St. Vincent de Paul – Services and Programs

Feeding the Hungry – Thanksgiving Day Food Boxes and Turkey

Resurrection Conference was the first and for many years, the only conference providing and handing out food boxes for Thanksgiving Day in the Portland metro area. The boxes include the traditional thanksgiving trimmings and a gift card for the purchase of a turkey to complete the thanksgiving meal. We thank the parishioners of Resurrection Parish for their tremendous support each year as the holiday season begins with a wonderful tradition of giving and sharing.

If you or someone you know is in need as Thanksgiving approaches the members of Resurrection Conference encourage you or that someone to reach out and receive one of the Thanksgiving boxes. There are two ways to arrange to receive a box and gift card. First, you should call the SVdP Portland Council’s Emergency number at 503 235-8431. They will add the name to their list of recipients. Those boxes are distributed at a Catholic Parish in the Portland area on the Monday morning before Thanksgiving. In the recent past, it has been at St. Peters in Portland’s Lents district. That could change, but the volunteers at the Portland Council will give you directions. You will need photo identification when you pick up your box. The second way to get a box is to call Resurrection Parish office and add the name to their list. Those boxes and gift cards will be available on the Monday afternoon before Thanksgiving at Resurrection’s parish office.

As a Vincentian member of Resurrection Conference this annual event is one the most rewarding of the year. This effort requires nearly all of our 30 members to work as a team. Collecting, distributing and organizing a large group of tasks to all come together so one, sometimes-cold November morning we are able to see happy, relieved and appreciative recipients take home food boxes and gift cards for a turkey, so their families can celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday feast.

In November 2018, Vincentians from Resurrection Catholic Parish distributed 409 Thanksgiving food boxes to families that would have otherwise gone without on the very important family day. Everything necessary for a nice dinner plus additional food was in the box. The volunteers also give each family a gift card so they could purchase meat for their dinner.

Feeding the Hungry – Home Delivery of Emergency Food Boxes

The home delivery of food to recipients is the front line of service to those in need in the community.   The recipients are appreciative of the support the Vincentians can offer as the food delivered.

Food delivery teams are available every day of the week. Volunteers, working in teams of two or more, receive food requests on their assigned days and arrange an appropriate delivery time with the recipient. Teams then gather non-perishable food from the SVdP pantry at the parish, buy fresh meat, produce, as needed, from local stores for delivery. The Conference Treasurer reimburses food purchases.

Rent and Utility Assistance – Keeping People in Place

The payment of emergency rent and utility bills is to help keep people and families in place, stabilizing the lives of recipients. We hope that the assistance gives the recipients’ time to get back on their feet financially, avoiding dislocating them from jobs, schools and their support systems. Payments are arranged made directly to the landlord and utility company.

SVdP Mobile Kitchen – Serving those in underserved areas of Metro and rural Portland

From the support of Resurrection Conference and our parishioners the St. Vincent de Paul Mobile Kitchen serves clients in our communities where resources are limited and food and daily meals are less available. Recipients are everybody, and include children, families, homeless and the working poor.

Serving since 2007, the Mobile Kitchen is manned by on-site volunteers and a SVdP staff member the Mobile Kitchen annually provides 18,000 hot meals to individuals and families in need in the rural, greater Portland area.

The Mobile Kitchen is licensed by the Clackamas County Health Department and includes: picnic style tables and benches to seat 15 to 18 people, a stove for preparing hot meals on site, full refrigerator, sinks and air conditioning.

Disaster relief plans in Clackamas, Multnomah, Washington, Columbia and Clatsop counties rely on the Mobile Kitchen for response support.

The Mobile Kitchen is one of only two in the nation owned and operated exclusively by SVdP and funded by fresh food donations and financial contributions.