St Ann's SVP
The St Ann's Conference of the St Vincent-de-Paul Society was founded in 1980. The purpose of the Society is to serve The Lord through charitable works. In Deepcar and Stocksbridge this normally takes the form of visiting people - usually elderly people - who live alone. Several of us are Eucharistic Ministers and take Holy Communion to Catholics who we visit, but the Society will help anyone in need regardless of their religious faith. Similarly there is no need for members of the SVP to be Catholic.
The SVP has limited funds, and because most of our clients are not financially hard up, we often make contributions to charitable bodies like St Wilfred's Centre for the Homeless, and the Carmel Care Centre. We also send about £120 each year to our twinned SVP Conference in India where there is extreme poverty. Most of our money comes from the members themselves, but we are helped by the tea money taken after Sunday Mass.
Members of the SVP are: -
- Don Aitken
- Paul Cotterill
- John Donnelly
- Mary Graham
- Joe Maloney
- Brian Tonner
This list shows three things :-
- The SVP needs more members - six is not enough
- The SVP needs women members - there is just one at present
- The SVP needs younger members - The youngest member is 55+ If St Ann's SVP does not get younger people to join, it will fade away within the next ten years.
The SVP meets every other Monday at 4pm in the Sacristy at St Ann's Church. If you would like to join, either come to a meeting or speak to one of the members. You will be very welcome - membership of the SVP need only take up about a couple of hours each week.
To find out more about the SVP and it's work, visit the St Vincent de Paul Society Website.