SSVP CANADA NEWS - January 17, 2024

SSVP CANADA - January 17, 2024

NEWSLETTER

MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

Happy New Year fellow Vincentians,

I hope that you enjoyed the Christmas holidays and that you had some time to relax and rejuvenate after providing assistance to our neighbours in need.

In the next few newsletters, you will hear from the new National Council board members and committee chairs who will introduce themselves and share their vision for the National Council Board. I am excited to be working with the new board and staff, and look forward to accomplishing a lot of good work together over the next years.

Linda Dollard, President
National Council of Canada

NEW NATIONAL BOARD MEMBERS

Omar Ellis, VP
Social Justice

I am currently President of the St. Leonard Conference and since 2013 have held several leadership positions at various levels including Peel North Particular Council, Toronto Central Council and Ontario Regional Council.

Denise Ouellette, VP
Strategic Planning

I worked as Executive Director for the SSVP Central Council Montreal. Since retiring, in 2021 I volunteered for Imagine Canada and Sun Youth and am a member of the Advocacy Circle, a subcommittee of SSVP Canada.

Jeff Kucharski, VP
Governance

I have been an active Vincentian for more than 10 years and a member of the Sacred Heart Conference in Victoria, BC. In addition to my role as Vice President Governance on the National Council, I have served as Vancouver Island Particular Council President for the past 6 years.

2023 FINANCIAL AND STATISTICS ANNUAL REPORTS

Each council and conference is required to prepare an annual report, which is consolidated with all Canadian conferences and councils.

BC & Yukon and Western members can immediately access the Members Portal to complete their annual reports online.

➡️ members.ssvp.ca/?return=/Dashboard

If your conference or council does not have access to the Portal, please contact your next higher council.

Remember: All 2023 annual reports submitted through the Members Portal must be entered by an administrator.

For more information, please visit the Members Portal information page:

➡️ ssvp.ca/members/portal/

Ontario, Québec and Atlantic members please visit our website to download the Excel documents (9.3 Section A-B and Section E).

➡️ ssvp.ca/members/annual-reports/

Conferences should send their reports to their next higher council by January 30^th.

NORTH OF 60

KUUJJUAQ MISSION

Mission
The UCL is a local non-profit organization founded in 2009, whose mission is to house men with severe and persistent mental health problems. As such, it also qualifies as a supervised home. The organization offers these men a healthy, safe environment, with opportunities for recovery, to foster their social integration into the community. The approach adopted by the organization is based on the therapeutic management model, meaning that each person participates in the management of the home according to his or her interests, abilities and wishes.

Services
Many services are offered. However, we are particularly interested in those that are closer to the mission of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, namely food assistance and thrift stores as tools for socio-economic development.

TWINNING

NICARAGUA
LATRINES AND WATER PURIFIER FILTERS PROJECT

A seventh community project was carried out in 2023. This was a project to improve the health conditions and quality of life of 46 peasant families in the Agricultural Colony of San Benito, located near the town of Tipitapa, Nicaragua.

More specifically, the project's objectives were to improve the health of families affected by the transmission of infectious diseases caused by contaminated water drawn every day from a river in the region, the elimination of excrement left directly in the environment due to lack of sanitation facilities and, the improvement of general hygiene practices at home.

REFLECTION

BEING READY TO HIS PRESENCE

Jesus said to the disciples: “Know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You must also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.” (Luke 12.39-40)

Msgr. Owen Keenan, the St. Patrick’s Church (Brampton, Ontario) pastor in his Oct. 25, 2023 Daily TV Mass homily highlighted the following:

The Lord invites us to be alert to His presence so we are not distracted by many things that steal from us our proper humanity, that steal from us our relationship of love with the Lord, that steal from us the grace we need. What we best thought of as attractions, they distract us from that which really matters. That we are so numbed by the amount of options, and the noise, the lights and all of the rest of it, that really it’s like as we look back, where did the time go? Our time has been stolen from us. And so, while there’s an appropriate place for recreation and an appropriate place for television and all the rest, let’s not allow the evil one to steal our time. Let’s use it wisely. And recognize Christ when He comes.

IN CONCLUSION

We regularly publish exciting facts about the SSVP. Visit our Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn frequently to find out more about the Society. To promote our publications, please like and share them. Links to our social media can be found at the bottom of this newsletter.

We are always looking for Vincentian testimonials and conference/council activity stories. Send your stories to share with Vincentians across Canada to editor@ssvp.ca.

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