About Us

The St. Martin Council

The St. Martin District Council, Society of St. Vincent De Paul, Inc. is one of the five District Councils reporting to the Cincinnati Archdiocesan Central Council of St. Vincent de Paul (SVDP). Our District Council has served the needs of the poor in this area continually since its aggregation into the International Society of St. Vincent de Paul in 1964. Some of our member Conferences existed before the Council was aggregated. Our oldest Conference, based at St. Louis Parish in Owensville, OH, was started in 1952.  The Council was incorporated as an Ohio 501 (c) (3) nonprofit in 1991. St. Martin District Council, Society of St. Vincent de Paul, Inc. and all of its member Conferences are 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations registered in the State of Ohio. All donations to our Council and its Conferences are fully tax deductible.

Despite the challenges of distance between Conferences and of increasing caseloads, St. Martin District Council has achieved, as of fiscal year 2022 (ending 30 September 2022), an active membership of over 375 Active and Associate volunteers who gave more than 30,350 free service hours to their communities. This includes more than 12,800 home visits and helping more than 42,367 of our neighbors in the area we serve.

We are comprised of 21 Parish Conferences located in the southwest Ohio counties of Adams, Brown, Clermont, Clinton, Highland and Warren. As such, it encompasses the largest geographical region of any SVDP District in the Cincinnati Archdiocese, including some of Ohio’s poorest economic Appalachian areas.

 

 Despite the challenges of distance between Conferences and of increasing caseloads, St. Martin District Council has achieved, as of fiscal year 2022 (ending 30 September 2022), an active membership of over 375 Active and Associate volunteers who gave more than 30,350 free service hours to their communities. This includes more than 12,800 home visits and helping more than 42,367 of our neighbors in the area we serve.

The Council and its affiliated Conferences are funded 100 percent by donations. Almost all of this comes from the parishioners of our member Churches.  We do get donations and bequests from private donors as well.  We are an all-volunteer charity with no paid employees, and no permanent building facilities. Our operational expenses are less than 3.6% of income. Most of our operational expenses are used to support a cargo van, including necessary insurance, as well as for insurance on storage spaces that are used for clothing, furniture, household items, food pantries, and hot meal food kitchens. With the permission and cooperation of our local parishes, we primarily utilize parish facilities at no cost, other than providing adequate insurance, in order to further reduce our operational expenses.

This support is tremendous, but the need is always greater than our available funds. To augment our funds, we have 2 programs that provide funds at the Council level.  See the programs page for more detail on what we do.

We are always looking for large corporate sponsors.  Lacking a large urban center in the counties we serve makes this difficult.  Funding is the number one impediment to our ability to give aid, and we are constantly looking for ways to engage sponsors and donors.  We welcome any and all input on how we could improve our operations.

Our Council was incorporated as an Ohio 501 (c) (3) nonprofit in 1991. St. Martin District Council, Society of St. Vincent de Paul, Inc. and all of its member Conferences are 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations registered in the State of Ohio. All donations to our Council and its Conferences are fully tax deductible.

 

Click Here to view the list of our conferences.