Speeches
Thursday, 24 October 2024
St Vincent de Paul Society Afternoon tea to mark 140th Anniversary
Rod and I are delighted to welcome you to Government House, to celebrate the 140th anniversary of St Vincent de Paul Society in South Australia.
I particularly welcome those who have travelled a long way to be here, including from Whyalla, the Riverland, Port Augusta, Yorke Peninsula and the length and breadth of Adelaide.
Over the past 140 years Vinnies – if I can use your affectionate name - has become very much part of our social fabric, offering compassion, hope, and dignity.
When times are hard, Vinnies is there to help. That’s no truer than during our current cost of living challenges.
Vinnies has come a long way since 1884 when the society started with a small group providing food and clothing to families needing support in the city area.
Since then, there have been several milestones. You have grown to a state-wide presence of 57 Conferences, 10 Fred’s Van services, a refugee and asylum seeker service, two crisis centres and this year you opened your 35th Vinnies Shop.
I am sure your founder Edward Francis Troy would be proud his vision of giving friendship and assistance has endured through you.
- Whether that’s Vinnies providing shelter and bringing hope in a crisis to 500 men and more than 1,000 women and children and sometimes their beloved pets in the course of a year.
- Whether that’s visiting people to ensure they have food, clothing, furniture, and emergency financial assistance. That’s 60,000 people helped each year.
- Or whether that’s providing nourishment at a Fred’s van, listening to people’s stories, or providing companionship and connections over a total of 40,000 meals a year.
And where would we be without the volunteers who keep the Vinnies Shops running.
Rod and I have witnessed in our visits the Christian values which underpin Vinnie’s work.
- At the women’s crisis centre I met women – some young, some elderly - who had found safety.
- At Elizabeth Rod and I met Aboriginal people who gathered near a colourful mural, feeling comfortable with the connections provided by Vinnie’s.
On this the 140th Anniversary of Vinnies, Rod and I thank you all in whatever role you undertake, for giving people a hand up, no matter their circumstances or the complexity of their situation.
We know you do so from the heart.
We also know Vinnies will continue to be needed well into the future.
But as you go about your mission, please do so in the knowledge that you are strengthening our community, giving a voice to the vulnerable, and caring for others as we would want to be cared for ourselves.
Thank you for doing “good works” and helping to break the poverty cycle.