View of St. Mary's from Clapham Park Road

See full-size image of St. Mary's from Long Pond, Clapham Common

SOCIETY OF ST VINCENT DE PAUL (SVP)

A conference of the SVP has worked in St. Mary's for over 100 years, caring for local people. Today, we:

• Visit sick, lonely and house-bound people regularly;
• Help families meet unexpected but necessary expenses;
• Provide and deliver food parcels at Christmas and when needed;
• Help to find and deliver furniture and clothing;
• Provide the festive food for St. Mary's Senior Citizens Christmas party;
• Support refugees living in Clapham with advice, language tuition and travel expenses to school/college;
• Decorate the chapel at Brixton Prison with flowers at Christmas and Easter and make posies for inmates to take back to their cells;
• Give chocolates and eggs to inmates at Christmas and Easter;
• Donate to Trinity Hospice and the local care home run by the Little Sisters of the Poor;
• Collect parishioners donations;
• Attempt to respond positively to any other needs;
• Support an SVP conference in India which does all the above as well as build houses for their Senior Citizens, run a blood transfusion bank and an animal improvement scheme;

In order to do these things adequately, let alone improve on them, we need members.

The SVP is an international lay organisation with 1,800 branches in England and Wales most of which are attached to parishes. Some are special conferences dedicated to particular works such as running furniture stores, holiday projects, prisoners care and hostels and bail homes for vulnerable people. A few (too few) are school and youth conferences. All of these too need members to work in them, organise and co-ordinate them and raise money for them.

There are two types of membership of the SVP: full members and auxiliary members. Full members meet once a week and offer one hour a week to the work of the society. At meetings we pray for those we seek to help, for our donors, to strengthen our own faith and friendship, to co-ordinate our visits and to agree financial distribution. Auxiliary members help as and when they can.

Please note: all prospective memebrs are interviewed as all our work is hightly confidential as well as sensitive.

Meeting on Saturday at 1.00 pm (after the 12.30pm Mass).