About St. Vincent de Paul
Our Mission
The Society of St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Stores throughout the United States are mutually formed in an association of lay employees and volunteers dedicated to serving our needy sisters and brothers. All who come to our Stores are welcomed with dignity and respect. Our hope is that they leave as friends and return to shop with us again. Those who cannot afford clothing, furniture, and other household items, are provided them through a Vincentian referral system.
Customers, employees, and volunteers are treated equally without regard to race, color, creed, age, sex or national origin. All, including the disadvantaged, handicapped, and persons with special needs, are employed so that we may all benefit from the talents and abilities of everyone seeking employment.
Serving Christ’s needy is the primary goal of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Stores. In this ministry, we pledge to use sound business practices. Surplus funds will be dedicated to the support of parish conferences and charitable causes of the Society approved by our Councils and Boards of Directors.
By Gravure d'Antoine Maurin dit "Maurin l'aîné" (1793-1860) à partir d'un dessin de Louis Janmot (1814-1892) - Oeuvres complètes de Frédéric Ozanam, éditions Lecoffre, Paris, 1862 (seconde édition), Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21883993
From Our Founder
"Knowledge of the social situation is to be learned, not from books, not from the public platform, but in climbing the stairs to the poor person’s home, sitting by his bedside, feeling the same cold that pierces her, sharing the secret of a lonely heart and an anxious mind.”
Frederic Ozanam founded the Society of St. Vincent de Paul on April 23, 1833, his 20th birthday, so that he and his friends could put their faith into action through service to the needy.
Today the Society is the largest lay Catholic charitable organization in the world. The Society has more than 690,000 members operating in 142 countries.
In the United States, our membership has 115,000 “Vincentians.”
“Inspired by Gospel values, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, a Catholic lay organization leads women and men to join together to grow spiritually by offering person-to-person service to the needy and suffering in the tradition of its founder, Blessed Frederic Ozanam, and its patron, St. Vincent de Paul.”
US Manual, Society of St. Vincent de Paul 1999