Society of St. Vincent de Paul

Inspired by Gospel values, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, a Catholic lay organization, leads women and men to join together to grow spiritually, offering person-to-person service to those who are needy and suffering. Organized locally, Vincentians witness God’s love by embracing all works of charity and justice. At St. Joseph Church, our primary mission is to feed the hungry of our community through our food pantry in the basement of the church. The majority of our time and effort is in food pantry endeavors. We are able to help a large number of families because of the low food costs of government programs, Harvest Hope, food drives, and you, our parishioners.

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In 2024, the Volunteers at our food pantry helped 3,972 families with a total of 9,849 individuals by providing food. In addition, our Volunteers delivered food to 833 families and a total of 1,027 individuals.  In 2024, Volunteers helped 644 individuals and spent $53,256 on utility assistance. Because of the overwhelming impact of Hurricane Helene on South Carolina and North Carolina, the Society spent $21,000 on disaster relief by making contributions to local Societies that are on the ground at some of the worst-hit disaster areas.  The Society is able to provide this assistance through the contributions of parishioners in the form of food contributions on the first weekend of each month (the “I Care I Share" weekend), through monetary contributions in the blue envelopes distributed whenever a month has a fifth Sunday, through the Thanksgiving Food Drive by Cardinal Newman, and through the Christmas and Easter Food drives by the Knights of Columbus. In the past year, the Society has also been assisted through food drives organized by the Boy Scouts, St. Joseph Catholic School, and by private individuals. Volunteer opportunities are available to all members of the parish.

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Meetings are on the second Tuesday of each month at 7:00 PM in the Ministries and Administration building. We welcome new members at all times. As our membership is aging, we particularly need younger members and ask that you prayerfully consider giving of your time.

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The help line number is 803.799.0761. The message states the times our pantry is open and when we take utility requests. The standard time for utility requests is the second Tuesday of each month between 5:45-6:30 PM. We have also initiated an email address where clients can request assistance. That email address is svdp3600@gmail.com if any parishioner would like to request assistance. Parishioners may also call the church secretary at 803-540-1900 and she will notify one of our members or provide you with the phone number of a Vincentian.

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The pantry is open every Wednesday from 8:30-11:30 AM.

In closing, we encourage parishioners to avail themselves of our services. We assure you that all assistance is dealt with discretion and you need not fear requests being made public. Parishioners receive priority consideration when requesting assistance.