For many years, Immaculate Conception parish has addressed the needs of the people in our community through the St. Joseph’s fund. People with needs would call the parish office and then the pastor would determine how much they could be given, based on the need and on how much was available in the St. Joseph’s fund. This continued as Immaculate Conception and St. James became a collaborative.  

As I mentioned last year, I want to expand our response to the needs of the members of our community, primarily by establishing a St. Vincent DePaul conference for our collaborative.  

Over the coming weeks you’ll see the St. Joseph’s fund boxes in our churches relabeled as St Vincent de Paul. Also, if you’d like to make donations to help our collaborative’s St. Vincent de Paul conference in its ministry please write St. Vincent de Paul in the memo line of the check or on the envelope instead of St. Joseph’s fund.  

If you are interested in becoming a member of our collaborative’s St. Vincent DePaul conference, please stay tuned for more information in the coming weeks.  
Please not that the establishment of a St. Vincent DePaul conference in our collaborative does not affect our St. Anthony’s Free Market, which many of you so generously support. It will continue to be a vital and important part of the outreach of our collaborative. – Fr. Carlos  
 

First, (and most importantly), pray for us, and for all our neighbors in need.
Everybody wants to help, but it is difficult to know where to begin.

St. Vincent de Paul once said that the poor suffer less from a lack of generosity than from a lack of organization.

Pray that we will find them, that we can help them, and that God will bless us in our works.

Second, please support our work with donations.
It’s important to remember that the poor don’t only live in distant places. They live right next door.
You see them every day, whether you know it or not; on your street, in the grocery store, maybe sitting next to you at church.

The poor look a lot like you and me.

Please donate whatever your heart leads you to give and whatever your budget permits. Your gift directly supports neighbors in need in your community keeping the lights on, feeding a family, and perhaps avoiding eviction.

Third, if you feel called join us.

If you seek to live your faith through works, to “love God,” as St. Vicent de Paul said, “with the strength of your arms..”, please consider joining us.

We serve the poor in charity, but we are not an “agency.”
While financial assistance is important, it is even more important to serve personally, showing our neighbors that God has not abandoned them, even in their darkest hours. He wants to help, loving them so much that He sends us to serve, to comfort, and pray with them.