St. Vincent de Paul Society

Nativity Conference of the St. Vincent de Paul Society

The Saint Vincent de Paul Society (SVdP) is an international Catholic organization devoted to caring for the poor that was founded in Paris in 1833 by Blessed Frederick Ozanam. The society has 32 conferences in San Mateo County. Nativity’s conference was founded in 1964o. In 1900 the beautiful rose window was donated by the Altar Society and placed over the main altar.

Our Services

Our primary service is to provide food, which we generally obtain from Second Harvest Food Bank, and grocery store gift cards. Our service is somewhat unique from food banks and other similar forms of assistance in that Nativity volunteers deliver resources directly to the homes of our requesting neighbors. We provide these resources to any person or family in need one time per month. We endeavor to make these deliveries on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, depending on the availability of our volunteers.

Our conference also assists the Society of St. Vincent de Paul of San Mateo County in processing requests for rent and utility assistance. Further, we provide vouchers for use at St. Vincent de Paul thrift stores in San Mateo County. Information about the thrift stores can be found at this link - Shop SVdP Stores - SVdP San Mateo (svdpsm.org), and more information about the Society of St. Vincet de Paul of San Mateo County in general can be found here - Home - SVdP San Mateo (svdpsm.org).

Here are some statistics about the services our conference provided in 2021:

Over 850 home visits were completed
We delivered food and gift cards with a conservative value of over $130,000
We provided our services to roughly 1,300 people, most of whom were visited by our volunteers' multiple times during the year
We interviewed numerous neighbors that had been referred to us by the St Vincent de Paul Society of San Mateo County for rent and utility assistance and were able to make contributions along with the County to many of these applicants.
Our conference also provided monetary support to St. Vincent de Paul’s Redwood City Homeless Help Center and its Catherine Center, a residential safe home for women recently released from incarceration.

We provide service to all neighbors in need regardless of race, religion or other factors. Our only requirement is that the need is real and that the people we help live within the parish boundaries.

How to Reach Us

Anyone in our parish seeking assistance from the Nativity conference should call the help line maintained by the Society of St. Vincent de Paul of San Mateo County (650-343-4403). The San Mateo County office retrieves the relevant information and transmits it to our volunteers electronically.

How to Support Us

We are supported by the generous donations of Nativity parishioners. Our recurring source of funding is “Fifth Sunday brown bag” collections in those months in which there is a fifth Sunday. Brown bag donations can be made through your parish envelopes or by dropping a donation with one of our volunteers outside of church after mass on the fifth Sundays. Please be generous and thank you in advance. We also are fortunate to receive year-end and other one-time donations, which can be mailed to or dropped off at the parish office. Parishioners making their regular donations online through the parish’s online giving portal - Church of the Nativity - Menlo Park, CA | Online Giving (osvhub.com) – will find a tab there for donations to our Society. Finally, we have received bequests through the estates of our parishioners and from families asking that donations be made to us on behalf of deceased family members.

Needless to say, all manners of support are welcome. Donors can be assured that their gifts will be put to good use. As noted below, we are a volunteer-run operation and have virtually no overhead.

Join Us!

The Nativity St. Vincent de Paul Society is entirely staffed by volunteers. Our volunteers consistently find this work to be among the most fulfilling things that they do. Many have been at it for years, but we have many recent volunteers as well. Volunteers are free to select the times at which they can assist us, so this is not a burdensome commitment. The most compelling need is for those who can make deliveries to neighbor’s homes. But we also need volunteer assistance to order, retrieve, pack and store food in our pantry and to help us keep track of our finances and gift cards. If anyone is interested in finding out more about this rewarding service opportunity, please call Dan Winnike (home: 650-325-5958; cell 650-714-4644), strike up a conversation with one of our Brown Bag collectors or speak with anyone you know who is involved with our conference.