The St Vincent de Paul Society’s (SVP) aim is to tackle poverty in all its forms through the provision of practical assistance to those in need.
The concept of need is broader than financial hardship, so visiting people who are sick, lonely, in prison, or suffering from addiction is also a significant proportion of our work. The essence of our work is person-to-person contact and spending time with people is our greatest gift.
In England and Wales we have 10,000 volunteer members, motivated by their faith, are committed to meaningful and long term befriending. Inspired by the message of the Gospels they seek and find those in need and offer them sincere friendship. They visit them in their homes, in hospital and in care homes on a regular basis and offer additional practical support such as food, furniture or financial help where needed.
We offer friendship and practical help to all we visit, without regard to faith, ethnicity, status or sexual orientation. As we visit people in their homes we have strict safeguarding policies and procedures and all visiting members must hold a DBS certificate.
The essence of our work is person-to-person contact and spending time with people is our greatest gift.
Throughout England and Wales, in their local communities, our volunteer members work in varied ways to give people a sense of belonging. As well as offering friendship and support, our members give practical help such as food, clothes, furniture or financial help when this is needed. They also help with transport to mass and other parish events, raise funds to send children to holiday camps; distribute emergency homeless packs (Vinnie Packs) to people on the streets; support prisoners, ex-offenders and asylum seekers and generally respond to local need.
We visit and help anyone in need, with no differentiation on the grounds of faith, ethnicity, status or sexual orientation. We have strict safeguarding policies and procedures and all visiting members must hold a DBS certificate.
We only have a small number of people in our conference at Christ the King and are always looking for new people to help us as full members, auxiliary members and friends of the SVP if you are interested or would like to find out more contact any member of the parish’s SVP or complete the contact form below.
If you would like to contribute to the work we do, please put your donation in an envelope marked SVP and include your name, if you wish us to acknowledge it and place it into the collection basket at Mass. Alternatively you can give directly into our SVP Bank Account as follows:
Name: SVP Christ the King Bedford
Sort Code: 60-60-04
Account Number: 46078738
NEED TO CONTACT THE PARISH’s St Vincent de Paul?
Please telephone or speak the Parish Priest or complete the contact form below and we will get back to you.