Fall 2022 Update

RITI (Room in the Inn)

This program started back up Nov. 1 at the Ozanam Center and other hosting sites to provide shelter for the homeless with hot meals, a place to shower, recharge, relax, a good night's sleep and breakfast before being taken back to the RITI headquarters on Ayers where they were picked up the night before.

Thank you to members of St. Ann Bartlett, IC, St. Patricks and St. Louis Parishes for taking different nights to provide this much-needed service during the cold winter months at the Ozanam Center.

Our Food Donations

We are so very fortunate to have great relationships with so many people and organizations. Through the Food Recovery Networks, we receive on Tuesday and Friday large pans of food from Rhodes College that makes for several days of healthy, filling, professionally prepared food. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday we pickup donations from Chic-Fil-A at 4649 Summer Avenue...Go See Them!! Everyday a lady named Jenny from Barksdale Restaurant at 237 Cooper brings leftover cornbread and rolls...the best you ever tasted...visit them soon. Methodist Men's Food Donation program delivers Costco items every Saturday. Lots of produce, sweets and deli foods. Palazola Produce comes about once a week with fresh apples, oranges and bananas. Our guests love bananas! King Cotton / Monogram Foods donates hot dogs, sausages and lunch meat on a regular basis at the drop of a hat. Madonna Circle and the Indian Community of Greater Memphis each provide regular meals that are purchased from Cash Savers or Leonard's BBQ. Madonna Circle is providing the meal this Thanksgiving. Please say a special prayer of thanks to all these in-kind donors for all they do for those in need. And can't end this without mentioning our friend Jay Bean who brings us Panera Bread whenever we need it and also takes extra produce and food that we can't store to other nonprofits like Friends for Life and Union Mission. Everything finds a home!

Babysteps Back to Normal

Before COVID (as we all continue to say) we served people a sit-down meal in the dining room at the St. Vincent de Paul Food Mission. Since COVID, we have served to-go plates through a door to our friends who line up outside to get a meal. Since the weather has started to get so cold and unpredictable, we have allowed our guests to come in, sit and even have lunch with God in his chapel. I grabbed this picture from the back before we had many come in for the day out of respect. They also have access to the bathroom facilities, which they really appreciate.

One day soon, when we have at least 6 to 7 volunteers every day, we will start serving in the dining room again. We have to be consistent when we start. We are currently providing 150 to 250 plates daily...this includes seconds at 10:30!

Volunteer Odyssey

This is the volunteer organization that the St. Vincent de Paul Food Mission uses to get people involved by volunteering to help prep, plate and serve the food. And there is always clean up afterward. We are meeting many new people from university students to professionals to families who want to give back to the community. Many of them have started to be regular volunteers.

If you would like to volunteer follow this link!

We would be delighted to meet you and serve those in need alongside you.

People often leave comments on Volunteer Odyssey, but this is from a young person who is now a regular volunteer:

My Reflection • October 28, 2022

For this community service experience, I visited Society of St. Vincent de Paul where they feed the homeless 7 days a week. Our tasks for the day included meal preparation, sorting, and assisting the homeless in the chapel. This week we served over 100+ plates, and we also were able to give them the opportunity to come inside out of the cold and eat their meal and also use the bathroom if they needed to. This experience was rewarding because they were very outwardly expressive of their gratitude and were willing to have conversation. This experience challenged me as well, because while I am not accustomed or trained in approaching individuals with visible signs of mental illness, I feel as though this opportunity gave me experience not out of a textbook which allowed me to sympathize and offer compassion and not a robotic response. I believe using that approach made the experience more pleasant for them and me as well.