In the Catholic diocese, the feast day for St. Vincent de Paul was celebrated Saturday September 27th. It's a day when Catholics remember and celebrate someone important to their faith.
In this case, St. Vincent de Paul was a pastor who was born in 1581.

"St. Vincent de Paul is the patron saint of charitable societies in the catholic church. However, we were founded by a young man named Frederick Ozanam he was 20 years old a student studying in Paris.," said Susan Franko, President of St. Vincent de Paul NEO District Council.

Frederick created the charity to help the poor in Paris in 1833. By 1845, St. Vincent De Paul societies were being created by Catholic churches all over the U-S. This specific one in was established in Trumbull county in 1930.

"We provide safety net services for people struggling at or below the poverty line. facing food insecurity, housing and homelessness concerns.," said Darlene Jones, St. Vincent de Paul NEO.

The charity works to help people stay in their homes and have a comfortable place to sleep.

Sadly, there are children in our valley who are sleeping on the floor and some seniors are sleeping
on a recliner or couch because they can't afford a mattress with a frame or bedding.

St. Vincent De Paul helps to provide that. This room at their Warren headquarters gets filled and emptied each month with new mattresses.

"Rent assistance, mortgage assistance, utilities. Our sleep soundly program. We provide beds for those who can't afford beds. They are incredibly expensive and out of reach for most of the neighbors we serve," said Jones.

Though the St. Vincent de Paul society has catholic origins they do not receive funding directly from the Catholic Diocese. They make their money through their thrift shop locations like the one in Warren. They get the other half of their funding from private donations and grants.

Their Hunger Center Program has seen the numbers of meals they serve in their little kitchen more than double over the last five years.

"We served 118,000 drive thru meals at our dining hall. It's an average of about 500 people a day," said Franko.

Right now, volunteers cook all of these hot meals themselves, which are picked up by needy neighbors.

Their plan is to build a new dining facility to meet the increasing needs of the area right next door to their Nile road location next year. People will be able to eat there and the kitchen will be much bigger as well.

If you would like to donate clothes or other items to St. Vincent De Paul in Warren, you can do so at their Main Avenue SW store location.