On Dec. 31, 1857, the first St. Vincent de Paul conference in the Archdiocese of Chicago began serving those in need out of Old St. Patrick’s Church, and they haven’t stopped since.

St. Vincent de Paul Chicago supports conferences, or parish ministries, at 76 parishes or groups of parishes in the archdiocese, said Jennifer Ahern, CEO of St. Vincent de Paul Chicago.

The Society of St. Vincent de Paul was founded in France in 1833 by Frédéric Ozanam, a 20-year-old college student at the Sorbonne University in Paris.

Ozanam and some fellow students were responding to a challenge from a fellow student about what good works they were doing as Catholics in the name of God.

Ozanam named the society after St. Vincent de Paul, who dedicated his life to serving the poor in the 1600s.

In 1845, just 12 years after its founding in France, the society established roots in the United States in St. Louis. With nearly 90,000 Vincentian volunteers serving their communities, today’s society works in 4,428 parish-based conferences across the nation.

Like other social service organizations across the archdiocese, St. Vincent de Paul has seen an increase in request for help since the COVID-19 pandemic that has not abated.

“Housing prices and rent prices are through the roof, so we have a lot of people coming to us for housing assistance, for rental assistance,” Ahern said. “The utility bills are the same thing. They just keep going up. It’s just a massive demand throughout the Archdiocese of Chicago.”

The two St. Vincent de Paul thrift stores, located in Orland Park and Libertyville, have also been affected.

“I absolutely think economic factors are at play here as well when I look at my thrift stores,” she said. “Demand at my thrift stores has increased. I have more customers coming through my doors than did the year before, but they are buying less.”

That is because of the economy, she said.

“They are only there for what they need. We don’t have a lot of discretionary spending happening,” Ahern said.

All outreach done by  St. Vincent de Paul organizations is imbued with the spirit of their founder, Frédéric Ozanam.

“The Vincentian spirit is that when we go out and we help the poor, we see the face of God,” Ahern said. “We see Jesus in the ministry of that labor of love. That absolutely is what we’re doing on a daily basis.”

The face of Jesus looks a little different everywhere to Vincentians, as the parish-level volunteers call themselves. Most receive  requests for help from those who call their parishes. Volunteers then go out in pairs to meet with those who asked for help to determine how the Vincentians  can best assist them, whether it be providing vouchers for food or clothing or funds for utilities or rent or something else.

“Our motto is, ‘No act of charity is foreign to the society,’ so we’ve even been known to drive people to the doctor if they need it,” said Dana Pyzik, president of St. Vincent de Paul Chicago. “It’s whatever someone is available and willing to do at the time. Whatever they feel safe with.” 

The council supports parish conferences. Many conferences operate food pantries or regularly hold food or clothing drives. Others take on specific outreach efforts such as visiting nursing home patients, Pyzik said.

“They get to pick and choose,” she said. “We just tell the conferences we want them to help the poor. They can choose how best to do that.”

In St. Elizabeth of the Trinity Parish, that means focusing on homeless people, said David McNaughton, conference president at the parish, 6020 W. Ardmore Ave.

“Right now we stay really close to the homeless who are in Jefferson Park,” he said.

In particular, members focus on unhoused people around the bus terminal and partner with other groups to help them.

“When we do encounter someone with a particular need, we tend to that as well to bridge the gap,” McNaughton said. “We do a host of different things.”

The group also joined with nearby St. Vincent de Paul conferences to form the Pope Francis Center in Logan Square,  3534 W. Diversey Parkway.

“Our parishes have gotten together to create a special works project,” he explained. “We take people and try to offer them services that you would get on a home visit, but maybe even a little bit more.”

One such service is assistance in obtained an official Illinois state ID.

“In addition to helping them get a state ID, [we provide] a mail drop at our location. You’ve got to have a place to send that ID. And, if they are getting government checks, you need a place to send that,” McNaughton said.

The St. Vincent de Paul Society has been serving Chicago’s poor before the Chicago Fire in 1871 and before Catholic Charities, which includes many Vincentians among its founders, in 1917.

“We’re the best kept secret,” Pyzik said. “People who use us and need us know we’re here, but our work was never boastful because it’s usually just a few people in the parish helping people in need, and you try to keep it as private as possible to protect the people you’re serving.”

They are hoping new efforts will raise awareness about their work so they can grow, especially at parishes located within the city of Chicago.

Everyone’s journey to join the St. Vincent de Paul Society is different, but many hear about it through an activity at their parish.

Pyzik joined after her brother’s suicide and then her father’s death  in 2005.

“The thing I kept coming back to is, ‘I want to help people.’ I remember that as a child making me happy,” said Pyzik, who joined through Our Lady of the Ridge-St. Linus Parish. “I went in [to the society] and it opened up this whole new world of joy to me.”

Not only did she get to help people, she made new friends and started growing spiritually. Those are the society’s three pillars: spirituality, friendship and worship

“We grow spiritually by doing God’s work together as he asks us in the Gospel,” Pyzik said. “Helping people is what we’re known for, but we’re always praying together.”