September 2015 Our Lady of Charity Lancaster/Quartz Hill Conference THE VINCENTIAN TRUMPET

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1 September 2015 Our Lady of Charity Lancaster/Quartz Hill Conference THE VINCENTIAN TRUMPET Trevor Site 1, Suite B Trevor Site Trevor Site 3

2 WHO WE ARE For those of you who do not know us, we are Vincentians. Our founder pictured here, is Blessed Frederic Ozanam. In the spring of 1833, Frederic found himself challenged by fellow students to show us your good works today. Frederic was deeply troubled by this challenge because he realized that it was true, people always talk about doing good for others but rarely do anything about it. Frederic promptly set out with some friends to change the way things were. They located a simple charity run by Sister Rosalie and began their new mission by taking bread tickets to the poor. A local baker would redeem them for a loaf of bread. Later that same year, they started their own charity, naming it after St. Vincent de Paul. Who are we? We are your neighbors, your friends, your fellow workers, your priests. We are Christians who love to aid the poor in many different ways. And, yes, we still do things the old-fashioned way, just as Frederic and his friends did it over 180 years ago. We still take food to the poor families in need. We also comfort and care for the poor homeless who gather at our door, serving them a hot meal and giving them clean underwear, coffee, and a shoulder to cry on. Before they eat, we start our day with a prayer of thanksgiving to the Lord. If you d like to help us in some way, come and join in. If you can t, you can still be a Vincentian at heart just by sending us a check so that we can continue to do our Lord s work. A few people have even given us their cars. Not one of us receives even a penny. Officers President Don Willey Chairman of the Board Joyce Willey Vice President Kathy Clark Recording Secretary Teresa Matay Spiritual Advisor Teresa Matay Treasurer Cathy Cristos Corresponding Secretary and Thank You Susan Ortega Chairpersons Quarterly Mass Rep Dan Rejniak Garage Sales Tish Fox (Morris) Food Pantry Johnny Marchany Boutique Kathy Clark Newsletter Editor Michelle George Fr. Serra Rep. Susan Ortega Detention Ministry Don Willey Charley Shea Haircuts Diane Jones Greeter Alice Rodemeyer 2

3 September 2015 Calendar and other St. Vincent de Paul events SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT Women of Grace Miriam Sisters Don M OPEN Janet Fr. Serra K of C 4 th Degree Kathy C./ Mtg. 6-8 p.m. Sue/Mac Santee Latinos K of C 3 rd Degree Jane K. Fr. Serra Holy Cross K of C 3 rd Degree/ Mtg. 6-8 p.m. Johnny What God wants of you is that you should live each day as it comes, like a bird in the trees, without worrying about tomorrow. Be at peace and trust in Divine Providence and the Blessed Virgin, and do not seek anything else but to please God and love God. St. Louis Grignion de Montfort Blessed Fredric Ozanam's feast day is September 9 and his beatification was August 22, We celebrate St. Vincent de Paul s feast day September 29 3

4 NOTE: If you have any questions or would like to prepare a meal for the homeless, please check the calendar for open days and call the Center at (661) on M-W-Th-Sat from 9:00 am to 12:00 noon. Our mailing address is PO BOX 412, Lancaster While Fr. Tom is on vacation, please enjoy these short prayers by Fredric Ozanam and others: "Charity is the Samaritan who pours oil on the wounds of the traveler who has been attacked. It is justice s role to prevent the attack." - Blessed Frederic Ozanam If we wish to serve God and love our neighbor well, we must manifest our joy in the service we render to God and them. Let us open wide our hearts. It is joy which invites us. Press forward and fear nothing. -St. Katharine Drexel Christ has no body now on earth but yours, no hands but yours, no feet but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks with compassion on the world. Yours are the feet with which he goes about doing good, and yours are the hands with which he blesses all the world. -St. Teresa of Avila Being a Christian isn t just following the commandments; it means being in Christ, thinking like him, acting like him, loving like him. It means letting him take possession of our lives and change them, transform them, free them from the darkness of evil and sin. -Pope Francis Community is first and foremost a gift of the Holy Spirit, not built upon mutual compatibility, shared affection, or common interests but upon having received the same divine breath, having been given a heart set aflame by the same divine fire, and having been embraced by the same divine love. -Henri Nouwen 4

5 A Message from Joyce Hello everyone, looks like the triple digits are almost behind us. Thank goodness! We are morning people here at St. Vincent s so in a way that s a good thing. The clients are well fed, have clothing and other necessities and at 12 noon we are on our way home for some R&R. Of course, our work is never completed, even at home, there are things that need to be done, letters to write, bills to pay and plans to be made for the future. We are getting closer to starting our site 3 renovations. That job will be monumental. Therefore, in our next letter we should be able to give you some definite information as to how we are going to handle each aspect. Being realistic about it, we would hope to have the job completed sometime late December or early January. The good news is that the city is working well with us, we have a fantastic contractor, and our members are putting their heads together to help plan the layout of site 3. We ll have more on that later. However time goes by and we still have to make sure we are completing our mission as usual. In late October, we have taxes, reports for the Council and keeping up with the regular things that go on during the week. The good news is that we have some very fine people that have come to our humble site to volunteer. At our Quarterly Mass, we just inducted Judy and Veronica. They have been wonderful working with Johnny in the pantry and doing whatever is asked of them. Hopefully, at the next Quarterly Mass we plan to induct about 5 other good folks. We absolutely cannot complete this mission without volunteers like these. Our regular members have been great always coming in when they can and pitching in to help get the many jobs done. Tish has been our Yard sale chairperson for many years and she and her crew has done a fantastic job. It s unrealistic to ask them to work in this heat; however our next garage sale will be Saturday, September 26 th. So check out her article and plan to help her because this also cannot be done without lots of hands. Johnny surprised us by doing a very professional job of cleaning, moping and polishing our floors. Truly, when we walked in I felt like we could ice skate on them. God Bless Johnny for sharing his talents with us. Blessings, Joyce We are in need of more medicine bottles 2 to 4 oz. size, plastic bags, and hotel/motel samples of toiletry items. 5

6 A Letter from Your President: Vincentians, It is imperative that we here at St. Vincent s keep improving our environment in which we can better serve our clients. Remember, we serve not only our clients but our volunteers, who so graciously offer their talents and time to help us with this mission. The enhancement of course is in improving our site 3 location. At the present our clients are eating under our patio cover. Our goal is to serve inside our 4000 sq. ft. building. It will be a vast improvement for everyone and allow more room to serve and to be served. Each day that that we are open here at the Center provides new and different challenges; it s like a game of chess in that you never know what the next day will hold. I read this poem and it touched me deeply because it is what we as Christians are trying to do every day. It makes me feel as though God is encouraging us. By Will of God For each of us, upon this earth, there is a plan in place that God ordained for every soul-with sanctity and grace- for we are children (willed by Him) to populate this earth and multiply the love and joy he blessed upon our birth. It is our destiny and task to do his will and grow; and nurture, with our love and faith, the seeds we plant and sow: And we must build, with loving care, the beacons that will stand to light for those-who follow us-the glory of our land. And we must also share, with love, the gifts we earn and own and Shepherd those who lose their way in trails of heart and home for we are destined, by our birth, to live God s loving way and make each dawn we journey through-a better, Christian day. By Michal Dubina Yours in Christ, 6 Don

7 Prayer Corner Anyone who wishes to add names can contact SVDP at We would love to hear from you and hope that all our fellow Vincentians will lift these people in prayer: Tom Russell for severe back problems, Wayne Squire for special intentions, Jean Dexheimer for special intentions, Roberta and Walt Schmitt, and for all our clients, that God in his infinite mercy, will comfort them and send his angels to minister to them. Please pray for the soul of Mary Squire, the wife of one of our members from a long time ago. Praise God for all our success and ask him for healing for our people still in need of our prayers as well as all of our Vincentians who so generously give of their time and talents. GARAGE SALE NEWS Tish has informed us there will be a garage sale Saturday, September 26. We will load the truck Friday September 25 at 3:30 at site 2. Saturday morning we will start unloading the truck at The garage sale will be at Kirkland Lancaster, at the corner of Kirkland and East Avenue J, and will end at 12 o clock. We can use as much help as you are willing to give! Thank you. 7

8 02 Bob Wetzel 28 Johnny Marchany 30 Fr. Duane Pederson SEPTEMBER BIRTHDAYS 8