The Society of St Vincent de Paul (SSVP) was started in Paris, in 1833 by a group of young people, led by a 19-year-old student – Frederic Ozanam.

One day, Frederic and his friends had been asked:

“What are you actually doing to put your Catholic faith into action to help others?”

Frederic had no answer, as he knew nothing was being done to help those in need. From that moment on, Frederic dedicated his life to the service the poor and putting his Faith in Action. Along with his friends, they established a Conference of Charity which was later renamed the Society of St Vincent de Paul. They fed, clothed and accommodated the poor on the streets of Paris, seeing the face of Christ in each of them and treating them like a friend.

SSVP was started by young people and we believe that it is vitally important to continue to have our young people actively involved, almost 200 years later, carrying on the work of Blessed Frederic Ozanam and friends.

Youth SSVP …….. who are they? what do they do?

The Youth SSVP consists of 3 individual groups which are appropriate to the age and stage of our young people.

These are:

● Mini Vinnies – a SSVP group in a primary school or parish
● Junior Vinnies – a SSVP group based in Secondary schools with volunteers from S1-S3.
● Senior Vinnies – a SSVP group based in a Secondary School with volunteers from S4-S6

Each of the groups is coordinated by a school member of staff and in some circumstances a member of SSVP.

Our Youth Groups work just like our parish SSVP Conferences. Each group appoints a President, Vice-President, Treasurer and Secretary. They hold regular meetings and begin and end their meetings with a prayer.

Through these regular meetings pupils are encouraged to work together to identify the needs in their community, come up with ideas of how they can help others and make decisions about fundraisers and service activities. The role of the staff member is to guide these discussions and assist the pupils to put their passion and ideas into action by helping identify achievable outcomes for the activities they undertake.

The spiritual aspect of the group is just as important as the good works that our young people carry out. Faith in Action is a great way for our youth to connect their beliefs and values with service activities, with issues in their community and helps make their faith real, meaningful and relevant.
Kindness, compassion and a willingness to put faith into action is what following St Vincent de Paul is all about. Our Vinnies groups seek to help our young people develop these virtues.

SEE, THINK, DO

Youth SSVP are groups of young people who live out the ethos of St Vincent de Paul by reaching out to identify and help those in need. As a group, they consciously look around to SEE where there is a need, THINK about how they can help and DO something about it in their school and local community.

The Vinnies are committed to helping those in need, but it is also important that there is a fun and a social component to the work they undertake. Many of the activities listed below reflect this aspect of Vinnies work.

Some examples of the work of the Vinnies:

● Collections for Foodbanks
● Visit Sheltered Housing complexes throughout the year such as Christmas, St Andrew’s Day
● Organised Pancake Cafes to raise funds
● Set up Friendship Group
● Support a Toy Appeal at Christmas
● Organised Cake and Candy Stalls and Coffee Mornings for School Staff
● Promoted Winter Clothes Pop up Shop
● Collecting baby items for the Society of the Innocents
● Help at weekly Tea
● Halloween Swap Shop
● Looking after the environment
● Senior Vinnies going to Lourdes as Helpers
● Operate a ‘Vinnies Larder’ in High School
● Led a Prayer Breakfast for Primaries and their families
● Leading the Rosary during months of May and October
● Leading Stations of the Cross during Lent
● Prepared presentation to explain the Holy Rosary to Primary 1 and 2 classes
● Mini Vinnies Lenten Prayer Service

Annual Pilgrimage to Carfin Grotto – an eyewitness report

In June 2024, we held the 3rd Annual Pilgrimage to Carfin Grotto with over 500 Vinnies visiting the grotto over a 3 day period. Bishop Toal, along with several parish priests and deacons joined in leading the procession around the grotto with some of the Vinnies leading the Holy Rosary. Members of the local SSVP conferences came along. We were also joined by the new SSVP National President, Tricia McCartney.

The Vinnies had the opportunity to explore the beautiful gardens in the Grotto, learn about some of the saints, visit the reliquary and meet lots of new Mini Vinnies. After lunch, the deacons had organised different activities for each day which were invigorating and full of FUN, a Truly Memorable Day. 

The day ended with the Vinnies reciting their ‘Mini Vinnie Promise and singing a hymn to Our Lady, it was incredible!! The children truly demonstrated their Faith in Action today, they are our future. We need to do everything we can to support them through their faith journey.

Where are we going?

For those of us in the privileged position of working alongside our incredible young people in Vinnies groups, the most impressive experience is to witness the incredible awareness they have of the social injustice in today’s society, their determination to do something about it and their irrepressible sense of hope.

Linking our schools and parish Conferences is vital to allow the pupils to feel a true sense of belonging to the Vincentian family. Ultimately it is our aim to have a structure in place which will allow our young people to continue their journey of Faith in Action from primary school through secondary school and into adulthood if they so wish.

Thank You!

We must not forget our school staff for their unwavering commitment to support and guide all of these young people. Without them, these groups would not exist.

A huge thank you to everyone!!!!

Our young people are a true inspiration to all of us in many ways …

They Are Our Future… please continue to support them in any way you can.

Below is the list of schools in the Diocese of Motherwell that participate in Mini Vinnies.