Who We Are
The Aiken chapter of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul (SVdP) was founded in 1994 and serves low income, homeless, and other needy families and individuals in the Aiken County area. At its beginning, we operated out of a second-floor closet in a building next to the old St. Mary Help of Christians Church. Our members purchased food at local stores, carried it up to the storage closet, then later gave it out to those we served. Over the years we have grown. We now operate out of a dedicated food pantry next to the new St. Mary’s Church with 16 refrigerators and freezers, and shelving for storing canned and packaged foods and household items. In the same building there are three offices where our caseworkers take calls and meet with individuals we serve. We are most grateful to our parish for providing us the use of the building for our pantry. Our organization has over 100 members and volunteers. We have no paid employees. Most of our members/volunteers are parishioners at St. Mary Help of Christians Catholic Church; however, we also have volunteers who are not Catholic, and they are welcome. Our chapter of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul is a separate legal entity from, but we operate in parallel with, the Catholic Church.
Our Parent Organization
The Society of St. Vincent de Paul dates back to 1833, when it was founded in Paris, France. Frederic Ozanam, a college student, and a group of five friends established the first chapter with the purpose of serving the poor. They took as their patron St. Vincent de Paul, a well-known saint of Christian charity who lived in France two centuries earlier. They developed an organizational framework that was copied elsewhere, spreading new chapters in France, then internationally. Just 12 years later the first chapter was established in the United States. Today there are over 4,500 chapters such as ours in the US with some 90,000 members. Our US national headquarters are located in St. Louis, Missouri. Internationally, there are 800,000 members active in 150+ countries. For more information about the Society of St. Vincent de Paul go to: https://ssvpusa.org