On April 26, 1946, 70 years ago, a group of young Catholic men in Phoenix gathered in the old rectory of St. Mary's Church, planting the seed that has now become the present day Phoenix Diocesan Council for the Society of St. Vincent de Paul! Since this day, SVdP has grown tremendously. From the humble beginnings of one volunteer-run food pantry at St. Mary's, we now operate a medical clinic, dental clinic, ministry to the homeless, Ozanam Manor (a housing shelter for the elderly and disabled), 5 valley-wide dining rooms, 17 thrift stores, and 83 volunteer-run food pantries.
Over the last several months, we've been sharing photos from our archives on social media to highlight special memories from our past. And we'd love to share a few of those with you today!
Tommy Johnstone, a New Yorker familiar with the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, recruited four other men with the help of Father Louis Shoen OFM, then pastor of St. Mary's Church. These men started the first 'conference of charity,' also known today as a St. Vincent de Paul food pantry. The first Conference President in the Valley of the Sun was Matthew Trudelle. Today, there 83 volunteer-run food pantries in central and northern Arizona.
On November 20, 1952, Johnny's Restaurant (seating capacity 36) on 435 W. Washington, Phoenix, became the first SVdP Charity Dining Room. Volunteers, with little money, but much faith, took to the fields on the weekends to gather vegetables for fellow volunteer John Bedway, who managed the dining room and was the cook.
In 1954, the dining room moved to an abandoned church building on 9th Avenue and Madison and had a seating capacity of 400. Through the efforts of journalist and SVdP volunteer Henry Unger, word of this charity dining room began to spread. Walter Cronkite and John Chancellor aired stories nationally on CBS and NBC and donations began to arrive from across the country. Later, this dining room was renamed in honor of Henry Unger and still feeds hundreds of homeless individuals every day. It's now located at 1075 W. Jackson Street.
Chuck Wider, a retired businessman, rode his motorcycle for a 40-mile round trip from Sun City at least once a week to the SVdP dining room, where he played the organ and piano for nearly three hours to those in need during the eighties.
In 1984, the St. Vincent de Paul Homeless Shelter at 221 S. 9th Ave. sheltered a total 7,500 individuals. Every day clients were given a change of clothes, a shower, clean bed, and a morning and evening meal. While this homeless shelter no longer exists, we now have a Ministries to the Homeless program located on our main campus where homeless guests are welcomed daily with showers, clothing, shoes, counseling and referral services. We also operate Ozanam Manor, a temporary shelter for adults experiencing homelessness and are either over the age of 50 or have disabilities.
An SVdP volunteer provides aid to a traveler in need in 1984. Today, we still provide travel assistance to nonresidents who find themselves stranded, in crisis situations, in the Phoenix area through our Aid to Stranded Travelers program.
Clad in aprons and gloves, Phoenix Suns guards Rex Chapman (left) and Jason Kidd serve cookies and juice to Freddy, a dining room guest at SVdP in 1997. Chapman and Kidd were among many current and former Suns players who, along with coaches and office personnel, helped prepare and serve hundreds of meals to the homeless at our downtown dining room.
We hope you've enjoyed this stroll through memory lane with us. Stay tuned as we continue to share about this milestone throughout the year and follow us on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter to continue seeing photos from our #ThrowbackThursday series!
