A Message from SVdP | Thank You

As we come to the end of the Christmas season and celebrate the time of Epiphany, the volunteers with St. Vincent DePaul Society do not have adequate words to say thank you for your overwhelming outpouring of gifts during our annual Angel Tree Project. By mid December, you provided 933 gifts and 3 bikes to share with families in our community. We were able to give gifts to 76 children in our area which is many more than in the past. We are sure the children were excited to receive the gifts: their parents certainly were. Moms and Dads that picked up the gifts were so appreciative. We saw big smiles and misty eyes. We handed one mother the present, she looked at us in surprise and asked if that was really for her son, then the tears started, and she thanked us profusely before shyly leaving. When one Dad came, we couldn’t find his presents. We looked and looked while he sat there. He never said anything , but it was clear he wasn’t leaving. The tag had fallen off, but we finally found them. He smiled as he walked off saying thank you as these would be the only gifts he could give his daughter. The gifts we didn’t use for children in our area, we shared with poorer parishes in town and the St. Vincent de Paul in Del Rio. Again, it was as if they were being offered gold, frankincense and myrrh. We kept telling people we were being generous only because our parishioners were being so generous. We thank you for sharing so abundantly for it reminds us of John 1:16 "From His abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another".