The Society of St Vincent de Paul at St. Peter’s Church in Columbia Pennsylvania is a non-profit lay group that is affiliated with St. Peter’s. We subsist solely upon the donations of our benefactors. Our benefactors include, but are not limited to, members of St. Peter’s Church.
 
We work within the parish boundaries. Our priority for assistance is to help our parishioners with their needs. However, need not creed is a motto that we follow. Since Columbia, in general, is an economically depressed area with high unemployment we find that much of our help is directed to neighbors who do not belong to our church.
 
Our format follows the traditional SVDP visitation format. We have a weekly on-call schedule. Clients are referred to us from various sources: our church office, other local churches, Columbia Life Network (a local center that helps to direct people to specific agencies depending upon the need of the client,) and word of mouth. We set up an interview time. Two team members go to interview the client. Based upon the client’s need and what funds we have available the team members confer and determine how they can best help the client. Most of the needs in this area involve food, utilities, medicine and related low budget medical needs, transportation and short-term lodging. We do help with rent depending upon the situation and what funds we have available. 
 
We are a small group of dedicated volunteers. Our future plans are to stay afloat and continue to assist people when and where we are needed and best utilized.
 
We welcome new members. If you are interested please call 717-669-4281.