Giving the Vinnies a helping hand
It’s not uncommon to report on the efforts of charity workers over the festive season, but this year I decided to pitch in and assist their efforts.
I joined the Society of St Vincent De Paul’s Palmerston North president, Mike Keenan, for an afternoon, cruising around the city in the Vinnies truck, picking up donated furniture and donated food.
The obliging Keenan, patientwith my incessant questions about what work the society does, organises volunteers to visit the sick and elderly, and to deliver food parcels.
He’s also out on the streets picking up and dropping off donated items.
Keenan said the society delivers 15 to 20 food parcels aweek, and is at its busiest before Christmas. The Vinnies give 700 to 800 parcels to people in need during the year.
If people want help, they can call the St Vincent De Paul store or go to the parish office.
Mike and I hit the road for a run of furniture collecting from around the city.
We pick up a chest of drawers from Keenan’s generous neighbour, a lounge suite, and then some children’s chairs.
None of the lifting is too arduous, including the set of chairs and couches, even for someone who spends their days on the end of a keyboard and a notebook.
We load it all into the back of the truck and off we go, back to the shop, where it will be sold and themoney going to the charity.
When we pick up a lounge suite from Ozanam House, a few long-forgotten coins drop out of the armchair. It, too, assists the Vinnies’ collection box.
We stop off at the society’s food bank, which is filled with all sorts of nourishment.
We stock up on boxes of tinned fruit, biscuits and pasta to take to Women’s Refuge, which is a happy recipient of the food parcels.
The society’s foodbank at the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit in Palmerston North was burgled in December, but the response was huge, with donations flooding in, so it was swiftly restocked.
‘‘The generosity in the community is amazing,’’ Keenan said.
The St Vinnies shop regularly gets furniture and clothing donated. And another string to its bow is its help with advocacy for people in need.