Organization
The St. Vincent de Paul Society Belleville Council (SVDP) has been serving the poor, hungry and homeless of East St. Louis, IL and surrounding counties since 1917. Through its various programs, SVDP serves more than 7,000 people annually and provides over 100,000 meals per year through its soup kitchen, open 7 days per week year-round. SVDP also offers a Thrift Store for clothing and household items and has an Outreach Ministry Center that provides the poor with assistance with their rent and utilities, offers educational classes, helps clients complete online job applications, apply for state IDs and other documents needed for work or housing.
Partnership #1 (2019)
In response to growing need and limited options for homeless families with children, the Brown Sisters Foundation supported SVDP in building a 5,000 square foot Night Drop-In Center in 2019. The Center is filled to capacity year, annually serving 1,200 people experiencing homelessness. Throughout the pandemic, SVDP programs and services stayed open when many other area social service programs either closed or worked remotely.
Partnership #2 (2021)
In addition to responding to increased housing needs and food insecurity within East St. Louis, SVDP is preparing for changes in their organizational life cycle, volunteer base, and donor habits. The Brown Sisters Foundation issued a challenge grant to strengthen SVDP’s development strategy and community awareness, and to attract new supporters to the ministry.
Partnership #3 (2024)
St. Vincent de Paul currently provides housing support to 100+ people each night in their Emergency Shelter, and are continually at capacity. To provide more upstream solutions to the challenge of homelessness, they will provide new services through its Outreach Support Services ministry that will enable people experiencing homelessness to obtain permanent housing and prevent people from actually becoming homeless and relying on Emergency Shelter services. They will expand services to help people obtain Birth Certificates, State IDs, Social Security Cards, and other required documents for self-sufficiency, as well as build resumes, complete online job applications, and learn best practices for interviews, and meet needs to help people stay in their jobs.