"…Amen I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least ones of mine, you did for me." – Matthew 25:40
The goal of St. Vincent de Paul in Norfolk is to assist people who are experiencing a financial crisis.
But what happens when the organization faces a crisis of its own?
That’s what Dan Harrison, president of St. Vincent de Paul in Norfolk, is asking as the Catholic Church-based charity moves into its new fiscal season.
“What we’re running into,” Harrison said, “is the numbers of people seeking help have just exploded.”
Since the early 1980s, St. Vincent de Paul in Norfolk – located at 205 S. Sixth St. – has assisted people in need throughout the Norfolk area. The worldwide Society of St. Vincent de Paul was founded by Blessed Frédéric Ozanam and six of his companions in April 1833 as a way to “embrace the world in a network of charity.”
In Omaha, there are about 24 conferences (chapters), some covering areas not much larger than a square mile. St. Vincent de Paul in Norfolk is considered a remote conference and covers the area that makes up the Heart of Jesus Family of Catholic Parishes.
Harrison’s mom was one of about six original members who assisted with the organization as it began operation under Father Harold Buse, who was serving as pastor at Sacred Heart Parish at the time.
Up until a few years ago, the number of people seeking assistance from the Norfolk conference was relatively small. So small, in fact, Harrison said it was common to have three volunteers on hand to work with one person in need.
“You might not see anybody, and very small numbers – two people (volunteering) – could easily handle it,” Harrison said.
Since the COVID pandemic, however, the number of people seeking assistance in the Norfolk area has steadily grown.
“Some days we see four or five people, which is unusual, and we wonder, ‘What’s going on?’ Other times, we’ll see anywhere from 10 to 15 people coming in,” said Theresa Ramirez, a member of St. Vincent de Paul in Norfolk. “They don’t have to make an appointment. They come in and sit in the lobby, and we take them in the order they come in. …Some days our waiting room is full.”
In the past fiscal year – which ended Sept. 30 – the Norfolk conference helped 2,228 clients, which equated to 4,344 people when considering the spouses and children, as well.
“They’re families – two to four kids – mostly,” Ramirez said of the people being assisted. “We have single moms and single dads that come in, too.”
St. Vincent de Paul does not receive federal or state funding. As such, it relies on contributions from generous donors, but with the increasing number of people seeking assistance combined with the inflation of prices of groceries and utilities, it’s getting difficult to keep up with the need.
“We had a huge donation from a parishioner a couple of years ago that has helped us immensely the last couple of years, and we had an individual who gave a tremendous amount of money, but now it doesn’t work for him to give that amount,” Harrison said.
The organization is currently exploring other revenue streams. Earlier this year, St. Vincent de Paul worked with the Big Give. It is also reaching out through connections and is now benefitting from a program started by the Knights of Columbus.
Unfortunately, the Norfolk conference has had to reduce the amount it provides each neighbor seeking assistance so that it can remain viable.
“The money we have is just not going to sustain that,” Ramirez said. “If we don’t get any more donations, we’re going to be out of money probably within six or seven months.”
Ramirez said the needs they’re seeing are related to cases most people probably would not consider – sudden job loss, serious illness or injury preventing people from work are among them.
“There’s a lot of people in that situation where just one little thing is going to set them behind,” she said.
Ramirez said the organization also tries to connect neighbors in need with other resources available in the community like the Salvation Army, Norfolk Rescue Mission and Good Neighbors.
“Some people know about those organizations. Others don’t because they’ve never been in a situation where they’ve needed help before,” Ramirez said. “For those people, it’s pretty traumatic to come in and have to tell us their story. They’re embarrassed or ashamed.”
Ramirez said volunteers reassure those who come in for assistance that everything is confidential.
“That’s what we’re there for,” she said. “No matter who they are – their nationality, race, culture, their situation. We’re there to serve all of them.”
“The thing that makes us attractive to our neighbors is that they can come in and they’re going to get seen in probably within 20 minutes, they can get instant gratification,” he said. “We’ll help them. If people have a medical appointment in Omaha or Sioux City, and they show us that they have that appointment, we will give them money for travel. We’re the only ones that do that.”
In addition to financial assistance, neighbors who come in needing help from St. Vincent de Paul in Norfolk receive spiritual encouragement from the volunteer who helps them, as well as a book and a rosary.
“We try to keep it away from being just a financial exchange and go one on one with them,” Harrison said.
“They’re like our neighbor that we’re helping,” Ramirez added.
A special collection will be gathered at Masses on Saturday, Nov. 2, and Sunday, Nov. 3, for St. Vincent de Paul. Other collections that are designated for the organization happen on Ash Wednesday, Thanksgiving and Holy Thursday.
Harrison said he hopes the second collection, as well as the organization’s other recent efforts, will not only help to raise funds but also raise awareness of the work done by and the need to support St. Vincent de Paul in Norfolk. The hope, he said, is that more people will be willing to make larger donations or help create a fund on which the organization can rely for a steady source of support. Donations also can be made at the Sacred Heart Parish Office at 204 S. Fifth St. in Norfolk.
“What we’re trying to do is let our parishioners know that there is a need, and we’re here to serve our neighbors,” he said.
“In some of the writings about St. Vincent de Paul, it talks about how in every person we see, we should be seeing the face of Jesus,” Ramirez said. “That’s kind of our motto, I guess, trying to help everyone as if we were helping Jesus.”
