Our Mission

The St. Vincent de Paul (SVDP) St. John the Evangelist Conference is one of five serving Anne Arundel County providing food, utility rent assistance, and other items of necessity to help neighbors in need in their local communities through difficult times. The Conferences also offer referrals to human service agencies including strategies and support to overcome poverty.

SVDP volunteers are called to support this important ministry in many ways.

Greeters meet neighbors as they arrive and help determine the level of assistance required.

Counselors interview each neighbor to understand the details of their need, help explain what is required from them, and explain the type of assistance available from SVDP and/or other organizations.

Pantry Staff collect in kind food donations from the bins in the Church Gathering Space, stock pantry shelves, make up the bags of food for distribution, and make once a month trips to the Anne Arundel County Food Bank to pick up our monthly allotment of government provided and donated food.

Administrative and Finance

SVDP members also volunteer their time keeping finances in order, compiling and submitting the necessary paperwork, writing grant requests, and maintaining an online presence.

Irregardless of their "day job", SVDP members chip in their time and energy to  support the annual Thanksgiving, Christmas, and for the first time this year, Easter food basket distribution.  They also staff tables at Masses during Advent in support of the Christmas Giving Tree, collecting and processing donations for gift cards to provide gifts for underprivileged  children who would otherwise not experience the love and joy of the birth of Jesus.

Please contact Cindy Halloran at 443-261-0109 for more information.

St. Vincent de Paul of Baltimore emerged during the time of the CivilWar. The first St. Vincent de Paul volunteer group was founded 1865 at the Basilica of the Assumption in downtown Baltimore, just 32 years after the international St. Vincent de Paul Society was founded in Paris, France in 1833.

Guided by the examples of their patron, St. Vincent de Paul, and the founder of the Society, Frederic Ozanam, early members of St. Vincent de Paul of Baltimore sought to live their faith by caring for others, and became pioneers in the development of social programs to help those suffering from material poverty. Members attended to the very basic needs of the poor in their area by bringing them food, clothing, and coal to heat their homes.

For most of its early history St. Vincent de Paul of Baltimore consisted of three principal functions: parish-based volunteer groups called conferences, a summer camp, and the collection bureau for clothing and furniture assistance. In 1986 St. Vincent de Paul of Baltimore was invited to take over operation of Beans & Bread, a local soup kitchen founded in 1977 by Benet Hanlon. In the decades that followed, St. Vincent de Paul of Baltimore significantly expanded its community services, adding programs focused on homeless services, employment training, early childhood education, and healthy food access. Its annual operating budget has grown from approximately $400,000 in 1988 to over $30 million currently.