Opportunities with Towcester SVP

HISTORY AND ORGANISATION OF THE SVP The SVP was founded in 1831 by Frédéric Ozanam, a student in Paris, where there was terrible poverty (think, Les Miserables). The mood in Paris was strongly anti-religious and Frédéric decided to turn his faith into action with the help of like-minded students. One of these was an Englishman, George Wigley. George founded the first conference in London in 1844, where poverty was as desperate as in Paris (think, Oliver Twist). The society is named after St Vincent de Paul (1581-1660), born in the South of France and ordained priest at 19 years old. He undertook his priestly work with a focus on serving the poor and inspired the formation of communities of men and women with the same desire to relieve poverty. His qualities of gentleness, humility, sacrifice and commitment make him the ideal patron for our society. The SVP today is an international organization with 800,000 members in 140 countries. In England and Wales , there are 10,000 members in 1000 local conferences. We make about 500,000 visits to 100,000 people in a year and also help people with material needs. SPIRITUALITY Following the example of St Vincent de Paul, as members we aspire to: • Show our love and respect to those we work with • Deepen our relationship with God • Support each other in all we do. Then we can: • Find those who need our help • Serve all cheerfully • Respect the dignity of the individual • Be non-judgemental, seek Justice and be generous with our time and our possessions