Saint Vincent De Paul Society of Madison

Organization: Saint Vincent De Paul

☀(608) 257-0919

* The church has a clothing voucher program. Families living in poverty, single moms, and the low income can apply to the Service Center. Both free clothes, financial aid, and even small toys or school uniforms for kids may be offered. Clothing vouchers must be redeemed within seven days from the date they are issued. Please call (608) 257-0919 if you would like more information.

* **Food Pantry:** The centerpiece of our Madison service center, our large and busy***St. Vincent de Paul Food Pantry*** operates like a compact grocery store to serve between 60 and 160 families per day five days a week. Our customer-choice model of operation honors the dignity of our clients and all involved in the distribution of free food to people who need it. This model also helps minimize waste and accommodates ethnic preferences by allowing clients to use “points” to shop for food their families prefer and will eat. Serving all Dane County ZIP Codes, our pantry annually gives away food valued at nearly $1.5 million to local households struggling with poverty. In a given year, we help local households with nutrition assistance over 63,000 times, including 27,000+ instances in which we help the children of the families we assist. Read **more**.
* **Charitable Pharmacy:**The first facility of its kind in Wisconsin, the ***St. Vincent de Paul Charitable Pharmacy*** helps ensure that low-income uninsured persons in Dane County have a compassionate resource to rely on for receiving ‒ without charge ‒ the prescribed medications, related medication education, and planning they need for effective treatment of their chronic and acute medical conditions.  Located in our Madison service center and dispensing prescription drugs valued at hundreds of thousands of dollars annually, our Charitable Pharmacy helps maximize the efficiency of our community’s health-care system by allowing individuals otherwise unable to afford prescribed drugs to get the medications they need. This results in improved health outcomes and decreased need for treatment in emergency rooms and other acute-care settings. Read **more**.
* **Clothing, furniture, bedding & household goods**:  Annually, we provide local low-income households more than $400,000 in these sorts of basic necessities free and directly from the inventory of our ***thrift stores***. Our member groups around the county meet with people in their homes when they request assistance and help bring our Society’s resources to bear in meeting need for these basic goods. Read **more**about clothing assistance. Read **more** about help with furniture and other items.
* **Housing programs:** On most nights more than 60 men, women and children make their home in housing operated by St. Vincent de Paul in Madison. ***St. Elizabeth Ann Seton House*** is a transitional-housing programfor women and their children. It began in 1989 and operates today through four locations in Madison’s Isthmus. ***Port St. Vincent de Paul***, in Madison’s Williamson-Marquette neighborhood, opened in 1976 and is the community’s longest-serving housing program for low-income men. The Port’s program works to restore hope for local men in need of transitional, supportive and emergency housing. The Port also supplies program participants with meals, needed clothing and 24-hour staffing. At both Seton House and Port St. Vincent, participants pay program fees and work toward goals for their appropriate next steps in life.  St. Vincent de Paul donors significantly subsidize both programs. Read **more**.
* **Storage program:** A metal shed across the street from our Madison service center holds common items precious to their owners. Within the confines of our ***Vinny’s Lockers*** facility, those who are homeless securely store some of what little they own. Personal papers, family mementos, out-of-season clothing, and even tools of a trade find safe space here. Since St. Vincent de Paul opened Vinny’s Lockers in 2008, up to 75 persons at a time – about 180 over the course of a year – have stored and accessed belongings through this free program. Read **more**.
* **Other assistance:**We offer other forms of basic-needs help through efforts such as our ***Lacy Food Pantry Garden*** (click **here**), ***Recycle the Warmth Blanket Drive***, ***portable-crib program***and ***energy-assistance program***. Read **more** or contact us at **(608) 442-7200** for more information.

History/Description:

**The Society of St. Vincent de Paul** is one of the longest-serving charitable organizations in the world. The Society was founded in 1833 in France by six university students. Committed to offering person-to-person service to people who are poor, suffering or forgotten, the Society those young people founded rapidly spread across Europe, reached the United States by 1845 and was operating in Milwaukee by 1848.