St.
Mark The Evangelist RC Church St. Vincent de Paul
Group
Award for Community Service in
Recreation & Livable Communities
This
community organization has been actively helping people for 45 years and
received a recognition award from the former city of Aylmer a few years ago.
The St. Vincent de Paul Group (SVDP) St. Mark's Church Conference is dedicated to the "Service of the Poor" in the Aylmer area. Their main mission is to provide food to those in need on an emergency basis. However, they also provide assistance in many different ways when they are able, such as clothing, transportation, furniture, appliances and money for medicine. They have also been known to pay peoples' rents to avoid evictions and heating bills. The SVDP Group of St. Mark's supports the 'Feed-A-Child' Program that assures nutritious lunches for those school children who would otherwise go without.
In the year 2004 alone, the expenditure for food vouchers, clothing transportation, furniture, appliances, medicine, rents and heating bills was over $19,000.00; funds that were raised by the SVDP Group's efforts and donated through St. Mark's Church. In all, the organization was able to help 73 families in the Aylmer area consisting of 103 adults and 115 children for a total of 218 persons in 2004. This does not include the time that the volunteers contributed to console and direct those who were served to help them find ways to improve their quality of life.
In the words of Jack Croft, who nominated this organization for a West Quebecers Community Award, "I sincerely believe that this small group of volunteers should be recognized for the tremendous service this organization has provided for this community over the years. In my estimation, the greatest gift that they were able to bring to those who are less fortunate is HOPE".