Written by Sunnie Lain, Vincentian Support Specialist 

When one of our Conferences receives a call, they jump into action. Recently, a client who is disabled called explaining he needed a ramp. Vincentians who visited the client at home saw that without a ramp, he relied constantly on others to help him leave or enter his house.  Even worse, he was unable to leave quickly in an emergency.

The cost of the ramp was too much for him—thousands of dollars—and the small Conference did not have the resources to help him.  The Conference requested help from other area Conferences and, within 24 hours, the total amount needed to build the ramp was raised.  Even better, the ramp was built in just a week and the client is now independent.

Tom Gorman, the President of St. Helen Conference, made the request for help to the other conferences. He explains, “We Vincentians can literally move mountains when we collaborate in response to Christ’s call to serve the poor!”

Our Vincentians work together to help our neighbors constantly.  In the Dayton area, St. Vincent de Paul has 33 parish-based St. Vincent de Paul Conferences and two in Universities.  Some are large and well-funded, whereas others are small without many financial resources.  One way our organization helps those Conferences is through “twinning:” one Conference will send money to another in order to meet a specific need like the one in this story.  We are able to make a positive and lasting impact on the people whom we serve providing unique personalized assistance when we work together. Your support makes this possible!