St. Vincent de Paul calls community to care
Breakfast fundraiser showcases services, personal testimonies

By Claudia I. Provencio, The Catholic Sun
May 3, 2007

More than 700 people attended a recent Society of St. Vincent de Paul breakfast fundraiser that brought many to tears following the testimonials of two people served by the organization.

A woman introduced simply as “Lisa,” a single mother of two who at one time enjoyed perks like a nanny, traveling and a six-figure income, described how a series of events, beginning with her decision to leave her abusive husband, led her to poverty.

“I was living on the edge, that fear and uncertainty and panic were alive again,” she said of her decision to seek the society’s help. “As I walked through the doors, I was greeted by a woman who said, ‘It’s going to be alright, just breathe, you are OK. You are here.’”

Sniffling throughout her speech during the April 25 community breakfast, Lisa said she never imagined she would be among the Arizonans in need of the society’s services and is grateful for the childcare and monetary assistance she receives as she continues to seek employment.

After he broke his hip and lost his ability to work in construction, St. Vincent de Paul was a place Jim Conway could call home and the start of a college education.

Alone in the Valley and with nowhere to recuperate from surgery, Conway hobbled on the streets waving his crutches, until a stranger stopped to help.

“This man, who didn’t know me, took me into his home, set me up on his couch and basically was my nurse,” Conway said. “I stayed with him for a month, which was well past his time limit to have a guest in his home, because he was on disability himself. Nevertheless, he allowed me to stay with him and heal and regain my strength.”

Reluctantly, Conway called local shelters and was eventually referred to the society’s Ozanam Manor. It provides transitional housing to homeless men and women ages 50 and older and to physically or mentally disabled adults age 18 and older.

For these populations, “Ozanam Manor is the only place in Arizona to offer nurturing care and professional case management to help individuals move from homelessness onto the path to independence,” said Steve Zabilski, executive director of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.

In addition to job assistance and transitional housing, the society runs medical and dental clinics, assists individuals recently released from prison reintegrate into society and provides more than six million meals to hungry families and individuals each year.

The breakfast fundraiser, which attracted lawyers, city councilmen, a former NBA All-Star, philanthropists and lay people, raised an estimated $500,000.

“It’s such a reward to know you are a part of helping people,” said attendee Frances Gamez, a St. Gregory parishioner and Vincentian Support Services volunteer. “Besides, years ago I was on the other side ... what were we put here on this Earth to do but to assist someone in need?”