WINDSOR, Ont. - A society that was founded by a 20-year-old in 19th-century France is rediscovering its youthful roots in Windsor, Ont.
In four years, the Windsor-Essex Youth Council of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul (SSVP) has grown from six to 60 members, making it the largest and only youth council that has a vote at the National Council level.
SSVP was founded by Blessed Frederic Ozanam in Lyon, France, in 1833. The 20-year-old and five other youth formed the “Conference of Charity” to discuss and defend their faith in a time of social revolution in society and the church. They also engaged in practical works of charity as a way of witnessing the importance of acts in faith. The group grew to include more than a hundred members in only one year, and the group decided to take on St. Vincent de Paul as its patron, while establishing individual councils in other regions.
SSVP members today are known for not only raising money and supplies for the poor, but also for reaching out to them in person. In Canada, smaller youth conferences dot the country as members of regional councils. But Windsor’s group, as the only council, has had a little longer to grow.
“Since they are the first of the Ontario youth conferences, they are a model of what is possible for youth to accomplish when given the opportunity to put their faith into action,” said Carmela Addante, a SSVP co-ordinator for youth development for Ontario.
She said the goal of each regional council is to follow Windsor’s example, but that it can be a very long road.
“The first step is to find an adult to act as the youth advisor. That is not always easy,” she said.
The advisor must be a SSVP member who knows and understands every aspect of the society, who can communicate and relate to youth and help them make connections in the schools.
In Windsor-Essex, the youth advisor is John Staley, former president of the SSVP Windsor Council, who was also a principal at St. Anne’s Catholic High School. Staley worked with the original youth president, Sara Latouf, to find an adult staff person at each school who would volunteer to lead a “conference” of student Vincentians.
“High schools take turns volunteering on Saturday and what I like about it is it gives the kids a real world experience,” Staley said. “They don’t have to go to a Third World experience. They want to serve and it’s an excellent way to get involved.”
Older students, some studying at St. Clair College, the University of Windsor or Wayne State University in Detroit, accompany those under 18.
Joshua Pfaff, the council’s 19-year-old president, studies nursing in Windsor. Since he heard about the youth council three years ago, he has been enthusiastically involved, diligently helping out with food deliveries, making lunches, visiting nursing homes and more.
He is currently working with Addante and Jason Hunt, the other Ontario youth co-ordinator, to help other youth conferences expand. They have even been working on establishing a group in Nunavut, he said. But the greatest focus this summer will be to orchestrate the very first youth general meeting for young Vincentians across Canada. It will be held June 28 at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ont., as an extra day to the society’s national annual general meeting. Then, in July, the youth will gather for a two-day retreat.
“We all know how important youth are for the future of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul,” Pfaff said. “Traditionally, St. Vincent de Paul has a lot of older members and with the youth there, it is uplifting for them.”
Pfaff appreciates the experience of meeting the poor in his own community and seeing how SSVP can make a difference. He remembers well a visit he made to a new family in December. The house had nothing but two blankets and three pillows for five people — four of whom were children — and it appeared they had been sleeping on the concrete floor. He was astonished that people lived like this, especially in Canada.
“Thank God that the sleep walk, hosted by the society, occurs every year in Windsor to buy quality beds for each person who needs one. The next week that I went into the house, they all had beds and I could see on their faces how happy they were to have something they could call their very own,” he said. “I was so happy that all of our hard work for raising money for beds truly goes to those who really need it.”
When asked what he likes the most about the society, Pfaff said helping the marginalized is at the top, but he also loves “how we do all of our work with the guidance of God, as we pray before each meeting and delivery as well as in closing.”
Chris Chibani, a 17-year-old student at St. Anne’s, said it feels like his duty to be involved. He plans bake sales at St. Anne’s and leads his conference of 15 students.
“We’re like a big family and we pray and discuss upcoming meetings,” Chibani said. “For me, I think it was the variety of activities we could do directly in the community — the lunches for the missions, giving monetary gifts to the people in the community at Christmas and we’re like a community in ourselves too.”
Sara Latouf, 24, said her group thinks of itself as a church youth group, offering support for each other outside of the school environment.
WINDSOR, Ont. - A society that was founded by a 20-year-old in 19th-century France is rediscovering its youthful roots in Windsor, Ont.
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