HELP OTHERS
| ST. VINCENT de PAUL SOCIETY |
| District Council of Santa Cruz, California |
| Let Us Introduce Ourselves |
We are an international charitable society organized in 1883 by Frederick Ozanam, a student of the University of Paris. He wanted to address the needs of the poor during the industrial revolution. He also wanted to improve the lives of young people by urging them to perform works of charity rather than just talking about how they ought to be done. The group took as its patron the great French priest St. Vincent De Paul, who had alerted the world of his day to many social problems. The group began by visiting the poor in their homes and assisting them both spiritually and materially. The Society spread throughout Europe and to the USA in 1845. Today there are over 4,500 active conferences in this country with about 70,000 active members. Annually the Society distributes over $200 million in direct aid to the poor in the USA.
As often as you did it for one
of my least brothers. You did
it for me.
