Dear Parishioners,

Thank you for the very generous second collection in November and also for your continued support for the items of food you bring regularly to church – these are gratefully received at the St. Vincent Support Centre on York in Leeds. Finally, after an appeal last week, we are receiving gifts and special Christmas food items we can take to individuals and families in our parishes for Christmas. We all find Christmas an expensive time but if you do know of any persons who are having financial difficulty at this time and simply need a ‘hand up ‘ then please do let the SVP know. One of the Society’s prayers:

Lord Jesus, help us through meeting together to deepen our friendship and answer the call every Christian receives - to seek and find those who are forgotten and to bring your love to the suffering or deprived. Help us to be generous with our time, our possessions and ourselves so that we may grow perfect in your love and learn to share your Sacrifice for others, in the Holy Eucharistic.

Befriending people in need is the heart of the St. Vincent de Paul Society of England and Wales. Volunteers seek and find those in need and offer sincere friendship. Once again we make an appeal for more volunteers for our conferences. We hope throughout the Season of Advent you may consider giving just 2 hours a week to strengthen our conferences and become involved in our projects for 2017. If it is difficult to make a full commitment at present then perhaps you will consider becoming a ‘Friend of the Society’.

Friends of St. Vincent

By becoming a Friend of the St. Vincent de Paul Society you can ensure that some of todays most excluded people are given a chance to have a better life while also contrib- uting positively to the future of this work.

The Friends scheme was officially launched at the start of 2006, with the aim of raising awareness about St. Vincent de Paul Society and its work. It is ideal for members of the public who would like to support the work we do, but are unable to spare the time to become a member themselves. Please get in touch if you would like to hear more about this scheme.

We wish you a Joyous and Happy Advent Season

Gaynor Markham