District 2 Conference Updates

Vincentian Service Throughout North Texas

The St. Pius X Conference has paid lots of large rents this past year, but the most impactful service was provided for a family of 7 people – dad, mom, & 5 children. This family had been living in one room in a run-down motel for 4 long months! They had lived a good life in Missouri but suddenly lost everything they owned to massive flooding in that state. The wife’s father also died during that time, so they moved to Dallas to try and start over. But it turned out to be more difficult for them than they had imagined it would be.

The husband, after having been a bank manager in Missouri, was working for Door Dash, making just enough money each day to pay for the motel. The wife is a preschool teacher but couldn’t leave their 5 children alone in the motel room so she was not able to work. Thus, they were not able to save any money for a deposit on an apartment.

After two of their Vincentians took them food to the motel in early October, they were so moved by the plight of this family that they brought their story to one of our meetings where the members discussed how they could best help them. The wife had found a town home apartment which they could qualify for based on the husband’s income. But they needed $3600 (deposit & first month’s rent) to be able to move in.

The conference started working with the management company to negotiate a quick move-in date if they would pay the first $1800. Then we talked to the husband and wife and helped them apply for an SVDP mini loan for the other $1800. We delivered our $1800 check for the first month’s rent on October 11; the MLP workers processed the loan very quickly; and the management company agreed to let the family move in October 27. What a joyful day that was!!

The conference also provided the family vouchers to the SVDP Thrift Store for beds, furniture & household items. The wife went to work in a pre-school; the children are all healthy now & in school, and the husband started a new job in a bank. The St. Pius Catholic Daughters offered to help the family with beautiful Christmas gifts of clothes, household items, and toys. Great team effort getting this precious family’s life back in order!

St. Patrick Conference

The St. Thomas Aquinas Conference had a lot of fun serving their neighbors over the holidays. For Thanksgiving, they assembled bags of food and distributed them to 63 families (222 individuals)! They reported having a fun time, and the neighbors enjoyed the delicious food.

For Christmas, they organized a Magi Tree, where they collected gifts for their neighbors, the St. Patrick’s Refugee program, and some of the Council’s StudyTime Families. They placed over 500 tags on their tree, which represented between 800 and 1,000 gifts!

Once all of the gifts were ready, they organized a distribution day, complete with a Santa to greet the kids. Thanks to their hard work, generosity, and holiday spirit, their recipients had an excellent Christmas.