Society of St Vincent dePaul Cape and Islands District

Provide financial assistance as it relates to housing issues. That assistance includes the payments of rents, mortgages, temporary housing such as motel rooms, rehab facilities and rental deposits 1st, last + security. Much of the help given is in partnership with other social agencies in the area. Each of the 13 individual conferences in this group provides assistance to 8-15 families each month. Most assistance is provided no more than 1 time per year as need is generally caused by sickness or temporary loss of employment. Most of the people we help live from paycheck to paycheck.

Payment of utility bills for the needy living in the area. Most of the requests for this type of help comes as a result of shut-off notices. We also receive numerous calls in the winter for heating fuel. Although there is an active fuel assistance program operating on the Cape, it is never enough. In many instances, the heating oil is also used to provide hot water and cooking, so that by the time fuel assistance kicks in, the amount of fuel left in the oil tank from the previous year is very low.

Operate food pantries within the parish area of the individual conferences to provide food, free of cost, to clients. These pantries serve a double purpose - not only do they feed the needy and their families but also give the client a special financial tool as every dollar the client does not need to spend on food is a dollar that he/she can use to pay for rent or utilities or other basic needs. The dollar expense for operating this proigram is very low as all of our food pantries are affiliated with the Greater Boston Food Bank GBFB - a recipient of the benefits from the USDA - and therefore can purchase food including meats for around 8 cents per pound. Food is also received weekly, free of charge, from large food chains operating in our area. Food pantries, not associated with the GBFB, are funded by product donations from their local parish members. Clients are urged to use our food pantries weekly. It is estimated that our food pantries were visited some 35,000 times during the current fiscal year and the value of the food distributed was in excess of $700,000. Our food pantries are operated by volunteers.