St Vincent’s – Turning concern into action

March 19, 2023

Many places in the UK are hosts to charities of one kind or another. They rarely involve a solely one-way process but become very much a partnership between providers and recipients by turning concern into action in a way that benefits the entire community.

That is very much the mission and experience of Southend’s own St Vincent’s Centre – so, let’s take a look at how this local charity is supporting the local community.

Support for the local community

St Vincent’s mission is to provide support to local people through the helping hands of volunteers from the community of Southend and its environs. These are the volunteers providing either practical, hands-on or financial support to the wide outreach of St Vincent’s in the local community.

The charity offers vital help and services to vulnerable people in need – people whose numbers are currently swelling in the face of increasingly challenging cost of living challenges:

Foodbank

• St Vincent’s operates a much-needed foodbank – with packages not only of food but also household essentials, toiletries, baby food and nappies;

• the community centre offers a Kindness Kitchen for the provision of hot meals;

• a “knock and drop” service is offered to those more vulnerable recipients unable to leave home – with deliveries throughout Southend, Chalkwell, Westcliff, Southchurch, and Leigh-on-sea;

Vinnie’s Pick and Mix

• for those on an especially tight budget, Vinnie’s Pick and Mix is a food club where membership costs just £1 a year and £3.50 buys you 15 items of the weekly provisions of your choice;

• Vinnie’s is open every Friday and the last Saturday of each month from 11.30a.m. until 1p.m.;

Dementia support and befriending

• loneliness can be the enemy of those suffering from dementia and family members may also feel in need of support;

• local St Vincent’s volunteers are on hand to offer support to those suffering the debilitating effects of dementia, befriending them and their families in times of need;

Volunteer vets

• local vets recognise that the more vulnerable members of our community will often worry about the care they need to give to their pets;

• that’s why St Vincent’s offers a weekly clinic by a medical practitioner and twice-weekly sessions with a veterinary nurse;

• the partner charity Charlie Boy Angels also offers free health checks for pets;

Additional services

• there are so few support services that St Vincent’s finds difficult to offer – thanks to its wide network of help from individual and corporate volunteers among the many local businesses in and around Southend;

• whether it’s help in finding appropriate accommodation or the simple delivery of furniture, whether it’s mental health, bereavement, or learning and education counselling, whether it’s help in dealing with utility providers, or simply the need for a free haircut, St Vincent’s is almost certain to be able to provide it.

Support in numbers

To illustrate the extent to which local concern is turned into action in Southend, just look at a handful of statistics for this January alone:

• Kindness Kitchens – 1,228 hot meals provided;

• 28 callers supported through financial difficulties and help with utility companies;

• 42 hours of counselling undertaken by professionally-qualified volunteers;

• 4 people were introduced to supported education;

• 3 people were supported into accommodation and a further 4 supported into employment;

• 115 hours of in-reach and 67 hours of outreach support provided;

• 177 families supported through Vinnie’s Pick and Mix; and

• 38 people took advantage of St Vincent’s professional wellbeing courses.

If you’ve ever doubted how local concern for your community can be turned into action, just take a look at the works currently provided by St Vincent’s in Southend.