Society volunteers logged 1.6 million volunteer hours last year

Craig Macartney
Spur Ottawa Writer

As Christmas approaches and people become increasingly aware of the needs in their local communities, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul held a national campaign recognizing November 18 as the World Day of the Poor.

“Right now there are about 5.8 million people in Canada living below the poverty line,” says Richard Pommainville, executive director of the society’s National Council of Canada. “We need to raise the visibility of the issue. If you don’t address the base fundamentals of good educations, good healthcare, they become society issues that can percolate into different problems.”

Established as the 33rd Sunday of every year by Pope Francis, the World Day of the Poor challenges people to reach out and offer practical support to those in need. The Society of St. Vincent de Paul’s Canadian national council (based in Ottawa) prepared a number of resources their 15,000 “Vincentians” could use to organize events in their local community.

Vincentians across Canada marked the day with events to collect money and non-perishable food and to raise awareness about the work the Society does across Canada.

Vincentians in Orleans sort donations. Photo courtesy of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.

“Our volunteers are very humble individuals. They don’t necessarily want to make a lot of noise,” explains Pommainville, “but in today’s very competitive world, we need to raise the visibility of what we do.”

Leading up to the campaign, the Society gathered statistics on their work across the country and found that the volunteers serving in their thrift stores, food banks, soup kitchens and other outreaches put in a combined 1.6 million hours last year.

“In Canada, it is over 225,000 homes that have been visited. We have more than 325,000 people who have been helped through home visits. If you look at that number, you’re getting close to one percent of the Canadian population that we are helping—and that’s just that one piece of work.”

The Society has two thrift stores in Ottawa. While Spur Ottawa was unable to reach them for comment, Pommainville said they organized a significant food drive to go toward their Christmas hampers and restock the food bank.

Across the river, Serge Cazelais, who leads the Society’s Gatineau council, says responding to the World Day of the Poor is right in line with the Society’s mission.

“We aim to provide food assistance, material assistance (such as clothing, or help to find affordable housing) and support, to people living in a difficult situation.”

Gatineau Vincentians gather for their March for Hunger and Poverty. Photo courtesy of the Gatineau council of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.

To mark the day, Gatineau Vincentians organized a March for Hunger and Poverty, with participants from two partner organizations in the community. The group gathered at Mission Portugaise du Saint-Esprit (Portuguese Mission of the Holy Spirit) at 1:30 p.m. and walked two kilometres to Notre-Dame-de-l’Île Parish (Our Lady of the Island Parish).

“At St. Vincent de Paul, we encounter daily the reality of poverty and hunger,” says Cazelais. “We have often noted that many poor people are hungry and do not know who to turn to for help. So our march served two purposes: to raise public awareness on the issue of hunger and poverty and to raise awareness about assistance organizations that are present in the region—and that they work together.”