The Society of St Vincent De Paul St Francis of Assisi Cumberland County Conference

The Society of St. Vincent de Paul is a 200-year-old organization of lay-Catholics founded on the teachings of St. Vincent de Paul, patron saint of charitable organizations that serve the poor. We call ourselves Vincentians because, as St. Vincent said, we love God “with the strength of our arms and the sweat of our brow.” In other words, we act out our faith by going out into the community and performing works of charity and acts of service to the poor. The Vincentian vocation calls us to participate personally and directly in helping the needy through person-to-person contact and by the gift of our hearts and friendship. Pope Paul VI once praised SVdP as “a great testimony of living Catholicism. You give witness to Christ in the Church of the Poor.”

The Home Visit is central to our work. We literally visit our neighbors in need in their homes. We sit with them, we listen to them, we pray with them, and we seek to help them in the best way possible. This commonly includes things like rental assistance, or help with utility bills, or food. But we are not social workers. We serve as neighbors, seeking to understand the troubles of those we serve as we would a brother or sister, and to form relationships based on trust and friendship. We do all we can—financially and otherwise—and we offer the rest up to God. The Cumberland County Conference of St. Vincent de Paul was started in May 2025. In the short time that we have reached out to the poor, we have helped with rent, food, clothing, utilities, furniture, and transportation. To continue, we rely solely on the generosity of those moved by the Holy Spirit to help our mission.