The Society in Australia

The St Vincent de Paul Society in Australia has 40,000 members and volunteers who work hard to assist people in need and combat social injustice. The Society also operates in 141 countries and has over 950,000 members worldwide.

Members of the Society live out their faith in action by visiting people in their homes to provide support, friendship and material assistance. This practice is known as Home Visitation, and is carried out by volunteers in local St Vincent de Paul Society conferences.

Conferences are typically parish or school-based groups who respond to calls for assistance from people in the local community and work closely with the Society’s VINNIES retail centres.

Conference members often assist people by providing food and, through the VINNIES centres, clothing, furniture and household goods, free of charge. VINNIES centres also offer affordable clothing and goods to the wider community. Money from the sale of stock in VINNIES centres is used to provide resources and support to people in need.

The Society has also developed many Special Works including hostels for the homeless and assistance for families in need. Please see the Services page for further information.

Our Mission

The Mission of the St Vincent de Paul Society in Australia is to deepen the Catholic faith of its members - to go out into our nation to heighten the awareness of Jesus Christ. 

We do this by sharing ourselves - who we are and what we have - with the poor on a person to person basis.

We seek to co-operate in shaping a more just and compassionate Australian community, and to share our resources with our twinned countries.

Our preferred option in this mission of service is to work with the poor in development, by respecting their dignity, sharing our hope, and encouraging them to take control of their destiny.