St. Vincent de Paul of Alameda County

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Catering of Champions Begins

6/19/2019

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St. Vincent de Paul’s newest enterprise, Catering of Champions, began on June 4. The idea was brought to us by longtime volunteer, Javier Silvares. “I remember seeing the happiness in the Kitchen of Champions students’ faces while they were in the program learning so much and I thought I could do even more for them,” he said. “I decided to do a step more than me just volunteering. This is really my home. It’s the life I choose and the life I want to live.” The program’s first fundraiser will be held on July 20.

​The Catering of Champions staff will include Silvares, one part-time cook and an administrative aid to handle booking and advertising. Silvares has planned a menu including Spanish dishes from his home country. He cooked for 128 people at the Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon in April, and received a lot of positive feedback about the flavorful meal. Silvares has two goals for the program: first, to provide stable employment and continuation of culinary education for graduates of Kitchen of Champions, and second, to earn money for St. Vincent de Paul. “We are really life-changers here. People want to do better and change and we accompany them on that journey,” Silvares said.




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Easter Open House 2019 Bright Spot for 187 Children

4/21/2019

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On Saturday, April 13, we hosted our annual Easter Open House for 54 families and 187 children. With the help of 16 volunteers, including photographer Sacha and a group from Pledge to Humanity at San Ramon Valley High School, we were able to give every family a Safeway gift card, Easter baskets, photos with the Easter bunny, free books and Easter themed crafts. A special pizza lunch was made by our kitchen staff and Kitchen of Champions cohort. Our open house events are a great way to celebrate important moments of the year and bring our community together for a bright spot in our lives. Thank you to all who continue to support the open house events. Our next open house will be celebrating back to school in August. If you would like to sign up to volunteer or donate, please contact our volunteer team at [email protected].
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Homelessness Report Revealed at SVdP

4/12/2019

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The Bay Area Council Economic Institute, a key local think tank, released a new study on homelessness in the Bay Area, and, at Mayor Schaaf’s suggestion, they wanted the study to be rolled out to the press and the community at St. Vincent de Paul. Executive Director Blase Bova was invited to participate in the roundtable discussion, along with some noted civic and corporate leaders including President and CEO of Kaiser Permanente Bernard Tyson and Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf. Participants discussed the need for a regional plan to address homelessness, as well as unity amongst the entire Bay Area, including the Sacramento area, to support each other’s efforts in housing the unhoused.

​The Bay Area has the third highest homeless population in the country with over 28,000 homeless residents, behind New York City and Los Angeles. The report says part of the problem is low income people are becoming homeless at a faster rate than communities can move existing homeless people into housing. “We can subsidize rents when they fall on hard times, we can purchase buildings and turn market rate housing into affordable housing, we can provide rental assistance, so they don't have to choose between medical payments and rent payments,” said Jim Wunderman with the Bay Area Council. St. Vincent de Paul thanks the work of our Vincentians across the county through their eviction prevention work. You are addressing a crucial aspect of the homeless crisis that needs more widespread support, and the Bay Area Council agrees.  



 

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Little Caesars Brings Back the Love Kitchen

1/24/2019

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St. Vincent de Paul ended 2018 on a good note by filling our dining room with fresh pizza on December 29. Little Caesars brought their 18-wheeler Love Kitchen to the West Oakland direct service campus to serve enough pizza for 900 people. 

​Thanks to the pizzas made and donated by the Love Kitchen, we served almost 600 trays to our guests for lunch, with plenty leftover for a pizza night in the shelter. during lunch service. There was a party-like buzz throughout the kitchen and dining room as volunteers, staff and guests shared their glee about pizza day. It goes to show how a simple menu of pizza, salad, fruit and a sweet treat can bring joy and levity to our community. We are grateful to have Little Caesars as a partner and look forward to having the Love Kitchen back in our neighborhood soon!
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St. Philip Neri 6th Graders Give Back

1/8/2019

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PictureSixth grade students from St. Philip Neri pose with their certificates given to them in honor of their hard work and successful towel drive.
The St. Philip Neri community consistently supports St. Vincent de Paul through its service. This fall, sixth grade students at St. Philip Neri School provided over three hundred new towels to our men’s and women’s centers. They were collected at the school and church, and at St. Albert’s Church in Alameda. “The students took pride in this project. They were so excited to count the number of towels that came in,” Vincentian volunteer Marianne Henderson said. The towels will be used to provide showers to hundreds of people each week at SVdP.

At St. Philip Neri, service learning is engrained in their curriculum. Each class chooses a service project to administer throughout the school year.  
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St. Philip Neri School emphasizes the role of leadership and community. The school was given the Outstanding School Award by Catholic Relief Services Rice Bowl at their grant awards breakfast on December 13. Representatives from the eighth grade class attended the reception to accept their award. St. Philip Neri represents the positive impact young people can make within their communities. Thank you for your generosity!

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Celebrating Kitchen of Champions Cohort 59

10/11/2018

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Our Kitchen of Champions job training program’s Cohort 59 graduated on September 13, 2018 in the West Oakland campus community center surrounded by family and community. We wish sincere congratulations to our graduates: Alonzo Curry, Leander Sellers, Anthony Randall, Trina Hewitt, Aniqua Jones and Juan Salinas.

Each graduate prepared a favorite meal to share with all attendees, including po boys, gumbo, enchiladas, sweet rice, steak, chicken salad, and more. The ceremony featured keynote addresses from local chef, media star and entrepreneur, Chef Aminah Robinson, and KoC Cohort 47 alumnus Chef Marshawn Howard, who now owns his own catering company. Each graduate was able to address their guests and teachers, while receiving their certificates of completion and brand new knife sets. 
 

This group of six graduates was essential to serving over 500 meals per day in our free dining room, and even were able to use their own recipes to feed our guests. For example, graduate Aniqua Jones made a delicious jerk spice that was very well received by our dining room guests and staff. On top of culinary lessons and practice, the trainees learn soft skills, such as resume building and interviewing techniques. “It was a really good program. I think everybody should do it. It’s a great opportunity to learn new things, even if you’re a cook already. There’s always stuff to learn,” Jones said. Congratulations to Cohort 59, we are very proud! 

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Ready, Set, Go! - Back to School

7/20/2018

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SVdP is collecting new backpacks and school supplies for 250 children to be distributed at our Back to School Open House on Saturday, August 4, 2018. Backpacks and school supplies are needed by Saturday, July 28, at our community center, located at 2272 San Pablo Ave.
To donate supplies, schedule donation drop offs, or sign up to volunteer at the open house, contact John at [email protected].
To donate online, visit www.svdp-alameda.org/donate, or mail your check to St. Vincent de Paul of Alameda County, 2272 San Pablo Ave, Oakland, CA 94612. Please designate your gift to Back-to-School 2018.

In 2017, we distributed backpacks to over forty families, with 105 children from kindergarten through high school. An additional 32 backpacks with universal supplies were assembled and will be distributed to families on our waiting list. This year, we expect to distribute twice that amount.
An event like this cannot happen without the gifts of time and talent given by our volunteers, who we deeply appreciate.
In addition to our volunteers, special thanks to our generous donors who make the event possible each year, including Friends of the Oakland Public Library, Sunlight Giving, Rodan & Fiels (corporate sponsor of buildOn) and Pandora.
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80 Ways to Get Involved with SVdP for our 80 Year Anniversary

5/4/2018

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As we celebrate 80 years of service throughout Alameda County we are excited to be able to offer 80 ways to volunteer and get involved with St. Vincent de Paul.
If you are interested in doing one or more of these activities please reach out to Katie Troy, Volunteer Coordinator, at 510-877-9252 or at
[email protected], or visit our website at www.svdp-alameda.org.
Media, Networking, and Community  
  • How close can you get to 80? - Volunteer 80 times throughout the year in any of our volunteer activities and receive a prize at the end of the year.  Look for opportunities throughout this list. 
  • Boar interest – Serve as part of our Board of Directors. 
  • Approach your local business and ask them to support SVdP by making either an in-kind donation or a gift to SVdP. 
  • Connect four- Connect us to 4 people in your circle who may be an avenue for a new partnership. 
  • Extra, extra! -- Have connections with a local newspaper? Assist us in sharing a press release with them to get the word out about SVdP happenings.   
  • Share your story! - Share your history with our organization as we celebrate our 80th anniversary. It might just be featured in our monthly newsletter.  
  • Family recipe - Share with us a family cooking recipe for our Kitchen of Champions trainees to learn. 
  • Tell your friends – Share what you know about SVdP with your friends, family, and colleagues with the hope of getting more people involved in our mission. 
  • Lights, Camera, Action! - Volunteer your talents and create a video that commemorates the 80 years of service of St. Vincent de Paul of Alameda County. 
  • Calling filmmakers – Need practice filming to build your portfolio? Capture staff, volunteer, and guests' stories at our downtown campus and thrift stores. 
  • Become a blogger – Work with the Development Department to plan unique stories to be featured on the SVdP blog. 
  • Leave a review – Share your experience with SVdP on websites like Yelp and Google for others to see. 
  • Like us on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/SVdPalameda), follow us on Instagram (@svdpac), and check out our blog (www.svdp-alameda.org/blog). 
  • Tag us – Post a photo (tag @svdpac on Instagram!) or ask for support for SVdP through your social media accounts. 
  • Pray for us – Set an intention based on our mission and pray for it as much as you can. We appreciate all who think of us and our guests. 
Direct Services 
  • Everybody clean up- Get together a group to organize and clean out our downtown campus storage rooms. 
  • DIY Center refurbishments- Help with general maintenance, painting, and repair of facility. 
  • Remodel the Clothing Closet-Get together a group, bring the supplies, and come “refashion” our clothing closet-from painting to reorganizing to building new drawers and racks for storage. 
  • Got a green thumb?- Help us begin and/or maintain above ground veggie garden and planters. 
  • Serve 500 meals-Volunteer in our Free Dining Room and help us serve a hot and healthy meal to our guests, from 9am-1pm, open Tuesday through Saturday. 
  • Volunteer in our Men’s Guidance Center where we offer a safe space for men during the day to shower, do laundry, stay warm. 
  • Volunteer in our Women’s Visitation Center where we offer a safe space for women and children during the day to shower, do laundry, and stay warm. 
  • Be a shopping partner- Volunteer in our Clothing Closet and help people pick out free clothing. 
  • 80th Anniversary- Volunteer in the Development Department. Help us prepare for our 80th Anniversary celebration and fundraising events. 
  • Lions, tigers, and BOOKS, oh my! - Volunteer to sort books in our thrift stores. Our thrift stores are full of interesting books that need to be sorted so we can effectively re-sell them. 
  • Do what you do best- Have HR experience, an MBA, photography skills, carpentry, etc.? Lend your professional expertise to SVdP. 
  • Phone Center – Volunteer in our downtown campus phone center and gain a glimpse into the life of an everyday SVdP employee.  
  • Interview - Participate as an interviewer during our mock interviews for our Kitchen of Champions trainees. 
  • Volunteer in our Livermore Thrift Store, Monday through Sunday 10-5pm. Tasks include sorting and organizing merchandise. 
  • Teach - Provide a professional development or computer skills workshop for our Kitchen of Champions students 
  • Share a hobby- Have a hobby you can’t wait to share with others? Share it with our guests in our drop-in centers. 
  • It’s my party!- Volunteer to work with the Development team to put together a small gathering of friends, family, work colleagues, fellow church goers to raise funds.  It’s easy we’ll help. 
  • Volunteer in our Fremont Thrift Store, Monday - Sunday 10am -5pm. 
  • Volunteer in the Development Department - Identify/research potential partners and/or resources for collaboration. 
  • Hablas Español – Lead English as a Second Language (ESL) classes to our clients. 
  • Personal development workshops – Provide personal development workshops (e.g. body image, anger management, parenting) in either of our Drop-in centers. 
  • Conference support- Volunteer through one of our 37 affiliated parishes throughout Alameda County. 
  • Volunteer in our Food Locker; sort our products for easier delivery. 
  • Volunteer in the Dish Room – Make sure that our dining room has clean dishes for service in our dish room, open Tuesday-Saturday, 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM. 
  • Winter Shelter – Donate your time to volunteer in the North County Winter Shelter, open every day from 6:00 PM – 8:00 AM until June 11. 
  • Movie night – Get your friends together and host a movie night and dinner in the Winter Shelter. 
  • Data entry – Love clerical work? Assist our team in entering data into the ETO system to track our services. 
  • Open house volunteer – Volunteer at one of our community open houses, either for Back to School, Christmas, or Easter. 
  • Volunteer substitute – Want to volunteer but can't commit consistently? Sign up to be a volunteer substitute, and we will call you if a regular volunteer cancels. 
Donations 
  • Make it official- Provide ServSafe Certification Prep and tests for 4 Kitchen of Champions culinary training students- $500. 
  • Help us feed 80 children for a month- More than 31 million children received a free or reduced lunch at school. Help us organize a fundraiser to raise $6,864 to feed 80 children for one month over the summer. 
  • “Sharing is caring”- share/ donate time share, season tickets, rewards points, miles for us to raise funds for the organization. 
  • Change It – Start a competition between classes, families or individuals by giving them each a coin jar to collect change for a designated amount of time. The one with the most collected wins a prize, and donate all that is collected to SVdP. 
  • Skip a Meal – Join with your peers to commit to giving up a meal together and give the money saved to St. Vincent de Paul of Alameda County. 
  • Provide course materials and supplies for 3 students- $250. 
  • Birthday Pledge – Ask for donations to SVdP instead of birthday gifts. 
  • Give it Up – Commit to give up a regular activity, e.g. buying a latte at Starbucks, or a bagel from Noah’s for a month, and donate the money you save to SVdP.  
  • Donate your gently-used furniture or household goods to any of our thrift stores. 
  • Hygiene kit drive- Collect hygiene kits or raise funds to purchase hygiene products for our drop in centers include: shampoo, conditioner, lotion, toothpaste, toothbrush, deodorant etc. 
  • Men’s Center Drive- Hold a drive for our Men’s drop-in center and include: socks, white t-shirts, underwear, sweat pants, etc. and make it a goal to collect at least 80 items. 
  • Women’s Center Drive- Hold a drive for our Women’s drop-in center and include: socks, shirts, pants, underwear, sweat pants, etc. Make it a goal to collect at least 80 items. 
  • Provide bus passes for 2 Kitchen of Champions trainees for 1 week - $100. 
  • Sponsor a student - Provide a scholarship for our one of our Kitchen of Champions culinary trainees - $450. 
  • Children’s Room Drive- Hold a drive for our children’s center and include: diapers, socks, shirts, pants, sweat pants, etc. and make it a goal to collect at least 80 items. 
  • Laundry supply drive- Last year our drop-in centers offered over 3,000 laundry services. This year help us provide more by organizing a drive for laundry supplies, like high efficiency liquid detergent, fresh towels, and laundry bags. 
  • Knife set-Provide starter chef knife rolls for 10 students- $1,000. 
  • Bake sale- Hold a bake sale at your school and donate the proceeds to SVdP. 
  • Read-a-thon – organize a read-a-thon at your school. Have each person collect donations for books they complete and donate the proceeds to SVdP. 
  • Take on a fundraising goal - as an individual or with a group, organize your own fundraising committee to raise $800 for one of our homeless service programs. 
  • Wages for a trainee - Provide wages for 5 of our Transitional Employees for a week- $1000. 
  • Top Chef- Provide a Chef Coat for 1 student- $50. 
  • Bike-a-thon- Organize a bike-a-thon and have each person collect donations for each lap they complete. Donate the proceeds to SVdP. 
  • Canned food drive- Collect canned goods in your school and make it a goal to collect at least 80 cans. 
  • Flash drive-Collect new or used flash drives for our trainees to use in job search. 
  • Support SVdP socials - Buy a ticket to at least one fundraising event. 
  • Happy feet- Donate a new pair of shoes or raise money to purchase new shoes to be given out at our podiatry clinic every month. Our goal is to collect 80 pairs of shoes. 
  • Help a trainee find a job- Donate or help us raise money for a job search tool kit, to include: resume paper, folders, pens, portfolio’s etc. 
  • Provide interview outfit for graduating trainee- Organize a professional clothing drive, work with friends, neighbors, family and provide for our trainees’ job search. 
  • Backpack school supplies – Ensure a child is prepared to go to school ready to learn.  Hold a school supply drive or raise funds to purchase school supplies for our annual back-to-school giveaway on August 4. 
  • Coat drive – Help keep our clients warm.  Organize a coat drive and donate to SVdP. 
  • Does your company match? - Check into your company’s matching program when you donate to potentially double your donation. 
  • Hold an e-waste drive- Over 2 million tons of electronics are dumped each year and only about 25% of those electronics are recycled.  Hold a drive and help us divert electronics from landfills. 
  • Layette set drive – Donate a layette set or raise funds to purchase layette sets for children in the Women’s Visitation Center. 
  • Toy drive – Help put a smile on a child’s face during the holidays!  Donate a new toy or help raise funds to purchase toys for our annual Christmas give-away. 
  • Diaper Drive – Host a diaper drive and bring the donations to SVdP. Our Women’s Center is always in need of wipes, baby powder, and diapers, especially in sizes 4, 5, and 6.
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Painting Terra Cotta Pots, Mosaic Style in our Fremont Store on June 4th at 1pm

5/30/2017

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Come and join your neighbors Sunday, June 4th for the second in our series of monthly Sunday afternoon events. This time around, we will hold a FREE workshop where you can learn how to take a boring garden pot and make it into a unique colorful mosaic. Bring your own clay pot- NOT glass- or buy one from us. We will supply all tools, as well as coffee and pastries from Peet's and Arizmendi. Store staff member Paula will be leading the troops in what promises to be a fun and exciting afternoon.
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First Sundays at SVDP Thrift Fremont

5/9/2017

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​Last Sunday was the first ever First Sundays at SVDP Fremont.  We hosted 8 women (men are always invited!) for our sea glass workshop which was a fun and relaxing way for folks to get to know more about us and to meet some neighbors and community members. 
 
We're excited to continue our series with a Terra Cotta Pot project on June 4th, please stop by to see what we are up to or ,email fremont@svdp-alameda,org for more information.  
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St Vincent de Paul of Alameda County:  2272 San Pablo Avenue, Oakland, CA 94612  |  510 638 7600
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