By Paul Ainslie, SVdP Indy President
Our volunteers and staff are currently preparing our annual Impact Report. The Impact Report summarizes our fiscal year (Oct. 1, 2021 – Sept. 30, 2022) work in support of our neighbors in need. As I’ve stated before in this column, the need among our neighbors has grown significantly in the past year. For example, shopping at our 30th Street Food Pantry in Indianapolis has increased over 75% from Oct. ’21 to Sept. ’22. More than 42,000 new shoppers came to the pantry in that time frame. We served over 20,000 unique households, with most households shopping one or two times each month. Combined, this totaled nearly 120,000 pantry shopping visits and home deliveries—that equates to about $16M in food provided to our neighbors in need. Other pantries in the Council also worked hard to meet increased demand in their communities.
Our Conference members made over 18,000 home visits, helping approximately 50,000 people last year. In the process, our members drove over 230,000 miles—almost the distance to the moon. Conference service hours from our 2,000+ members and volunteers totaled over 130,000 hours.
Our ministries serving the unsheltered with food, clothing, personal hygiene items and bicycles helped over 14,000 individuals struggling with life on the streets. The value of these goods and services was nearly $600,000.
The complete Impact Report will be available later in February.
These are lots of numbers, and the numbers do matter. But at the core of our work is the one-to-one help we give. A home visit. A home delivery. A smile in the food pantry. A bed for a child sleeping on the floor. This is the type of service championed by St. Vincent de Paul 375 years ago and put into universal practice by Frederic Ozanam and his colleagues at the Society’s founding in 1833. We have a long tradition of meeting those in need where they are, and hopefully helping them to a better level.
Our volunteers are the heart and soul of the work we do. Thank you for all your hard work, and may God bless.
