A pivotal visit by St Vincent de Paul Napier council member Dan Sussmilch helped the organisation develop a multifaceted strategy to offer immediate relief and assist in facilitating the community's long-term rehabilitation.

As part of its community involvement in Wairoa, St Vincent de Paul is helping clean up and restore 25 homes.

With specialised silt crews employed for this essential work, St Vincent de Paul is allocating funds for necessities such as digger fuel, carpentry supplies and building materials, as well as covering the costs of essential plumbing and electrical works.

In addition to the repair and restoration, Vinnies has distributed hampers to 320 families.

Filled with goods purchased from local businesses, who themselves were impacted by the cyclone, the move is designed both to provide essential aid and help rejuvenate the local economy.

Ongoing commitment

St Vincent de Paul's commitment to helping Wairoa recover is ongoing.

The collective effort, particularly the invaluable contribution of volunteers, is pivotal in the management and execution of relief operations.

"The involvement of Vinnie's volunteers embodies the spirit of communal solidarity in overcoming adversity," a St Vincent de Paul member told CathNews.

As the recovery journey progresses, the Napier branch of St Vincent de Paul remains resolute in its mission to deliver critical support, highlighting the effective results of united action.

"Last year St Vincent de Paul Napier also assisted those affected by the devastation caused by Cyclone Gabrielle," said Christine Tong, area president of St Vincent de Paul Napier.

"We were extremely grateful for the Funds Appeal launched throughout New Zealand by our St Vincent de Paul Society's National Office and the wonderful generosity shown during this extremely difficult time", she said.

Lotto millions sit with Internal Affairs

The government Cyclone Gabrielle Appeal Fund received $11.7m from the special Lotto draw in March 2023 and was bolstered by more than $1.7m in public donations - plus interest earned over the past 12 months.

The money sits with the Department of Internal Affairs - unspent.

Those wanting to know where the Lotto draw and public donation funds will go are set to get answers sometime in mid-February.

Sources

• Supplied
• Newstalk ZB

The groundbreaking move is an initiative of the Society of St Vincent de Paul, affectionately known as Vinnies.

The innovative initiative programme promises to arm residents with strategies to save approximately $1000 annually on power bills.

Healthy Homes marks a significant step forward in the region's battle against financial strain.

It is an ambitious target to slash household power consumption by 30 to 40 percent.

The programme starts with a home inspection aimed at educating residents about the most efficient use of appliances and adopting energy-saving practices.

The architect of this visionary programme, Mike Rolton, is also the general manager of Vinnies.

Rolton highlighted the tangible benefits of the initiative, particularly the significant savings from the simple act of replacing traditional lightbulbs with LEDs.

"We give 12 LED bulbs per house, and the saving for each household per light bulb is approximately $37.80 per year. That's a saving of $465 just from lighting" he says.

Moreover, Vinnies is advocating for a switch to a power provider that offers a flat rate, eliminating extra or disconnection fees, which could save households an additional $500 depending on their power usage.

This move is part of a broader strategy to alleviate many people's financial burdens, especially in light of the increased demand for food parcels witnessed in late 2023.

Rolton says the conception of the "Healthy Homes" programme was a direct response to the rising need for support within the community to provide a more sustainable solution to financial hardship.

"We started to think about healthy homes in November, and we hired two new people because we knew it would be tough this year" he explained.

The programme addresses the immediate need for energy savings and reflects a deeper understanding of the interconnected challenges faced by families in the region.

Stories from residents struggling to afford basic necessities highlight the critical importance of initiatives like "Healthy Homes."

Source

• Waitako Herald

Last week's out-of-control fire in regional Queensland burnt tens of thousands of hectares. It claimed two lives. Dozens of properties were destroyed. People - families - have nothing left. Zilch.

Tara's Parish priest Fr Jack MacGinley, who stuck to the Tara and districts' Mass timetable throughout the disaster, says the local Catholic community are stepping up to help.

They're keeping their op shop open - all hours. "Goods all free, clothes all free, help yourself" says the sign at the front.

It's clearly a good idea. The need is obvious. MacGinley says bushfire survivors had been picking up clothes and goods at 6am.

Survivor Amelia Windsor echoes MacGinley's comment. "There's so many people who have lost their houses and, it's just like, what do you do? You don't know where to go,' she says.

Vinnies steps up

Hundreds of evacuees moved from Tara to nearby Dalby one hour east of Tara when the fire threatened the township.

Dalby's Catholic community had its doors wide open. St Vincent de Paul Society president Carmel Hart says they are seeing a lot of urgent need.

"It's just really hard because some of them had lost everything" she says.

Some people have lost their lovely homes. Others had been living in sheds and the like and struggling.

It is the second time some of the survivors have had fire steal all their goods this year.

"They had only just been getting things back together and it's happened again," she said.

"It's a pretty sad story."

The Dalby Vinnies' conference's 13 volunteers are working around the clock handing out clothes and blankets.

"At the moment, that's about all we can do," Hart says.

"It will be ongoing and down the track when everything settles down, we will know more about what people want."

By Saturday, most survivors had either returned home or found accommodation with friends. Others have been accommodated by the housing department in motels in town.

Source

• Catholic Leader
• The Guardian

"It gives everyone the chance to go to the canteen and buy lunch at a very reasonable cost," says Vinnies Youth Coordinator for Hawkes Bay, Paola Minehan.

It also helps the Young Vinnies.

"They learn customer service, cash and food handling skills.

"And if someone is in need, we just give them the lunch. Young Vinnies make those judgement calls," says Minehan.

The change at the school canteen came with the retirement of the canteen manager.

Initially, the students were keen on an online lunch delivery service but, at more than $10 a meal, it was an expensive option.

The school principal turned to the Young Vinnies and asked if they could help.

A free cereal breakfast is offered each day, and lunch is available for between $2 and $4.50. Just one lunch is offered each day, ranging from soup to nachos to mac cheese.

Minehan says the most popular lunch sold so far has been nachos and, 99% per cent of the time, the meals are sold out.

He is quick to praise Food Tech teacher Sara Coram-O'Kane, "We couldn't run the project without her," she said.

The cost of running the canteen is met in several ways.

The food prep and the running of the canteen are handled by volunteers. Some food comes from Hawke's Bay food rescue and the local Vinnies Conference and Area Council make a small donation to help buy ingredients each week.

As well as the canteen outreach, Vinnies provide some families with food parcels.

"Everyone benefits," says Minehan.

• Supplied

So far 55 per cent of the funds needed to complete the project are already confirmed and a fundraising strategy is in place.

The Christchurch City Council has granted building consent. An independent estimate of the housing project cost has been completed and an architect contracted.

The Pavitt Street Social Housing Project - due to open later this year - is an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of young families that have no place to call home, says Vinnies president Mike Daly.

He says the housing situation for young people in Christchurch is acute, with large numbers of young people experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity.

"In 2020, the Ministry of Social Development recorded a 68 per cent increase in clients aged 16-24 needing emergency housing special needs grants.

"Young people make up the highest proportion of overall homelessness statistics with more than half younger than 25 years of age."

Back in 2018, it affected 12 per cent of the greater Christchurch area's 15-24 year olds.

Homelessness also comes with a host of other issues. It creates a significant barrier to pursuing vocational, educational and training opportunities. It's especially hard when the young people are also parents, Daly says.

"Mothers are forced to sleep on someone's couch with their infant while others bounce from place to place in between stints in emergency accommodation."

Young parents on low incomes struggle to find suitable housing and often require significant advocacy to access government support or secure a tenancy from a private landlord.

"Some are too young to be placed in a motel or sign a tenancy agreement" Daly notes.

Vinnies and St John of God (SJG) are hoping the Pavitt Street Social Housing Project will help relieve this problem.

Seven housing units (see image) will be built for young families who are homeless or at risk of being homeless.

They will be available to rent from three months to two or more years.

Tenants will also receive wrap-around support via the HOPE programme which has been run by SJG Waipuna since 2015, says St John of God CEO Sarah Williams.

Besides physical and mental health services, HOPE provides assistance to develop basic life skills, parenting education and training, pathway planning, support to access employment opportunities and assistance to transition to private housing.

By providing both housing and specialist support, Vinnies hopes to enable families to transition from housing insecurity/homelessness to housing stability.

Daly says in general the parents will be aged between 17-24 and their weekly rent will be determined on a family-by-family basis, taking factors such as income and number of people in the household into account.

The Society is collaborating with the St John of God Hauora Trust on the project to ensure both housing and support services work together for the families.

Source

• St Vincent de Paul Christchurch

Centre and pastoral co-ordinator Sarah Strang said the Dunedin City Council had done a collection around all its staff and brought in "the most extraordinary amount of food'', just when the foodbank needed it most.

"I actually can't believe it."Read more

At St Vincent de Paul (Vinnies) Hamilton, demand for food parcels has increased fourfold since the start of level 4 restrictions, general manager Mike Rolton​ says.

"Normally we'd do 20 family food parcels per day on average but, since lockdown started, that has jumped to 80 parcels."

Food parcels can include staples such as fruit and vegetables, bread, oats and pasta, eggs, canned food, and meat.

While food parcel demand is up, the thrice-weekly community meals Vinnies Hamilton provided before the current lockdown had to be suspended during the Level 4 restrictions.

The rules meant Vinnies couldn't even deliver the meals to the people Rolton calls "the most needy".

"Delta has changed the whole scenario," he comments.

"Last year, we were handing out meals for people to eat but MSD [Ministry of Social Development] have stopped that."

Rolton said he's in constant contact with other community groups to ensure they are aware of each other's needs. The Salvation Army has also experienced an increase in food parcel demand.

"One of the things that's happened since last year's lockdown is the collaboration between the big players. It's really impressive."

Those applying for food parcels are recorded in a database. The system alerts groups to anyone trying to unfairly claim multiple parcels from different providers.

Hamilton mayor Paula Southgate​ says the city is well served by its community groups and the council is exploring ways it can help those in need.

These include providing Claudelands Events Centre to assist groups providing meals to residents - lockdown rules permitting.

During last year's lockdown the events centre was used to provide meals and emergency food meals for families in need.

Southgate says regular briefings ensure councillors have an accurate picture of how the city is coping.

"We haven't determined to give any monetary grants at this point in time, rather we've decided to work alongside some of those community organisations that are well-equipped," she says.

"The social infrastructure in place now is far better than when we went into lockdown last time. We enabled some of that with grants to things like ‘Here to help u' and other organisations to give them the resources they needed to provide food and give people access to help when they need it."

Any significant spending of public money also has to be transparent, she said.

"Council has to be flexible, but at the moment we don't feel we need to jump in with monetary support. If things should change, we will of course consider it."

Source

• Stuff
• Image: Stuff

The recipients - Auckland pensioners - were reportedly "stunned" to receive the lunches.

About 8,000 free school lunches were ready last Monday and another 5,000 were ready on Tuesday.

One of the pensioners said residents of the 86-unit retirement village she lives in were "overwhelmed" when Vinnies volunteer Beau Takapu (pictured) turned up with the unexpected lunches.

"Our age group is outside the school lunch age group," Maureen Picknell (73) said.

"When I saw how wonderful the school lunches were, I was stunned - what an amazing meal!"

Vinnies Youth Auckland is a social justice youth group has branches in the city's 16 Catholic secondary schools.

The lunches the young Vinnies were delivering were donated by Montana Catering Auckland.

Montana Catering is one of four companies with Ministry of Education contracts to provide free school lunches to 35,000 children in the most deprived quarter of school communities across Auckland.

All four companies found ways to donate the lunches to the community.

One, Albany-based Virtual Cooking Company (FED), gave its lunches to needy whanau through Nga Whare Waatea Marae in Mangere.

Another, Spotless, gave its lunches to the Auckland City Mission.

The fourth contractor, social enterprise Eat My Lunch, gave 10,000 lunches to marae and other community groups recommended by the Ministry of Social Development.

Source

• NZ Herald
• Image: NZ Herald

"Their generosity has been outstanding, and it restores my faith in human nature", he says.

"They will literally help make Christmas for many who were likely to miss out".

His comments come after burglars broke into the Cathedral Saturday night stealing thousands of dollars of donated food and gifts collected by its local St Vincent De Paul (Vinnies) conference.

Grayland told CathNews that the Police are hoping to find the thief as they have timed security camera footage of the burglar entering and of his vehicle.

"I'm sure Vinnies would have tried to help him had he asked", Grayland said.

The stolen goods had been earmarked by Vinnies for families in need over the Christmas season.

Vinnies Palmerston North president Mike Keenan (pictured), discovered the burglary on Sunday.

He says thieves got away with 10 Christmas-wrapped and decorated parcels donated from a food drive at St James' Catholic School, plus cans, jam, coffee sachets, biscuits, chocolate bars, 500g packets of sugar, bread and 20 kilograms of meat.

He says the food would have been given to around 20 families in time for Christmas.

The church usually delivers 800 parcels a year, helping 3000 people.

"I was pretty upset all day yesterday. I can't understand why people would do that sort of thing," he says.

The burglars trashed the room as well as stealing the donated food and gifts.

"It was a huge mess," he says.

"Food had been tipped out everywhere and dropped as the burglars took what they wanted.

"There were two panels removed from one of the windows, which must have been how they got in."

Exactly how much food was taken is difficult to estimate, because the food bank doesn't keep detailed ledgers.

"We're grateful for the donations from the Manawatu area and wish everyone a great Christmas," Keenan said.

People wanting to help replace the Christmas gifts and hampers are welcome to donate food to Vinnies Shop on Rangitikei Street.

Police area prevention manager Senior Sergeant Darren Paki says police are asking for anyone who saw anything suspicious in the area between Friday afternoon and Sunday morning to come forward.

Anyone with information should get in touch by phoning 105 and quoting file number 201129/3944.

Sources

• Supplied
• TVNZ
• Stuff
• Image: Stuff

"No one has gone over the top, they only took what they need", St Vincent de Paul area president, Lynlea Forbes told CathNews.

"The generosity of people abounds", she said.

Forbes told CathNews that because it is 'Free Week' even more people dropped in donations to give away and others, still give a donation when they take 'free' goods.

"People are truly amazing," Forbes said.

The timing of a "Free Week" at the Vinnies shop in South Dunedin was spot on, St Vincent de Paul centre and pastoral co-ordinator Sarah Strang says.

The "Free Week" ran from Monday this week and finishes today.

After what was an "awful" year for many people due to the impact of Covid-19, the timing for the event was right, Strang says.

People are allowed to take as much as they like from the donated clothing, shoes, bedding, crockery, bric-a-brac, children's books and toys. Most are good-quality items, says Strang.

A call was made to Dunedin's Catholic primary schools to have a clean-out over the school holidays. The items people decided to give away were collected for the shop last week.

"Some of the things people have donated have been amazing — brand new things."

Forbes says shoppers are being encouraged to help themselves to free juice and food for themselves or their children's lunchboxes. Free cat food was also available.

She says Free Week is a way for the shop to give back to the community. It was "overwhelmed with generosity" over lockdown.

While some shoppers left with free items, others stopped by just for a chat with the volunteer staff.

Forbes says shop prices are usually $1 or under, which doesn't allow the shop to make a profit. The sale of donated items only pays for the rent and power costs.

Shop volunteers often give items to people who can't afford them.

St Vincent de Paul Centres and Shops aid the most vulnerable in the community. Members and volunteers assist to alleviate suffering and promote human dignity and personal integrity in all their dimensions.

In the 150 years since the Society has been in New Zealand, it has given practical assistance to thousands of people.

Source

• Otago Daily Times
• The Society of St Vincent de Paul New Zealand
• Image: Otago Daily Times

Young people are leading a significant rise in the number of people sleeping rough and facing homelessness in various ways.

"If you care about homelessness, youth homelessness should be at the top of your agenda," the chief executive of the south Westminster-based Cardinal Hume Centre says.

George O'Neill, says figures showed a significant increase in numbers of young people sleeping rough in London during the first three months of the pandemic lockdown.

Addressing this should be a priority, "not only because it is a tragic threat to the potential found in every young person, but because there is so much evidence to show that too often homelessness at a young age is repeated in later life."

"We feel we are seeing more examples of relationship and family breakdown, leaving young people without a home. We need a coordinated and preventative response that takes account of young people's needs and their routes into homelessness."

Chief executive of Depaul UK Mike Thiedke says the economic downturn could see a further increase in homelessness.

"The number of people sleeping rough in London in quarter two of 2020 was 33 per cent higher than in the same period in 2019 and the outlook for the next six months is bleak."

Thiedke says keeping the Nightstop emergency accommodation network running was challenging. A shortage of volunteer hosts, due to the pandemic, has led to a two-thirds drop in the number of beds for a night that Depaul could provide.

The St Vincent de Paul Society says it is also seeing a rise in poverty in the communities in which it works.

Chief executive officer Elizabeth Palmer says: "The financial, emotional and health fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic has dragged many thousands of people below the poverty line."

Source

• The Tablet
• Image: Daily Mail

Shop manager Richard Kelly-Lowe said water came flooding in "like a river" and caused the suspended ceiling to collapse under the pressure.

Kelly-Lowe was at the front window with staff and shoppers fascinated as they watched Carlyle St become a snowscape.

Then he heard a loud crashing sound and knew something not so fascinating had happened.

"Part of the suspended ceiling came down," he said on Wednesday morning as a clean-up and power-up task got underway.

The hail fell in such volume that it blocked the guttering as well as downpipes and water started flowing down and into the walls.

The water burst through ceiling panels and flowed down the inside walls "like a river.

While the main shop area was undamaged, the water created pools in the accompanying office and a boardroom.

"There was nothing we could do," Kelly-Lowe said.

So he closed and evacuated the shop.

"We'd only had the guttering cleaned out last week."

While the stock is undamaged, Kelly-Lowe was concerned about damage to stored paperwork in the board room and would be going through it over the next few days.

"I have never seen hail like that before — it was like being in Canada or the USA — you don't expect to see that here."

The building's owner, who also has other nearby properties, said while his other buildings had escaped damage.

He had heard reports of similar guttering-blocked incidents which had caused interior damage.

Source

• nzherald.co.nz
• nzherald.co.nz
• Image: nzherald.co.nz

Ozanam House provides accommodation for regional cancer patients staying in the city for radiotherapy treatment at Palmerston North Hospital has previously had $18,000 a year in general rates remitted. Read more

Caroline O'Reilly, the new textile recycling coordinator at St Vincent de Paul in Kilbirnie, is helping reduce the amount of waste the store sends to landfill by repurposing unsaleable clothing and textiles.

O'Reilly is heading up Vinnies Re Sew, a space above the op shop where she is helping teach sewing skills to those who want to upskill while doing their part for the environment. Continue reading

Conceived by the Society of St Vincent de Paul and developed in 1971 in collaboration with the Cancer Society Manawatu, the original Ozanam House began with four-bedroom home. Continue reading

We don't see the likes of — well, let's call him 'John' — coming to our soup vans every day.

When you've been visiting the streets of Melbourne serving food to many of the city's hungry, lonely and dispossessed for a couple of decades you do get used to seeing the same old faces.

But John reminded me of a very important lesson. That homelessness hasn't got a 'look' — and the word 'homeless' never describes the person, only their circumstance.

It's a big idea. Perhaps that's why some people struggle to grasp it. But as a soup van operations manager I see it every night.

The people we see are experiencing homelessness in one way or another and it's clear that with homelessness there's no one size that fits all.

It could be an older person, a couple in a car, a woman in a domestic violence situation or someone with mental health, trauma or substance abuse issues.

Of course, the main thing we serve is soup, because it gives people a great deal of comfort, and every night we have a wonderful team of volunteers chopping up vegetables to make 70 litres of soup.

We also create thousands of sandwiches a night.

If that sounds like a great deal of food that's because it needs to be. There are people right now in all our capital cities who are experiencing food shortage.

We have some people who come to us and say that once they've paid their utilities and rent there's very little left over to provide meals for the whole week. So we might see them two nights a week.

Others we see every night of the week, because they come for friendship and social connection. Continue reading

• Danusia Kaska is Vinnies Soup Van Operations Manager for Melbourne.

They are being told to shape up with their paperwork or ship out - back home or somewhere else. Anywhere else.

They have until 1 October to produce the documentation the Government wants.

Vinnies National Council CEO Dr John Falzon says the ultimatum "is cruel, morally reprehensible and a fundamental repudiation of the Government's moral and legal obligations to those seeking asylum in Australia".

Federal Government Minister of Immigration Peter Dutton says the 7,500 asylum seekers have been living in Australia for up to five years without progressing their claims for refugee status.

In his opinion, their were thousands of "fake refugees", who won't provide information about their need for protection.

Falzon points out "many of the asylum seekers were not invited to apply for a protection visa until relatively recently".

It's not a simple task to get this work done, he says.

The paperwork in question can involve applicants submitting up to 60 pages of documentation.

At the same time, he says the Government has reduced funding for legal and interpreting services, forcing individuals and families to work through complex legal processes on their own.

In most cases the asylum seekers will be denied access to a fair and proper process, he says.

Source

• Catholic Leader
• Independent Catholic News
• Image: Relevant Magazine

But sometimes, a tragic circumstance such as a difficult childhood or the death of a loved one can set us off course. In these situations it takes a special encounter to get back on track and make a full recovery.

The St Vincent de Paul Society (SVP) is a Catholic charity which provides that grace filled encounter for many distressed and suffering people each year.

The 8000 members of the SVP provide friendship to thousands of lonely, isolated and marginalised people at home, in hospital, or in residential homes.

On top of this, 500 volunteers in community support projects around the country provide practical assistance to people in need through community shops, debt and advice centres and furniture stores.

Many of these volunteers have themselves come from difficult circumstances and, determined to ‘give something back', they join the SVP as a means of helping others. What often unfolds is a journey of self-discovery and growth. For them, volunteering with the SVP has transformed their lives.

Nick says volunteering with the SVP literally saved his life. Nick has been helping out at the SVP's Sheffield Furniture store for over ten years.

As a young lad, he would pinch bottles of his grandad's homemade wine and was a serious drinker by the age of 9. By the time he reached his twenties he was an alcoholic.

When his doctor gave him three months to live Nick realised he had to do something about his habit. He entered rehabilitation for drug and alcohol addiction and emerged from rehab with nervous anxiety and depression. He found himself having to put his life back together from scratch with very few resources.

He was given an unfurnished council flat, but without any financial resource, he had no means of buying himself a sofa or a bed. Continue reading

Sources

• Catholic Herald article by Anita Boniface, Media and Communications Officer at The St Vincent de Paul Society England and Wales.
• Image: St Vincent de Paul Wellington Area

Steve Zabilski wrote that Ali, with his wife Lonnie, were regular volunteers at the society's dining rooms.

Mr Zabilski stated that Ali was part of the Vincentian family.

"He came to our dining rooms to be with our guests. Not to lecture. Not to judge.

"He simply wanted to be with those less fortunate, those who were struggling.

"He wanted to let them know that they were Important. That they were loved."

Continue reading

A project has been started by several men, some of whom are former Young Vinnies, to help give south Auckland children access to computers who otherwise wouldn't have this.

The men are attached to the St Therese Conference of the Society of St Vincent de Paul at Mangere.

Described as working in the IT industry, or being conversant with its mysteries, they clean and overhaul computers that have been donated.

Four schools were approached initially and the team has so far installed or are in the process of installing more than 70 computers in homes and community houses.

The project builds on a scheme started by the SVDP Hornby conference in Christchurch.

An article on the SVDP website explained that the scheme has been enthusiastically taken up in south Auckland.

There have been unexpected benefits, including teachers being able to give extra work to students who needed to catch up on fellow students or understand lessons.

Consideration is being given to extending the scheme to others who might care for students, including caregivers, grandparents, church and community groups.

Other deserving candidates who might benefit from having a computer at home are also being considered.

The New Zealand Deprivation Index released earlier this year showed south Auckland to be among the most deprived areas in the country.

Produced by Otago University researchers, the index included "internet access" among its calculations for the first time, reflecting modern technology's growing influence on everyday life.

The index is based on 2013 census data.

Sources

• Society of St Vincent de Paul (NZ)
• New Zealand Herald
• Image: Pacific Scoop