Mangaluru: The St Vincent De Paul Society, popularly known as SSVP, is marking 100 years of service in the Mangalore Catholic Diocese, with the Centenary Valedictory Ceremony scheduled for Sunday, said Joe Coelho, president, Central Council, while addressing reporters on Thursday.The programme will be presided over by the Most Rev Peter Paul Saldanha, bishop of the Diocese of Mangalore. International president of SSVP Juan Manuel Buergo Gomez will attend as chief guest. Guests of honour include Bishop Emeritus of Mangalore Most Rev Aloysius Paul D’Souza, SSVP National Council president Jude Mangalraj, and International Ombudsman Joseph Pandian.Coelho said that over the 100 years, the SSVP helped people from all communities by providing food, education, and healthcare, and catered to the emotional needs of the beneficiaries. SSVP, described as the world’s largest Catholic lay service organisation, was established in Mangaluru at Bendur Church on Jan 10, 1926. A unit was formed at Milagres Church the same month, followed by units at Rosario Cathedral and Bejai Church in May 1926.He said the society’s mission is to visit the poor and needy and provide assistance while maintaining confidentiality and dignity. Under the Mangalore Central Council, SSVP currently has 111 units, each adopting at least five families. A total of 623 adopted families comprising 1,765 members are being supported. The organisation has 1,618 members across 111 units and two youth units.Further, he said said that a free medical treatment and dialysis support initiative is being implemented in collaboration with Father Muller Medical College Hospital, Mangaluru, and Thumbay.As part of the centenary, SSVP launched 2 projects—‘Shikop’, providing higher-education support to about 405 students from adopted families, and ‘Aasro’, offering financial assistance to 100 families for house construction or repairs. During the valedictory, the SSVP–Trinity Kidney Care Project will be inaugurated with support from Joseph E Menezes’s Trinity Medicare Services Trust, Udupi, to assist kidney patients with medicines and dialysis.The society was founded in 1833 in Paris by Blessed Frederic Ozanam and six companions. It is present in 158 countries with over 8,00,000 members and more than one million volunteers. In India, it was established in Bombay in 1863 and currently has 7,225 units with 65,546 members.
