I asked my intrepid SCOPE newsletter reporter, Debora Garvin, to interview SCOPE’s latest agency partner, the local St. Vincent de Paul Society, about the plans of both organizations to serve the poor and seniors with dignity, hope and respect.

The local Society of Vincent de Paul became active locally in 1930. It originated in Girard by the St. Rose Parish Conference. It has become an international, nonprofit organization that is not concerned whether those who help or are being helped practice or believe in any specific religion.

SCOPE (Senior Citizens Opportunity for Personal Endeavors) was formed by Roberta Graham and Dorothy Klein in 1962 at the YWCA in Warren. SCOPE has six community centers in Trumbull County serving some 3800 participants, as well as an additional 4,000 caregivers, seniors, and family members with outreach information and referrals.

Serving 7,600 out of the 47,000 adults over 60 years of age in the county, SCOPE also has five other senior centers in Portage and Stark Counties.

With the spikes of COVID now five years in the running, people everywhere have experienced hunger, illness, fatality, homelessness, unemployment and inflation, which have all risen at a skyrocketing rate.

Food insecurity is the most glaring need of people who never needed assistance receiving food, as well as for those who continue to find it difficult to fend for themselves and their families.

This past February marked the 95th Anniversary of the local Society of St. Vincent de Paul Northeast Ohio District Council. Since the Society was founded locally, in 1930, person to person assistance is the trademark of the Saint Vincent de Paul Society ­– and the promise to treat everyone with dignity and respect.

The Trumbull County organization, known as Neighbors Helping Neighbors, is best known for its ability to provide fresh, hot, home-cooked meals, 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Saturday at the Society’s Nick Parilla Dining Hall, at 2365 Niles Road SE, in Warren.

The dining hall was purchased in 1989 by the District Council, based in Girard, but the force behind establishing the dining hall was St. Mary’s conference member Nick Parilla. On average, volunteers serve an average of 550 curbside meals each day. Annual curbside meals served rose as high as 100,000 in 2023, to 118,000 last year. The need for food has climbed steadily since 2019 along with the curbside service.

“The need never goes away,” Sean Keating, SVDP program and community outreach coordinator, said. “We never turn anyone away. We always have a backup plan, if we run out. Meal for the day may include sloppy joes, if we run out; Maybe we serve chicken.”

SCOPE provides homebound and the disabled a Traveling Pantry which provides free groceries monthly. This new partnership with St Vincent de Paul will also help to provide hot meals at lunchtime at the SCOPE senior centers, which were discontinued during and after the pandemic. SCOPE is mainly funded by Trumbull County senior levy, United Way, Direction Home, City of Warren CDBG, HealthPath Ohio and the Community Foundation of Mahoning Valley.

St. Vincent de Paul CEO Darlene S. Jones and dedicated staff are housed at 2431 Niles Road, near the Parilla Dining Hall. The agency is funded by grant money, the proceeds of the St. Vincent de Paul Thrift and Furniture Store and personal and business donations. It receives no government funding, though it does work closely with local government officials to help determine how best to tackle poverty in Trumbull County and its surrounding areas.

“Talents, Time and Treasures” as Keating likes to name it, are given up by more than 300 volunteers at both SVDP and SCOPE and a list of business and community members.

There is a whole gamut of programs and services that both organizations already have in place that support the poor in a variety of ways and will be featured in the media during the next few months.

Contact Mike Wilson, director of SCOPE Senior Services, with column topics at 330-399-8846.