On Sept. 26, we held our Annual Meeting of the Indianapolis Council of St. Vincent de Paul. As a nonprofit incorporated in Indiana, this meeting is required by Indiana law. In reality, it is a wonderful way to bring together all the people who make up our SVdP family.
After breakfast we held a mass, officiated by Fr. Jeff Godecker, a longtime friend of SVdP. Since Sept. 27, is the feast day of St. Vincent DePaul, Fr. Jeff used the mass for the feast day and highlighted many parts of St. Vincent’s life and writing in his homily. After the mass, Pat Jerrell lead us through a Commitment Ceremony to renew our commitment to the vision and mission of SVdP.
A high point of the meeting was a Past Presidents Roundtable with five Council past presidents: Don Herman, Sheila Gilbert, Don Striegel, Pat Jerrell and John Ryan. Collectively, they include most of the last 40 years of leadership of the Council. (A podcast of the event should be available soon.) They reflected on the many ways SVdP Indy has changed over the years while our mission has stayed the same. They also talked about how their work with SVdP has changed them personally and permanently. It was truly a moving discussion.
All our volunteers are vital to our mission, and I am so grateful daily for the miracles worked by the volunteers at SVdP each day. Each year at the Annual Meeting, we recognize volunteers from throughout the Council who have been notable in their support of our mission. (Read more about these award winners and their contributions.)
The breakfast and lunch for the event were catered by Jeff Bingham of Finley Fine Catering. Jeff is a graduate of our Changing Lives Forever program. One of his goals was to grow his catering company into a viable business. Needless to say, our guests for the day were favorable impressed!
Our Annual Meeting is a great time to reflect on all that we have done, and all we still need to do. This year was no exception. A special thanks to Jeni Christoffersen, East District President, and her team for making this such a memorable event.
