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Dear Members, I wish all of you a blessed and joyous Easter. By the
time you receive this newsletter, the Easter baskets will have been
given out. To date, parishioners signing up to give baskets has
been very slow!!!
We are currently working on two projects that I would like
to bring to your attention:
#1 This Friday and Saturday, we are removing the wood
shelves from the far end of the pantry (near the pasta cabinet) and
replacing them with a double row of wire shelves. Hopefully this
will give us more room but more importantly it should provide a cleaner
environment for the food products. As of right now, the
pasta cabinet will probably have to go. Eventually, we would like
to do the complete closet but that will take time. Also, I am
distressed to remove the wonderful, professional wood shelves
built by Rupert Guzman and others.
#2 We are compiling a comprehensive Dutchess County resource
list to aid our clients and emergency clients find the
programs that could be helpful to them. Nick has done a great job
providing links on our web page but for those without the internet, we
are planning a single sheet or a tri-fold brochure which we can put in
the food pantry. Please let me know some of the issues
that are concerning your clients so they can be included. As an
example, two topics I was thinking of are emergency housing and
counseling services.
Some of our members now have MANY client families that
they are handling. If anyone can take on another family or knows
of a potential member, please call Linda Hunt at the hotline
227-7863. Ideally no member should have more than
three clients at one time.
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Our next meeting will be April 14 at 7 PM in the St.
Denis/St. Columba school library. Remember we need your
input!! See you at the meeting.
Sincerely, Carole Grafer, President Minutes of March 10, 2004 meeting. St. Vincent de Paul Society The meeting came to order at The minutes were read and accepted. In attendance were Chuck and Joanne Bunnell, Jack Kiely, Michele Berner, Betty Riggio, Nick Dono, Bill and Carole Grafer, Linda Hunt, Diana Villalta, and myself. St. Columba’s Operation Rice Bowl is sharing 25% of the money they collect to SVDP and various local charities. The other 75% of the money will go to Catholic Relief Services around the world. For the month of February, we helped 54 households of which 92 were children, 84 adults, 14 elderly and 1 emergency call. There were two trips to the food bank. One was on February 27 and again on March 3 for items that were not available on the first trip. We spent approximately $2200 on 3700 pounds of food. The weekend of March 20-21, Blessed Kateri will have a second collection for SVDP. We will also be receiving a $1000 check from Partners in Caring, for our food bank purchases. As of yet, there is no date when the check will arrive.
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From the IBM Community Service grant, we will purchase a new heavy-duty storage cabinet. We will also make some changes to the food pantry and the hallway. The pasta closet will be removed and the old, worn out wooden shelves, will be replaced with wire racks. Fishkill Plains Elementary is collecting apple juice for us and Joanne purchased 36 canned hams from Shop Rite in Fishkill at half price. One of the local Girl Scout Troops will be delivering 50 boxes of cookies on Monday. Carole went to the Altar Rosary's potluck dinner, which is held annually and is happy to report that SVDP received half of the 50/50 raffle and other raffles that they had. At the regular monthly Altar Rosary Society meeting, SVDP receives all the money collected. We appreciate their commitment to SVDP. We are hoping to hand out the magnets at St. Columba Church some time in early May. St. Denis parishioners have been during a great job bringing in food donations since the magnet program was introduced. Linda went to the February Parish Council meeting and reported on several topics including the Cardinal's Appeal and Mel Gibson’s movie. With Easter fast approaching, we are still in need of one of the parish priest to bless the baskets. Linda made a list of volunteers who are willing to help on Palm Sunday. We will be handing out thank you slips to any one who drops off a basket. I filled everyone in on the baskets for Good Council. I will meet Kathy Jones on Saturday, April 3rd at the church. I filled the young women's baskets with candy, and personal items that are always needed. The food pantry had toothbrushes, toothpaste, small boxes of Kleenex and travel size items that were put in each basket. I added coloring books, crayons and little toys to the childrens' baskets. I used the left over Easter grass, plastic eggs and cellophane from last year.
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We had a long involved discussion on the topic of used clothing. Since SVDP does not accept and cannot store any clothing, footwear or outerwear, it was suggested that a ministry start a program to accept these items. Linda will mention it at the next parish council meeting. Our meeting ended, at Submitted by Emily Berberich.
SVDP Meeting Schedule April 14, 2004 May 12, 2004 June 9, 2004 7 PM in St. Denis/St. Columba School library.
We needed 43 more baskets on March 28th but I am confident I will get them filled. We will give out 90 baskets on Palm Sunday. I am not taking additional requests. I want to thank Jack and Nick for the wonderful job they do for SVDP... you are the best. Keep up the good work; you both are appreciated. I also want to thank everyone who gives of their time to help our families. The Boy Scouts of Troop 40 always help us tremendously. Thank you to my committee who have helped me more than I can say. If any member wants to help on Palm Sunday, please call me or just come to the St. Deni/St. Columba School, (845)227-7863 Linda Hunt |