Parish partnership helps people

By Christina Galeone | CFP Correspondent 

About four or five years ago, retired educator Betty George attended a Christmas luncheon for a local club that she belongs to. For its Christmas charitable giving, the club made a donation to Urban Missionaries of Our Lady of Hope. Its members then toured the Worcester nonprofit’s Little Store. But while the tour was brief, the positive impact the nonprofit and its comprehensive thrift store had on her was lasting. 

Earlier this year, when the Needs Committee member for the Society of St. Vincent de Paul’s Blessed Sacrament Parish Conference participated in a SVdP meeting at which the need for furniture for low-income families was discussed, she remembered the Little Store. 

Mrs. George proposed a partnership with Urban Missionaries that would benefit both the people served by their SVdP chapter – known as a conference – and the nonprofit.  

“What I’m trying to establish is the philosophy behind it; we call it neighbors helping neighbors,” she said of the recent partnership, adding, “They liked the fact that we might be helping the people down the street.”      

The informal partnership between the Blessed Sacrament conference in Worcester and Urban Missionaries consists of the conference collecting and donating gently used clothing and household items to the Little Store. The nonprofit estimates the value of each collection of donations. Then, accordingly, it issues Little Store vouchers, about every other month, to the conference. Mrs. George and other members then distribute the vouchers to the people they serve. They can use them to get furniture, clothing, household items, books and more. 

In the fall, the conference held a fill-the-truck collection drive.  

“It really was a big, big success; we were thrilled,” Mrs. George said. “I know my parish well. A lot of people wanted to donate to Urban Missionaries.”  

Tom Murray, the conference’s president, is equally grateful for the success of the partnership.   

“It’s been beneficial to us,” he said, noting that one couple they were able to help had been transitioning out of homelessness. He added, “We were able to provide them with enough to furnish their apartment.”  

Buoyed by that success, the conference members continue to find ways to give a “hand up” to the people they serve. They’ve recently arranged, through MassHire, to offer free online job search workshops. They’ve also made the workshops available to members of other SVdP conferences who can use the information to advise the people that they serve. 

Just as that Christmas visit to the Little Store had an indelible impact on Mrs. George, the good work that the Blessed Sacrament conference has been doing has had a positive effect on Susan Treveloni, the president of St. Vincent de Paul Worcester, who oversees all the conferences in the Central District of Massachusetts. She appreciates the relationship that the conference has established with Urban Missionaries.  

“It’s great,” she commented. “It’s a good relationship, whereby you’ve got two Catholic nonprofits coming together and working together. That’s always a good thing.”