Sunday, September 26, 2021

Thankfully, most of our neighbors’ needs are easy to understand, and, thanks to your generous financial support, we can address them with funds. But we also always pray with our neighbors, and they are so grateful that someone has listened to them and not “blown them off”. 

Once in awhile, we encounter a situation that needs more than what our skill sets are capable of providing. When a neighbor is dealing with mental health issues, it is often difficult to know what to do…When we can see that a certain behavior is only leading to further problems, it is hard to say “No” to a neighbor. And when they resist getting help for themselves, it becomes frustrating.

So, our plea this week is for your prayers… for our troubled neighbors AND for our Vincentians who try very hard to be Christ-like messengers. Thanks so much. 

St. Vincent’s feast day is September 27.

18 Months of Outreach in a Flash!

In the 18 months since we launched our remote Outreach program at the start of the pandemic, the Outreach volunteer team has made approximately 2,100 phone calls on Thursdays, with 1,800 of them resulting in neighbors being helped the day we called! Of the roughly 300 people who weren't helped the Thursday we called them, the majority had paid off their current utility bill and we helped them with their bill the next month. Special thanks to John Sweitzer for the countless hours he has spent automating our guest database, generating statistics, and otherwise helping reduce the administrative load of Outreach!