FAMVIN: The International Vincentian Family

SSVP Australia quickly and generously responded by sending the financial assistance of AU$12,500 for the victims. See letter from Philippine National Resident.

The General Curia of the Congregation of the Mission has recently received an appeal from our confrere in China, Joseph Loftus, who is raising funds on line through his website in partnership with Catholic organizations at the scene. They are working diligently, but as you can imagine this is an unprecedented challenge as the scale [...]

Jim Kehoe, Snohomish County, Washington USA executive director of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, also serves on the Society’s national disaster relief committee. For the county’s newspaper he described what the Society is doing to help in Myanmar. Read the article; visit the US Society’s online donation site.

The Great Wall Appeal is a Web-based effort led by Joseph Loftus CM to connect people in rural China with the rest of the world. In the aftermath of the earthquake, the need becomes urgent. The Appeal, in partnership with Jinde Charites, is raising funds for relief of victims. Read about the appeal and read [...]

President of the US National Council of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul Joe Flanagan says that, because of relatively little red tape, the Society “is in a comparatively positive position” to help Myanmar cyclone victims. Read Mr Flanagan’s letter (.doc); donate online; also, read more about the disaster.

It’s called the Rebuild Center, a structure in the shadow of St Joseph Church, a parish which has been in the care of the Congregation of the Mission since 1858. Attendees of the US Vincentian Family Gathering in New Orleans had an opportunity to visit the Center on April 11.

Barbara Ryan, president of a State Council of the St Vincent de Paul Society in Australia, details the impact of the ongoing drought, one of the longest and most severe. Read the article.

It is hard to know where to begin the story of gathering some of the US Vincentian Family in New Orleans last week. There are many signs of hope. Rebuilding and building anew is underway. People are returning. The presence of a gathering such as the Vincentian Family’s is evidence that the city is [...]

ReliefWeb, which compiles news and information from multiple sources, has a Web page with links to current information about Pisco. Visit the page.

Joan Mahon, who has provided updates for the Vincentian family about the earthquake in Pisco, was the subject of a “Neighbors” feature this week in the Bradenton Herald. photo: Grant Jefferies, Bradenton Herald Read the story.

The September flooding continues to have an impact on 33 out of Costa Rica’s 81 cantons. Current situation report. (See the report of Fr. Nieto’s visit to Costa Rica in Nuntia, August 2007.)

I write not to ask for more financial help, but for you to feel the personal satisfaction of knowing your contributions have reached Pisco as intended. Joan Mahon writes…

The international site of the Society of St. Vincent dePaul  has recently posted a series of new items ranging from the Circular Letter of the International President , summary of activities  around the world and reports on natural disasters.

More than two weeks after the quake….. “Everything, absolutely everything is destroyed. Of course I knew this was the case. But one thing is to imagine it, and another to see it.”

• See comments on this article for an update - August 31, 2007
We have looked at many possible ways to get donations of all sizes directly to Fr. Alfonso Berrade, CM, in Pisco, a city that was 85% destroyed in the earthquake that shook Peru August 15th.