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Causes: Homeless & Housing, Homeless Centers, Homeless Shelters, Human Service Organizations, Human Services, Thrift Shops
Mission: The district council of madison inc. , society of st. Vincent de paul is a catholic lay organization in which members join together in friendship to grow spiritually by providing person-to-person services to our neighbors in need.
Programs: Our seven dane county thrift stores, together with the processing center that distributes goods to them, provide the largest share of the funding for our mission of helping neighbors in need. This store funding is the net revenue produced through the sales of donated, gently used goods - including clothing, shoes, furniture, housewares, books and more. These goods are received through home pick-up by our trucking fleet, collection at several local drop box sites, and donation directly at our stores. Our stores also provide direct charity to local people in need through a voucher system; clients who have been interviewed by staff, members, or volunteers are able to visit our stores and obtain clothing, bedding, and housewares through the use of vouchers. In the last fiscal year, our seven stores provided over $1. 56 million in net revenue to fund our mission of charitable aid. Those stores also gave to people in need, directly out of store inventory, clothing valued at $303,102, furniture worth $53,132, new mattresses and portable cribs costing $70,237, and bedding valued at $66,554.
the center for vincentian charity in madison is the primary locus for provision of most of our basic-needs assistance to local low-income households. This facility includes our st. Vincent de paul food pantry, the largest food pantry in dane county. Staff and volunteers at the center issue vouchers to help people with clothing, furniture, bedding, housewares, prescriptions and other needed items. The center's staff also arranges for home visits by our members throughout the county to help determine the needs of households requesting assistance and to bring the society's resources to bear on the poverty we encounter. During the last fiscal year, our center's pantry provided local households with food valued at $1,384,034. During that year, our service center and pantry assisted dane county households with 81,226 people - including 34,841 children - in 27,628 instances.
on most nights about 60 men, women and children make their home in housing operated by st. Vincent de paul in madison. Port st. Vincent de paul provides emergency, transitional, and supportive housing for men. The st. Elizabeth ann seton house program offers transitional housing for women and their children. Staffed around the clock, the port is home to up to 34 men at a time. A caring team works to assess and meet residents' daily needs for food, hygiene items, clothing, employment contacts, service resources, case management and more. Our seton house program assists women transitioning from homelessness. As they work on plans for securing permanent housing, program participants are provided apartments in one of four seton house buildings. Residents participate in weekly activities related to their plans. In both of our housing programs, participants pay program fees to help offset the expense of the services provided. Port st. Vincent de paul and seton house provided approximately 14,000 bed days of shelter to 135+ men, women, and children for the year.