Society of St. Vincent de Paul is an international Catholic organization that is best known in the U.S. for its non-profit thrift stores, where persons can donate goods for a tax write-off or simply to get things out of their homes and makes space for new items. These thrift stores, commonly known simply as St. Vincent's, accept all manner of items, from clothing to kitchen ware to televisions, books, games, and much more. St. Vincent's then turns around and sells these items which are donated to it at bargain basement prices to people who typically cannot afford to purchase off-the-rack merchandise at retail stores or malls. The small profit on each item that St. Vincent's makes is then given back to the community in the form of vouchers or small incentives that help people in various ways: for example, some people are helped to make their rent payments for that month, others are helped in terms of being provided with food and/or shelter -- it all just depends upon the needs of the individuals who apply for aid. Thus, the Society has a long history of helping underprivileged persons around the world and its St. Vincent thrift store centers are just one of the ways in which it goes about doing this service for communities. This paper will talk about St. Vincent's and how it operates to give back to people in need. History

The Society of St. Vincent de Paul was started in France in 1833 as the "Conference of Charity" ("The Beginnings of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul"). The aim of this Conference was to assist the poor in France. This movement was driven by Frederic Ozanam in France. From there, the movement spread to the United States, where in St. Louis it was founded just 12 years after Ozanam started his conference across the Atlantic. So great was the need and the awareness of members of the Church to help the poor that the organization grew rapidly. The Society took for its patron St. Vincent de Paul who lived from 1580 to 1660 because he was known as the "Apostle of Charity" (O'Donnell 13). Vincent was a leader of communities and a trainer of priests who looked out for the poor and dedicated their lives to helping this portion of the community. This is the reason Vincent was chosen as the patron of this organization's special purpose.

From its humble beginnings in St. Louis, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul grew and grew, helping families in the new age of Industrialization, as many migrant workers came to urban areas in America to work. They lived impoverished lives and had little pay and small dwelling spaces. Families were crammed in pockets of poor housing and they clearly needed help in this new era, which seemed to value production more than it valued human lives and quality of life. For this reason, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul grew even more popular in the 20th century as it sought to help these families and give them the necessities of life to ease their burdens. As Robert Mathisen states, "It was in this atmosphere of increased labor activity and a mounting call for reform that Catholics began to evaluate their response to the new social order brought on by industrialization. For the majority, the answer seemed very clear: more charity" (377). St. Vincent's helped to provide adequate housing for new immigrants in America who came to take part in the Industrialization of the world, to find work and to make something for themselves and their families. The pursuit of the so-called American Dream was not always as bright and shining as Ben Franklin made it seem in his Autobiography: sometimes what was required was more than hard work and talent -- sometimes people needed charity and a helping hand -- and even Ben Franklin acknowledged in his Autobiography that he could not have gotten on without some monetary assistance or the extension of credit from time to time. With this in mind it is no wonder that the Society of St. Vincent de Paul flourished in America. With so many people willing to sacrifice for the American Dream, there was an even greater need for others to sacrifice in order to help them on their way.

Today

Today, St. Vincent's is a little different from what it was in the 19th century. For instance, it is now incorporated as a non-profit organization, which means it can take advantage of tax laws in the U.S. that allow non-profits to accept donations in exchange...

This is a big incentive for donors to contribute to the mission of St. Vincent's as they can end up writing off thousands of dollars worth of goods and items that can significantly reduce their tax burden when it comes time to do the household taxes every years.
In exchange, St. Vincent's receives items that it can then sell at discount prices to communities that cannot afford higher-priced items. But St. Vincent's does not profit from this sale, either. Of course, it must pay its staff and its directors, who oversee the individual chapter operations of St. Vincent's in their own specific regions. So at the same time that it provides inexpensive items to consumers in the area, it also serves to provide employment to people who need jobs. These people consists of managers and assistant managers, cashiers and stockers, directors and upper-level management -- all of whom help with the organization.

St. Vincent's also takes volunteers. Volunteers contribute a lot to the organization by donating their time and services in helping to make operations run more smoothly. For instance, in some chapters, there are programs set up where persons who run into trouble with the law have to perform community service in order to make up for their misbehavior. One of the options that these persons have is to help out at their local St. Vincent's thrift store. Here they will handle goods as they are donated and move them from the drop-off box or location to the handling portion of the store where they will be placed in storage so that managers can then go over them to see that they are in a saleable condition, price them accordingly, and then move them to the floor. Volunteer efforts are something that St. Vincent depends upon -- and these efforts do not simply come from persons who are required by law to do community service. On the contrary, a lot of assistance comes from persons within the community who simply have time and want to help out in a positive way. These persons will also come and help to organize the store and keep it clean. They are not allowed to operate the cash register and this is not in keeping with sound economic and law practices, but their help in organizing the store is still invaluable, as the less cluttered a store is the more likely goods will move and be sold, which means the store will generate more money for assistance of those in need within the community.

The way the assistance program works is this: if persons in the community need help with rent or providing clothing or household goods, they can apply to the voucher program. They will be given vouchers that they can use, if their income is below a certain threshold. These vouchers are redeemable at the St. Vincent's stores. This means that people who have low income are who need help financially will be able to shop for the goods they need without having to pay for them -- they just use a voucher and then they can get what they need.

Other services are also provided from St. Vincent's however -- just some of things that St. Vincent's helps out with are rent/utility assistance, food, prescription medication, bus tickets, furniture and much more. In fact, St. Vincent's states that it "provides spiritual, emotional and material assistance on a person-to-person basis" at its Outreach Centers ("Need Assistance").

St. Vincent's also partners with other groups to help with specific seasonal programs, like the Christmas toy gift giving program, or the seasonal food basket program, that it coordinates with local colleges. In short, this non-profit helps to bring community members together in a spirit of giving, uniting various levels of participants from all sectors of the community. There are programs whereby persons can participate by "adopting a family" and focus on providing assistance to a particular family in the community that needs help. Or participants can simply donate to an angel toy program that allows them to give to children.

St. Vincent's also helps to organize various food and fund drives that encourage locals to participate in events like 5k walks or sports activity food drives, where canned goods are collected. The non-profit also goes out of its way to collect items from people who cannot bring them to…