The St. Vincent de Paul Society in Magnolia has stepped forward to help residents in the 98199 zip code with bills since the Magnolia Helpline closed, according to Joan O'Sullivan, the charitable organization's president.
"We do the same sort of thing the Helpline does," she said.
And the decades-old society's connection to the Helpline goes back a long time, according to past president Maureen Allenbach.
"In fact," she said, "I helped them when they first started out because they didn't know what to do."
The connection often involved the two groups each contributing money to help people in need, O'Sullivan said. Those needs include help with food, rent, gasoline, electric bills and even furniture from St. Vincent's secondhand store on Aurora Avenue North, she explained.
However, St. Vincent's doesn't hand out cash. Instead, the organization provides vouchers that can be used - among other places - at Magnolia grocery stores, gas stations and Bartell Drugs for people needing to get prescriptions filled, O'Sullivan said. "So we're very lucky like that, that the merchants are like that."
Based at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic church in Magnolia, St. Vincent's also pays rent money directly to landlords, said Allenbach, who added that St. Vincent's volunteers also visit homes to determine whether there are other needs they don't know about.
Belying the impression that Magnolia is home only to the well-to-do, there is a lot of subsidized and low-income housing in the neighborhood, O'Sullivan noted.
"A lot of people we serve are the working poor," she said, adding that their clients don't have to be Catholic to get help.
Still, some people are reluctant to call St. Vincent's for help because of the embarrassment factor, according to O'Sullivan. There's no need, she said. "We have a confidentiality rule."
Unlike the Helpline, St. Vincent's hasn't seen a drop in the number of people who need a helping hand, O'Sullivan said. Last year the organization spent $20,400 helping 120 clients, she said.
The year before that, O'Sullivan added, St. Vincent's spent approximately $15,000 on clients.
Parishioners using special envelopes at Our Lady of Fatima can donate directly to St. Vincent de Paul, and they're doing so at a higher rate than before, she noted.
"We're getting more money than we used to, so we're able to help more."
In addition, the Helpline is donating its leftover donations to St. Vincent's, O'Sullivan said.
Furthermore, St. Vincent's volunteers are unpaid, so there is no overhead, she said.
But the society has one problem that can make giving difficult, O'Sullivan said. "People don't know about us."
St. Vincent de Paul's can be reached at 283-1456.
Staff reporter Russ Zabel can be reached at 461-1309 or rzabel@nwlink.com[[In-content Ad]]
