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Franklin - Local Town Pages

St. Vincent de Paul Announces Friends of the Poor Walk

The annual Society of St. Vincent de Paul Friends of the Poor Walk will take place on September 25th, from 9 a.m. – noon, at the Franklin Town Common. Learn more at www.fopwalk.org/event/2617 Photo used courtesy of St. Mary’s SvDP Society

Saturday Sept. 25, 2021, 9:00 a.m. - Noon 

Mark your calendars to help your neighbors in need on Saturday, September 25, 2021, and take part in the St. Mary’s Church St. Vincent de Paul Society’s Friends of the Poor Walk, from 9 a.m. to 12 noon. 

While prior years had walkers doing a mapped-out route through town streets, says Nancy Schoen, last year, due to Covid, the walk was virtual and a bit more casual, with some SvDP members walking around the Town Common. This year, the group has decided to keep the walk around the Franklin Common for a more visibility within the Franklin community. Walkers can walk one mile or three miles, with one time around the common a third of a mile. 

“This is our only formal fundraiser,” says Schoen. “People are encouraged to donate, and often they will (donate) in memory or in honor of someone. One hundred percent of the money raised goes back into helping anyone in the Franklin community who is in need. The St. Vincent de Paul Society is thankful to all who have so generously donated in the past.”

Each year, the St. Vincent de Paul Society (SVdP) of St. Mary’s Church walks to bring awareness to the Franklin Community of the struggles some residents experience that impact their daily lives. For thirty years, SVdP has been helping people in need in regardless of race, religious beliefs or ethnic background. The SVdP members work closely with many charitable and government organizations in Franklin. 

The SVdP members are all volunteers. Members assist people in a number of ways to help them retain their dignity and to help them to become self-sustaining. Some ways in which the SVdP society assists those in need include: 

• Guide them to other resources, both state and charitable 

• Provide clothing and furniture through our SVDP Thrift Stores 

• Supply non-perishable food and paper products from our pantry to supplement other food resources 

• Assist financially during an unexpected crisis helping to pay rent, medical, car repairs etc. 

Last year St. Mary’s SVdP Society helped Franklin Families 345 times for $59,319.

Schoen says that rent and food are “probably our two biggest areas of need, and then after that it’s clothing, furniture, medical and car repairs.” The people helped, she says, are really “across the board. We work with some younger single people, many elderly on fixed incomes, and we work with a lot of families who have limited resources. During the pandemic, we saw all kinds of situations. I think the eviction legislation was helpful to many, and I’m concerned at what we’re going to see when that’s completely lifted.” 

SVdP volunteers use teamwork to answer local need. “Two to three people four days a week will answer the calls,” says Schoen. “During the pandemic, one person would go get the phone and bring it to their house, and we’d call neighbors back together on speaker phone. The bag of food we’d leave on the curb or on the steps. We’re still pretty much doing that, although we will meet with neighbors in need at the church, socially-distanced.” Schoen credits SVdP President Jim Baillio with implementing some practices during Covid “that allowed us to consistently help neighbors in need in our community.”

During the pandemic, the members of the SVdP Society in Franklin met through Zoom. The group has begun meeting in person, but retains a Zoom option, on the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month, at 7 p.m., in Sacred Heart Hall in the basement of St. Mary’s Church.

Schoen says the SVdP Society in Franklin works closely with other local helping organizations. “We guide them to other resources in the community, including the Franklin Food Pantry and the Senior Center. We turn to each other – when we don’t have something and somebody else has, we can direct them toward that.” The society has a resource list it shares with the Franklin Food Pantry, and Schoen says the Franklin Food Pantry’s new mobile food unit was something that out of their communication. 

If you would like to support SVdP’s mission of helping residents of Franklin in need, you may make a financial donation in one of two ways. 

1. Send a check to: SVDP 1 Church Square Franklin, MA 02038 Or 

2. Online to the SVDP team at: 

https://www.fopwalk.org/event/2617 (The event will be up online through the end of September.)

If you have any questions, please call SVDP at (508) 918-2291. All donations stay in Franklin and all information is kept confidential.