District 5 Conference Updates

Join A Local Conference!

Vincentian Service Throughout North Texas

St. Michael the Archangel Conference in Grand Prairie

At St. Michael the Archangel in Grand Prairie, volunteers make bags of food ready to donate Friday morning at the 8 am mass to neighbors in need. Vincentians also deliver it to neighbor homes. During Thanksgiving and Christmas they contact the families they helped during the year and give them a turkey/ham and all the trimmings for a Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner.

They have a great working relationship with their local school, and the school counselor contacts them if she finds a family in need of either food or help with utility bills. The school also has food drives and donates the food to their pantry.

The Corpus Christi Conference in Ferris is the newest Conference in District 5! They are very committed to having every thing in place so their ministry will be successful. They have a phone number via Google Voice and will have a message in both Spanish and English. They have contacted Oncor to get electric to the building they were given. They are grateful for the help from their community, which includes: a family owned cabinet company will install shelves for their food pantry, the Knights of Columbus are preparing the building for use, and the neighboring St. Francis conference is teaching them how to operate their food pantry. They are also planning on having a hygiene closet. It is an exciting time for this new conference!

Corpus Christi Conference in Ferris

Our Lady of Lourdes Conference in Dallas

Our Lady of Lourdes in Dallas is always thinking of different ways to reach out to their neighbors. They recently received a Diversity Membership Recruitment & Services Grant from the National Council and hosted a Vincentian Day retreat to recruit parishioners interested in the Society in February. They also had an open service activity day where they invited parishioners to make rosaries with them that they take to ill parishioners at St Joseph’s Residence, a Catholic center for elderly and the sick. All these activities are part of the grant that is allowing them to recruit in different ways.

They also use their black bag funds to help neighbors in surrounding area which are not covered by a Conference.

Learn More

The St. Joseph Conference attends mass together on the first Thursday of the month. The mass intention is for living and deceased SVdP members, and afterwards they have lunch together. This fellowship has improved their work together and helps them share ideas on how to better serve their neighbors.

They are glad they are able to visit their neighbors in person again. The SVdP Thriftstore truck is coming at the end of this month, and it usually comes 4 times a year. On July 1st they will be switching to Servware.

Learn More

St. Joseph Conference in Waxahachie

Immaculate Conception Conference in Grand Prairie

The Immaculate Conception Conference has a wonderful working relationship with Cross Roads Community Services. Their food pantry is open twice a month to serve their neighbors, and it is not unusual to see different types of meat: hamburger, chicken or ham. The neighbors can get food once a month, including: fresh produce, potatoes, onions, tomatoes, lemons, bell peppers.

Neighbors can drive up with their cars for interviews and food will be placed in the car. They also have Thrift Store boxes next to their building and have been getting so many donations that they need to be emptied twice a week.

Learn More

St. Elizabeth of Hungary in Dallas is very committed to doing the right thing for their neighbors. They get together twice a month and discuss the neighbors’ requests to make sure the funds entrusted to them by their parishioners are used in the most prudent way.

They recently changed their meetings to Thursday evening hoping to draw younger members. So far this has not worked and they might go back to their regular Saturday morning meeting.

Once a month on the fourth Thursday of the month, the Catholic Charity mobile community pantry comes to visits them so they can help their neighbors with food.

Learn More

St. Elizabeth of Hungary Conference in Dallas

St. Francis of Assisi in Lancaster

The Vincentians in Lancaster open their food pantry every Thursday for their neighbors, and in average they give away 1100-1200 pounds of food every week. This is amazing when you realize their pantry is only a 10×16 closet! They use 40% of their monetary donations from their parishioners to buy food.

They have their weekly meetings every Friday morning, and they are grateful that they work so well with the SVC center in Lancaster. They are planning a luncheon soon for all their volunteers and the church office employees to show them how thankful they are for all their help.

Learn More