetingsand sincere thanks to all members, volunteers, donors and staff

U P D AT E2

Dear Vincentians, volunteers and staff

I hope you enjoy this edition of Societynews which will keep you informed about the good works of the St Vincent de Paul Society in Victoria.

Our Christmas Appeal was launched on Friday 8 November 2013. The work of the Society would not be possible without the generosity of our members, volunteers, donors and supporters.

Unfortunately the demands made on our services mean that we have to make more calls on their generosity than we would like but the supportive responses we receive give us the encouragement to continue the Society’s great work to alleviate the suffering of the poor, the marginalised, the underprivileged, the homeless, the destitute, the unemployed, the lonely and anyone who is in need of a friendly presence.

On Tuesday 12 November 2013 we held our Thanksgiving Mass for Deceased Members, Volunteers and Staff who have died over the past year. It was great to see so many people turn up for this annual event.

At the beginning of Mass as each name is read out a candle is brought up to the altar for each member, volunteer and staff who has died during the year.

The procession is very moving and emotional as a family member takes the candle to the altar.

I am pleased to advise that, at the Annual General Meeting of the St Vincent de Paul Society Victoria Inc. held on Saturday 26 October 2013 at Gerald Ward House Box Hill, the amendments to the Rules of St Vincent de Paul Society Victoria Inc. were accepted.

To all Vincentians, volunteers and staff I thank you for your outstanding work and commitment to the St Vincent de Paul Society once again over the past 12 months.

I also take this opportunity to wish you Seasons Greetings and may you have a safe and happy time with your families over this time.

God bless you all

STATE PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Tony TomeState President

Prayers are requested for...Deceased Members, Volunteers, Family and FriendsPat Barrett Ex-member, Colac ConferenceShirley Bonner Ex-member, Colac ConferenceGail D’Cruz Member, Narre Warren ConferenceJohn Griffiths Member, Kew ConferenceMargaret James Member of Airport West ConferencePat Jones Associate member, Wendouree ConferencePatrick O’Brien Ex-member (long term), Warragul ConferenceVeronica O’Donnell Ex-member, Brighton Conference and volunteer, Hampton CentreBeryl Scully Ex-associate member, Syndal Conference and volunteer, Pinewood Centre

To ensure correct acknowledgement please forward any requests for prayers to Philip Mackey by phone on 03 9895 5837 or email [email protected].

Members and friends of the St Vincent de Paul Society are invited to the 17th annual Ozanam Lecture

SUNDAY 23 FEBRUARY 2014 2PM

Australian Catholic University Cathedral Hall 20 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy

Car park available at rear, entry via Young Street, off Victoria Parade. Melway: 2C A12

LECTURE

‘How would Ozanam respond to the social challenges of today?’

Bernie Geary OAM Principal Commissioner, Commission for Children and Young People

RESPONDENT Frank Purcell Goulburn Valley Regional Council President

RSVP Friday 14 February 2014 Phone 03 9895 5935 or email [email protected]

Light refreshments will be served

U P D AT E 3Dandenong Tutor ing ProgramThe Dandenong Tutoring Program has been fortunate to develop some exciting relationships with local youth supporters over the last 12 months and with our student attendance pushing 90, this involvement, plus the increase in numbers to 45 volunteer tutors, is timely to say the least.Through the work of the Nazareth Mini Vinnies cluster, the following six schools have been working together to assist the program: Nazareth College Noble Park, St Justin’s Wheelers Hill, St John Vianney’s Mulgrave, St Elizabeth’s Noble Park, St Gerard’s Dandenong North and St Simon’s Rowville.

We’re also delighted to have recently received an $1,800 donation from Catholic College Bendigo.

Thank you to all of these schools for their generous support. The awareness raising and social responsibility being practiced in these school communities is exemplary and a program visit at the end of the year will have them truly offering a hand of friendship to their peers at the program.

Enthusiasm for the program has not stopped with our Mini Vinnies. Our local youth conferences have treated

our students to ‘kids days out’ and the ‘Vinnies Amazing Race’ and for the end of year celebration, they will be preparing a lunch which will be shared with program students, volunteers and families.

The Vinnies State Youth Team and their supporters also raised an amazing $3,225 for the tutoring program through this year’s youth ball.

Other exciting news at the program includes our first two year 12 students finishing VCE; a bread run and a Medibank Community Fund donation of 200 Kobo e-readers to promote literacy.

We thank all our supporters for their continued efforts and enthusiasm. Your work and contributions provide sound educational assistance to families and help our students to see a brighter future for themselves.

Parents wanting the best for their kids is something that crosses all cultures, languages, generations and financial circumstances.

In the words we hear from program parents regularly... Thank you! Thank you! My kids doing well. They happy here. You do good work.

Michelle Pereira, Coordinator Dandenong Tutoring Program

Vinnies gift cardsVinnies shops now offer gift cards – a fantastic additional offering to our customers young and old. The gift cards can be purchased and used in any Vinnies shop in Victoria.

The gift cards can be any value the customer wishes and the whole amount does not have to be used in one transaction.

U P D AT E

Joan Trevakis receives Kiwanis Service Award for 2013

On Wednesday 9 October 2013, St Vincent de Paul Society member Joan Trevaskis received the McLennan Kiwanis Service Award for 2013 at the Mooroopna Combined Service Clubs Annual Dinner held at the Sir Ian McLennan Centre in Mooroopna.

Joan received the award for her many years of volunteering in the Mooroopna community

including 15 years at the Mooroopna Vinnies shop, the last 11 years as volunteer manager.

Those attending the dinner were Heather Drust, Coralie Corboy, Cecily and Tom Dumaresq and Joan and Bernie Trevaskis representing Mooroopna St Vincent de Paul Society and also present were three other Society members - Kevin Morris, Fay McCrimmon and Ester Janke who were also representing their Service Club, the Mooroopna McLennan Kiwanis Club.

Calendar DatesChristmas Appeal 8 November 2013 - 31 January 2014 Do something about it this Christmas www.vinnies.org.au/dosomething

Office Closure | Festive Season Wednesday 25 December 2013 - Wednesday 1 January 2014 Reopening: Thursday 2 January

2014 Ozanam Lecture Sunday 23 February 2014, 2.00pm Lecturer: Bernie Geary OAM, Principal Commissioner, Commission for Children and Young People Respondent: Frank Purcell, President, Goulburn Valley Regional Council Venue: Australian Catholic University, Cathedral Hall, 20 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy

2014 Vinnies CEO Sleepout SAVE THE DATE: Thursday 19 June 2014

Contributions to Societynews are always welcome.

Email: [email protected] or send to:

The Editor - SocietynewsSt Vincent de Paul SocietyLocked Bag 4800Box Hill Vic 3128

Phone: 03 9895 5800Fax: 03 9895 5850We endeavour to include as many items as possible in each issue.Find Vinnies on Facebook and click ‘l ike’ to stay in touch:

http://www.facebook.com/StVincentdePaulSocietyVictoria

Collingwood soup van celebrates 15 years of serviceThe Society’s Collingwood soup van, commemorating the work of Margaret Oats, will celebrate 15 years of meeting and serving the people of Collingwood and Richmond in December. In that time about 1,000 volunteers have completed about 140,000 hours of service, and have grown to much better understand the effects of disadvantage on the most vulnerable members of those communities.

Many of the volunteers are adult students and under 30s. The lessons they learn will help them influence a more compassionate community response in the future.

About 400 people benefit from the soup van every week – through provision of food and, more importantly, from contact with members of the wider community who treat them with respect. In addition to our staple food of freshly-made sandwiches, we provide lots of fruit and soup made from fresh vegetables. There is generally a whirl of conversation to and fro, and sometimes our 10pm deadline is seriously challenged.

Some of our volunteers have been assisting on the van for more than 10 years, and more than 30 have given five years of service, turning up for a weekly or fortnightly shift throughout the year. They give great leadership to the separate teams which work on each night, but there is always an emphasis on volunteers enjoying the experience, as many a guest from Vinnies can tell from visits to the kitchen and on the rounds.

Well done to all our volunteers over the last 15 years.

Leo Holt, President Collingwood soup van