St Maximilian Kolbe Conference

   Along our Coastal shores we shop, dine and conduct business in our communities. Our families worship and thrive.

• Population about 400,000.
• Six counties (Harrison, Hancock, Jackson, George, Stone, and Pearl River) and five entitlement cities: Biloxi, Gulfport, Pascagoula, Ocean Springs, and Moss Point.
• With about 400 homeless on the streets males over the age of 55 are the largest homeless group.
• Women and women with children are a significant second, and increasing.
• Women who have not experienced domestic violence and families have few places to turn too for help.
• Economically, Mississippi is one of the poorest states in the country.
• High rates of poverty and unemployment.
• Since 2012 the Chronicle of Philanthropy's rated Mississippi’s the second most charitable state per capita. 

   The current disbursed temporary shelters along our Gulf Coast are primarily overnight shelters for cold nights or Family Shelters specifically for abused women. Space is limited. No facility offers a broad breadth of social services as most are Day Shelters.

• Temporary respite or extended sheltering of women, children, men, or families is limited.
• Services are scarce and those available are broadly distributed serving small areas.
• Many experience homelessness.

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Click on the photos...................

   "For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me. Then the richeous will answer him saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, and thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you in prison and visit you?'....

Matthew 25:35-40

   St. Vincent de Paul’s (SVdP) St. Maximilian Kolbe Conference is geographically located in the most Southern Counties of Mississippi.

• We help the poor, the disenfranchised, the marginalized, and those of low incomes.
• Without regard to race, gender, nationality, income, or religious affiliation, our Conference members come from, and actively participate with multiple churches, other religious and non-religious communities, organizations, and community governments to provide needed services throughout Southern Mississippi.
• We're a stand-alone Conference, not being directly linked to any church, parish, or organization.

    The St. Maximilian Kolbe Conference has a long-term goal of developing the needed resources and facilities to assist those in-need and to reduce the homeless population along the Gulf Coast. Through your generous donations, we will initially develop a stable revenue stream to create an efficient Help Center helping the poor, those in-need, the working families. The community-based Help Center will be housed within our own thrift stores, where communities will allow, to reduce operating costs, improve community visibility, and to enable us to provide additional services.  Our thrift stores will support the development these Help Centers leading to a SVDP Family Homeless Shelter. 
  
   A community-based Help Center would have the ability to provide a food pantry, meal preparation with a kitchen, laundry facilities, hygiene, restrooms and showers, counseling, continuing education, and temporary respite. Combining a Help Center with a thrift shop would increase visibility, attract additional resources, and reduce both initial development and on-going operational costs, if our community supports our efforts. Otherwise, we’ll need to secure a separate location for our Help Center. 

Provided resources continue to be available, additional Help Centers will be planned and built in an adjoining community, where there’s an identified need.  Thrift store revenues will enable our St. Maximilian Kolbe Conference to become self sustaining and to support our Help Centers.

In the third year, revenues from thrift stores will begin to provide sufficient funds to initiate the  planning, development of a centralized SVDP Family Shelter. Our thrift stores and community-based Help Centers will help to stabilize the on-going operations of a SVDP Family Homeless Shelter. This has been accomplished in Many other communities served by SVDP, with over 450 SVDP Thrift Stores, benefiting communities.

Our hope is that your deep faith and compassion for others will motivate you to help us accomplish what other SVDP entities have already done.

WE NEED YOUR HELP

OUR MISSION - To alleviate pain and suffering, in a spirit of charity, justice, and mercy through person to person involvement providing assistance to fill the needs of the homeless.
 
OUR VISION -Our vision is rooted in the belief, in the dignity of all people. We strive to harness the power of the human spirit to end homelessness, alleviate poverty, and improve the quality of life in our communities.