The St Vincent de Paul Society was founded in 1833 by 20 year old Frederic Ozanam (1813-1853). He subsequently became a professor at the University of Paris and died at the age of 40. Ozanam and a small band of companions set out to put into effect in their daily lives Christ's command "Love one another". To fulfil this command they assisted their neighbour, regardless of colour, creed or politics. St Vincent de Paul (1581-1660) is known as the Apostle of Charity and is the patron of the Society.

(From live interview as part of the Parish Renewal Programme May 2001)

St Ann’s Conference Norwood was chartered in 1903 and functioned as a ‘Day’ Conference (ie it met during the day) until late 1999. The present ‘Night’ Conference was established in 1995, enabling those who may be working to attend meetings, and is now the only Conference operating from St Ignatius Parish in Norwood. The Conference meets at 6.45pm until about 8.30pm on the first and third Tuesdays of each month in its meeting room next to the Spirituality Centre in ‘Old Manresa’. At present the Conference has 13 members of which 7 are rostered to respond to calls for emergency assistance from the poor in the Parish. Apart from the Treasurer who has a major role in co-ordinating the work of members, other members are occasionally involved in a variety of duties such as social work and counselling, and casual support on call for badge days, packing Christmas hampers and the like. The Conference has a Spiritual Director ( presently Fr Andy) . Apart from the monthly meetings and occasional training sessions, the main work is home visitations in response to emergency calls. These calls are mainly relayed from SVP HQ in Franklin St in the City to the co-ordinator , and are passed to the member rostered on duty at the time. With 7 members available at present a member may be rostered for up to six or seven weeks spread over the year, involving typically one home visit per working day whilst on duty. The visits need to be made within 48 hours of the call, at a convenient time, and usually involve an interview followed by issue of a food voucher for use at the local Supermarket, and/or a voucher for clothing or household utensils, or furniture, from the Vinnies’ Family Centre or the Central Store.

The Conference also supports three overseas Conferences in third world countries with annual support payments, two in Thailand and one in the Philippines, and corresponds regularly with them by letter and photographs. The Conference is funded mainly from the Annual Winter Appeal, by Badge Day, and by the Christmas Advent Giving Tree Appeal . In addition Emergency Assistance Funding is provided by the Federal Government. Expenditure on assistance in the Norwood Parish is of the order of $10,000 pa, mainly to help emergencies in the life of the disabled, sole parents and unemployed within the Parish boundary. We would welcome additional members. No special skills are needed, but those with particular skills will be most welcome. It would be a great help if we had additional home visitors, or could relieve present members of other duties such as translation and/or correspondence with our overseas twins, organising fundraising for the annual appeal and badge days, or reinstating hospital and nursing home visits. Other opportunities exist to volunteer for Fred’s Vans, or work at the Norwood Family Centre on the Parade.

Enquiries: Parish Office 8332 0600, or Bill Pick (President) 8364-6451, Maureen Keane(Secretary) 8431-2713, Brian Williams (Treasurer) 8431-1885. Or just turn up to one of our meetings!

Ring Nan Hamra on 8362-6710 if you would like to join the Vinnies Family Centre Volunteers on The Parade.